Leon Jackson - Cobbfather Post Gazette
The Division Championship Series round was far less dramatic than the play-in round, with no series going to five games - except for yours truly, as when Huntington swept Cincinnati, bringing our playoff prediction record to 0-5, I started cleaning out my office, expecting to be canned. Luckily, the other 3 series turned out as predicted, and I'm still here. Let's see if I can't get up to .500! Let's look at the matchups for the LCS round.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
(2) Chicago Chokers vs. (1) Florida Shark Waves
The ALCS features the two teams who were clearly the cream of the crop in the AL this season, both exceeding 110 wins, while no other team had more than 97. Both teams feature powerhouse offenses. In the DCS round, Chicago's lineup came through, as expected, hitting .289 with 6 HR. Florida's bats were also alive during the DCS, hitting .295 with 7 HR led by impressive performances from Luis Martin (.611 BA 2 HR 7 RBI) and Carl Watkins (.438 BA 2 HR 10 RBI). Pitching wise, Florida showed in the DCS why they were the #1 pitching staff in the majors this season with a solid 3.50 ERA, although closer Luis Gonzales did blow one game, something they will need to avoid in the LCS. Chicago's starting pitching struggled in the DCS, even the great Carl Sosa allowed 7 ER in 11 IP, although their bullpen came through for them, minus one blow up by Andres Pena. However, Chicago is certainly going to need better starting pitching in the LCS if they hope to go to their 3rd straight World Series. As an indication of how close this series should be, in the Regular Season, the series between the two was split 5-5, with each team winning 3 at Florida and each team winning 2 at Chicago. This certainly should be a great series between the 2 AL powerhouses.
Gazette Prediction: Florida in 7
NATIONAL LEAGUE
(2) Huntington Liberators vs. (1) Sacramento Fighting Cornish Hens
The NLCS also features its league's top two seeds as Huntington faces Sacramento. Huntington swept Cincinnati in the DCS with outstanding pitching. Although their starters didn't go deep into games, they still only gave up 3 ER in 14 IP, and the relief staff was nearly flawless as well. You might have expected better offensive output from Huntington, given 2 games in the series were in Cincinnati, but clearly their output was good enough to win this series. They are going to have to step it up, however, against a much tougher Sacramento team. Sacto's offense struggled average wise in the DCS, probably due to the absence of Jack Bottalico (that darn research staff!), but did come through with some clutch power from Pena, Fernandez, and Chavez. MVP candidate Moses Terrero appeared to take the series off, although he did smack 1 HR. Sacto's starting pitching was outstanding in the DCS getting 2 great starts from Leon and Chouinard, while Maduro was just OK. They did have a couple of bullpen blowups, although not from stud closer Sammy Felix, which is a good sign. For the season series, Sacto took it 7-3, taking 3 out of 4 at Huntington and 4 out of 6 at home. Given that, and the fact that Sacto was our preseason WS Champ pick and we picked Huntington to lose in the DCS, our prediction shouldn't come as a surprise.
Gazette Prediction: Sacramento in 5
As always, good luck to all of the teams!