Monday

The "IF" factor: An early look at the MLB pennant race

The "IF" factor post I did for the NBA playoffs was received well by you guys so I decided to go with the same format to break down the playoff race in the MLB. This time with a little more truth and a little less humour but before I get down to business it must be said that I have separated the pretenders from the contenders and bottom line is...

"IF" baseball allowed 30 teams into the playoffs then I would be talking about the following teams: Kansas City Royals, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Florida Marlins, Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians, Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies, Washington Nationals, Houston Astros, Miwaukee Brewers, Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates, Arizona D'Backs

Now lets break it down...

American League East
"IF" Big Papi slows down on the big pimpin'
"IF" Jonathan Papelbon keeps the Mohawk for the season
... then the Boston Red Sox will win the AL East

"IF" A-Rod can concentrate on baseball rather than writing bedtime stories
"IF" Bobby Abreu and Corey Lidle can make up for the loss of the entire outfield
... then the New York Yankees will win the AL East

"IF" The Jays actually go 1 month with the same pitching rotation
"IF" The Yankees and Red Sox beat up on each other in September
... then the Toronto Blue Jays have a chance to win the AL East

American League Central
"IF" the rookie pitchers can hold down fort for the next two months
... the the Detroit Tigers will win the AL Central

"IF" Ozzie Guillen stops taking the spotlight away from the team
...then the Chicago White Sox will win the AL Central

"IF" the team keeps beating up their division
... then the Minnesota Twins will win the AL Central

American League West
"IF" Barry Zito is still in Green come September
... then the Oakland Athletics will win the AL West

"IF" they revert back to being the "Anaheim Angels"
... then the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim will win the AL West

"IF" they decide to play like they can and go on a mini run
... then the Texas Rangers will win the AL West

"IF" Kenji Johjima can find an easier way to communicate with his pitchers
... then the Seattle Mariners will win the AL West


National League East"IF" the earth keeps revolving
... then the New York Mets will win the NL East

National League Central
"IF
" they can get help in the outfield or at the mound
"IF" Busch Stadium can avoid further natural disasters
... then the St Louis Cardinals will win the NL Central

"IF" Ken Griffey Jr. can get his mojo back
"IF" Elizardo Ramirez is still making headlines in September
... the the Cincinnati Reds have a chance to win the NL Central

National League West
"IF" they can get Mike Piazza to show them how to go on a win streak
... then the San Diego Padres will win the NL West

"IF" Bary Bonds is vindicated
... then the San Francisco Giants will win the NL West

"IF" they keep up this "revival" approach for the rest of the season
... then the Colorado Rockies might win the NL West

"IF" Jered Weaver can keep up this record breaking pace of wins/starts
... then the Los Angeles Dodgers will win the NL West

3 comments:

SAMO said...

Where is the If for Kansas City...If all the other teams in the AL are involved in plane crashes...than the KC Royals can win the pennant!

Jdid said...

you can pretty much rule out the jays. Burnett is a wash. ryan is going through a bit of a bad patch, chacin isnt going to be back in time to give us a reliable #3 pitcher. This rotation is Halladay and scrubs. We needed starting pitching at the deadline we didnt get it.

the question is what is the Jays motivation? are we playing to win now or for the future? if to win now then trade some prospects for pitching but I guess we are still afraid of the Yankees and Sox so Ricardi is hedging his bets which leaves us as usual middle of the road.

yea we may win more this season but we're not going to be within striking distance of the top 2 in a week or two.

Justin said...

All I know is that the Jays have fucking sucked in the past week. They have NOT done their duty against the Empire. I'm disappointed.