Now that Minnesota has claimed the American League Central, all the playoff teams are set.  In the American League, Minnesota opens up in New York and tomorrow, Boston starts its series against the Angels.  In the National League, the Phillies will try to repeat, opening up at home against Colorado, while the Dodgers host St. Louis.  It should all make for some very exciting baseball.  Keep reading for a closer look at the playoff matchups, as well as my predictions.  I normally don’t like to make predictions when it comes to MLB playoffs for the simple reason that in a short series, any team can beat any team.  It’s essentially like betting on a street dice game but without the fear of getting robbed.

Philadelphia Phillies vs. Colorado Rockies

Philly won the NL East pretty easily, thanks in large part to its acquisition of Cliff Lee in July.  Starting pitching was a big question mark for the team, but adding Lee to the rotation with Hamels makes the Phillies especially dangerous in a playoff series.  It’ll be interesting to see how Happ and Pedro fare in the postseason – especially since Charlie Manuel says he’s starting them off in the pen - but one thing Philly doesn’t really have to worry about are their bats.  Between Utley, Howard, Werth, Ibanez, and a declining but still pretty good Rollins, they shouldn’t have too hard a time scoring runs.

It seems like Colorado lost like 3 games after the All-Star break, with many of their wins coming in dramatic, come-from-behind fashion.  Unfortunately, I don’t believe in things like destiny, and the Rockies simply don’t have the talent to match up well with Philadelphia.  Ubaldo Jimenez had himself a nice year, but Aaron Cook and Jason Hammel don’t strike me as the type of guys you fear facing in the playoffs.  There’s no more Matt Holliday to anchor the offense, but there’s still plenty of pop with guys like Tulo, Stewart, and Hawpe.  Speed, too, with Dexter “Lake Club” Fowler and Carlos Gonzalez, but it’s going to take some timely hits and a little bit of luck for Colorado to take out Philly.

And as an aside – when the games are in Colorado, check out the stupid Rockies mascot hanging out behind home plate.  It’s the single most distracting thing I’ve ever witnessed.  If I was pitching for the Phillies, I’d offer a bounty on the mascot’s stupid head.  Seriously, look at this thing:

I can’t relate to it on any level.  Torturing that thing to death would not evoke a single iota of sympathy from me; I’d enjoy watching the life slowly leave its prehistoric eyes.

Prediction: Phillies in 4

Los Angeles Dodgers vs. St. Louis Cardinals

To me, this is the more exciting of the two NL series.  It’s tough to not pick St. Louis, though, as facing Carpenter and Wainwright in a five-game series seems rather daunting.  Not only do the Cards have two guys in the rotation who will likely both finish in the top three of the NL Cy Young voting, they’ve got Albert Pujols, who I am convinced isn’t human.  The dude is doing Ted Williams/Lou Gehrig type things, and there’s no reason to think he won’t deliver in the playoffs (1.022 OPS in 53 postseason games).  There’s not much protection in the lineup outside of Matt Holliday, but Pujols should be enough anyway.

Joe Torre will continue to receive acclaim for the job he’s done in LA, but when you have Manny, Ethier, and Matty Kemp in the heart of your lineup, along with a pretty solid rotation, it’s tough not to win games.  LA can’t match the 1-2 combo of Carpy and Wainwright, but Wolf, Kershaw, the rejuvenated zombie corpse of Vincente Padilla, and Billingsly is nothing to scoff at.  The Dodgers’ bats can make this a competitive series, and I’m psyched to see Matt Kemp follow up his last solid playoff series with an unbelievable one.  I have no idea how a guy who is packing at least nine limp inches can steal 36 bases.  It’s almost more impressive that what Pujols has been doing.  Maybe more, if you think about it.

Prediction: Cardinals in 4

New York Yankees vs. Minnesota Twins

Congrats, Minnesota…now you’ve got to go to New York to face the best regular-season team in baseball.  The Yanks have been a juggernaut this season: they’ve had a strong rotation, phenomenal hitting, and Mo has been Mo just about all season long.  The Twins can hope that CC Cumbathia is once again awful in the playoffs, and there’s about 25 A-Rod jokes to make here, too.  Even with a poor series from those guys, though, the Yanks have too much talent for Minnesota.  And if/when New York wins this series, I hope everyone recognizes that it was all possible because of Jeter’s calm eyes and godly glutes.  You think CC wins 19 games without the Captain at shortstop, making him pitch better just by standing within his vicinity?  You think Teixeira belts 39 home runs without batting behind Mr. November?  Sure, the Yankees have seven guys in their lineup with at least 22 home runs (not Jeter), but let’s not kid ourselves – they’d have at least 30 if A-Rod’s selfishness hadn’t disrupted the clubhouse all season long.

In all seriousness, the best thing about Minnesota making the playoffs is that sportwriters won’t have an excuse to deny Joe Mauer his much-deserved MVP.  It still won’t shock me if that happens, though.

Prediction:  Yankees in 3

Los Angeles Angels vs. Boston Red Sox

Perhaps the most interesting of the opening playoff series, Red Sox vs. Angels has some bad blood in it.  Red Sox fans are gonna have to hope that Josh Beckett shakes off his poor second half (4.53 ERA after the All-Star break) and dominates like he usually does in the playoffs.  I’m pretty confident that’s not going to be a problem for Beckett; the guy seems to love pitching in high-pressure games.  It’s Lester, though (the guy with a way better comeback story than Josh Hamilton – I’m still sort of bitter about the way the media handled those two stories), who will start game 1 against Quasimodo John Lackey.  Ugh, more John Lackey close-ups on high def.

Both the Sox and the Angels have nasty lineups, and it’s tough to say which is better.  Jason Bay, Youk, Pedroia, Ellsbury, and Martinez vs. Figgins, Abreu, Hunter, Vlad, and Morales?  Both look great to me.  The rotations are pretty evenly-matched, too, but I think it could all come down to…Scott Kazmir.  Sure, he’s a total spaz, but he’s also owned the Red Sox in the past.  It’ll be interesting to see if that’s the difference maker.

There will be no fireworks from Papi this year.  He’s off the juice !

Prediction: Angels in 5 (but I’m rooting for Boston because, really, doesn’t America need another Boston vs. New York playoff series?)