Never Underestimate the Potent Team That Sneaks Into the Playoffs

Before I go into my latest rant, I want to have a moment of silence -- or well I guess blank space -- in memory of Cory Lidle, who died last night in a plane crash in New York City at the young age of 34. Our thoughts are with the Lidle family and all of his friends and teammates.

















And now to begin my rant:

I have been reading a billion and a half previews for the NLCS. I've had time and there was down time between NLDS and NLCS. Every one is picking the Mets to destroy. Not just win, but destroy. Some even go as far as to say the Mets in four. Now I wouldn't have much of a problem with this if they said this because the Mets looked great in the NLDS and even though the Cards looked great as well, the Mets in their prime are better than the Cardinals in their prime. But this is not the reasoning. They argue that the Mets will win because the Cardinals sucked quite a few times this year and they just barely beat the Padres in the NLDS, and they only won because the Padres sucked it up hardcore in the NLDS. This is faulty logic as apparently outscoring the Padres 14-4 is just sliding by. Yes the Cardinals backed into the playoffs and I don't expect them to be favorites to win the NLDS, but once you enter the playoffs, you record goes back to 0-0. The regular season no longer matters. The Cardinals have a beaten up, but still potent offense as they proved against the Padres, the hottest team entering the playoffs. The Mets have this amazing bullpen that is expected to shut down the Cardinals, but the Padres bullpen was said to be better and they were beat by the Cardinals. The Cardinals have the slight adavntage over the beaten up Mets starting rotation while the Mets have the adavantage over the beaten up Cardinals lineup. But then again, it is pitching that wins championships. So all you betting people out there who are taking the Mets in four or five, I'll take you. My call: Cardinals in six.