Well, it's basically all set. Representing the American League: The Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians and Los Angeles Angels. From the National League: The Philadelphia Phillies, the Chicago Cubs, the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Colorado Rockies or the San Diego Padres.
These teams bring a wide range of strengths and weaknesses to the table - how can we even attempt to predict what will happen? What does a baseball team need to succeed in the playoffs?
First - clutch hitting. In the playoffs, the stakes are the highest they've been all season. Every game is televised on national TV. And the opponents are the best in the league. How a team's hitters fare in these high-pressure situations is crucial to a team's offense surviving the postseason.
During the regular season in the AL, the Yankees seemed to thrive under nerve-wracking conditions. With two outs and runners in scoring position, the Yankees hit .289 this year - no other AL team hit over .258. In the National League, each team is equally mediocre at clutch hitting - except for the San Diego Padres, who hit a wimpy .250 in "late and close" situations. If you're looking for some late-inning October magic, keep your eyes on the Bronx Bombers.
Of course, those dramatic highlight-reel home runs don't happen when the opposing team has good relief pitching. A solid bullpen is a well-known indicator of postseason success, largely due to the brevity of a playoff series. In a best-of-five or best-of-seven series, the relief corps' ability to pitch on consecutive days and consistently diffuse high-pressure scenarios is key.
In the American League, the Red Sox have the most dominating bullpen - the combination of Hideki Okajima (2.22 ERA), side-winder Javier Lopez (3.10), Manny Delcarmen (2.05), and closer Jon Papelbon (1.85) is simply devastating. The Yankees' bullpen could be just as successful, depending on the ever-so-popular 22-year-old Joba Chamberlain. He has pitched in consecutive games only one time in his Major League career; New York can only pray that the American Indian wunderkind and his sparkling 0.38 ERA don't wilt under the hot lights and heavy workload of October baseball.
In the NL, of the guaranteed playoff-bound teams, the Cubs bullpen seems most prepared to protect its team's leads. The Chicago pen boasts a healthy 3.66 ERA and a dominating 8.67 strikeouts per 9 innings. It owes this success largely to 24-year-old Carlos Marmol, who out of nowhere has posted a 1.43 ERA and 12.5 Ks through nine innings in relief for the Cubs. With that said, I know I wouldn't trust my one-run, ninth inning leads to Cubbies closer Ryan Dempster and his 4.73 ERA.
If the Padres make the playoffs - which depends on today's one-game playoff against the Rockies - their bullpen could help them pull off a few nail-biters in the playoffs. San Diego's relief ERA was a beautiful 2.98 in 2007, the lowest in all of baseball. If starting pitchers Jake Peavy and Chris Young pitch to their abilities next week, relievers Cla Meredith, Heath Bell and closer Trevor Hoffman are among the best in baseball at slamming the door.
So what did we learn? The Yankees are clutch, but their relief is questionable. The Sox are only okay under pressure, but their bullpen is assembled like a work of fine art. And the Diamondbacks are mediocre at everything. The truth is, the playoffs are very much an enigma, and that's what makes them fun to watch.
Predicting the outcome is like Cecil Fielder stealing home - I wouldn't advise it.
Ellis Rochelson '09 will not do any homework in the month of October.
