2011 Baseball Playoffs, Preds, and Betting Topic [A Champion Has Been Crowned!]

[Ngamer]

We just witnessed the wildest night of baseball in the history of the regular season, capped off by two of the four most epic collapses ever seen (statistically)!  Unfortunately there will be no one game playoffs this season, but that's fine; we all need the next two days to catch our breath anyways.

And besides, this gives up time to participate in the Elite's proudest tradition: predicting the MLB postseason!  Here's the setup:


Things to keep in mind...

* predict the whole postseason at once!
* the first series is best of 5, the next two are best of 7
* one bonus every time you pred a series exactly (as in "Yankees in 5")
* you get one bonus point for correctly predicting the World Series MVP

Good luck!
---

Here are the matchups in text form for easy copy/pasting.

Detroit Tigers at New York Yankees
Tampa Bay Rays at Texas Rangers
St. Louis Cardinals at Philadelphia Phillies
Arizona Diamondbacks at Milwaukee Brewers

[Ngamer]

Personally, I'm thinking...

Ngamer's Great Great Preds

Detroit Tigers > New York Yankees in 5
Texas Rangers > Tampa Bay Rays in 5
Philadelphia Phillies > St. Louis Cardinals in 4
Milwaukee Brewers > Arizona Diamondbacks in 4

Texas Rangers > Detroit Tigers in 7
Philadelphia Phillies > Milwaukee Brewers in 7

Philadelphia Phillies > Texas Rangers in 6

MVP: Hunter Pence

[Imperfect Clark]

I can't even begin to tell you what tonight was like for me and my friends watching the Rays.  There are so many storylines... I can't even get my mind around it.  One interesting thing to note is that last night Rafael Soriano (our closer ace who went to the yanks) gave up the winning home run in front of his old crowd.  Then Carl Crawford's inability to make a sliding catch cost them the game - and the season.  Just seems that no matter who suits up for the Rays, this team just overachieves...

And a note on poor attendance at the Trop.  There are a few reasons to take it with a grain of salt.  For one, for the same reason there is a smaller payroll, there is a smaller advertising budget, smaller marketing budget, etc - I see more promotional commercials for the Lightning than the Rays.  Second, the location of the stadium is really poor with respect to the largest population hubs around the Bay Area.  It takes 45 minutes to get there from the two main residential areas - St. Petersburg, the 3rd, is a bit old and artsy and not really a baseball city.  I mean, it just seems silly to deduce that people with such disparate backgrounds aside from living in the same area all share the trait of being bad fans.  It's not a reasonable conclusion, especially when considering how likable this Rays team is...  the way things are we may not deserve to keep this team but let it be known that the fans that are there are in love with this team.

-----anyway----

New York Yankees > Detroit Rangers in 6
Texas Rangers > Tampa Bay Rays in 6 (we just don't match up well and probably can't keep up the energy - consider their flat World Series after their triumphant series against Boston)
Philadelphia Phillies > St. Louis Cardinals in 7 (feel like Cards will battle, but Phillies just better/healthier/deeper)
Milwaukee Brewers > Arizona Diamondbacks in 5

Texas Rangers > New York Yankees in 7
Milwaukee Brewers > Philadelphia Phillies in 6

Milwaukee Brewers > Texas Rangers in 5

MVP = Braun


Lastly, Reyes is a chump

[..]

Yankees in 3
Rangers in 4

Phillies in 3
Brewers in 4

Yankees in 5
Phillies in 6

Yankees in 6

Curtis Granderson MVP

[Jonesy]

Yankees in 4
Rays in 5
Phillies in 4
Diamondbacks in 5

Rays in 6
Phillies in 5

Rays in 7

MVP: Longoria

[Jimbo]

Tigers over the Yankees in 5
Rays over the Rangers in 5 (miracle continues!
Phillies over the Cardinals in 5
Brewers over the Diamondbacks in 4

Tigers over the Rays in 6
Brewers over the Phillies in 6 (bad pick, I'm aware)

Tigers over the Brewers in 6 (who gets home field here, anyway?)

MVP = Justin Verlander

[TheFlash]

Ne4
Ta5
Ph4
Mi4

Ph6
Ne6

Ne6

Granderson

[Jack]

Detroit Tigers at New York Yankees
Tampa Bay Rays at Texas Rangers
St. Louis Cardinals at Philadelphia Phillies
Arizona Diamondbacks at Milwaukee Brewers

Detroit in 5
Tampa Bay in 4
Phils in 3
Brew Crew in 5

Tigers in 6
Phils in 5

Tigers in 7

MVP: Miggy Cabs

[youseinthehouse]

Then Carl Crawford's inability to make a sliding catch cost them the game - and the season.

And a note on poor attendance at the Trop...

Interesting, thanks for that insider info.  I never cared too much about Rays attendance (certainly having the crowd have no clue how to cheer in the '08 WS was only a benefit to the Phillies).  But last night I had a huge problem with people LINING UP TO LEAVE after the sixth and seventh innings down 7-0.  ON THE LAST DAY OF THE SEASON.  WITH THE TEAM STILL ALIVE.  Ugh.  Meanwhile Orioles, yes, ORIOLES fans packed into Camden Yards in what seemed like triple their usual attendance to see their team play for pride until the last out (though attendance is always higher due to Sox fans.  And yes, I watch the O's semi regularly).


HOKAY:

Rangers 4,
Tigers 5,
Tigers 6

Phillies 3,
Dbacks 5,
Phillies 5

Phillies 6

MVP: Cliff Lee

[Ngamer]

Clark: The first games are only best of 5, not 7!  (You sure are right about Reyes though!)

Jimbo: HECK, I just explained this last night!  Brewers have home field in the World Series due to Fielder smashing the game-winning home run in the All Star game.

EDIT - Whoops, meant we get ONE day to catch our breath, not two!  The AL series start tomorrow night, so get those picks in now!

[newershadow]

Detroit Tigers 5
Tampa Bay Rays 5
at Philadelphia Phillies 4
Milwaukee Brewers 5

Detroit Tigers 6
at Philadelphia Phillies 5

Detroit Tigers 6

MVP: Austin Jackson

[Imperfect Clark]

Yeah Ngamer, I just came in here after realizing.. I was a dit brunk when I posted.

New York Yankees > Detroit Rangers in 4
Texas Rangers > Tampa Bay Rays in 5
Philadelphia Phillies > St. Louis Cardinals in 5
Milwaukee Brewers > Arizona Diamondbacks in 3

[Imperfect Clark]

Oh, Bryan - love the gif

Yeah man, to be honest, it's really embarrassing to see how shitty the "attend bcs we knew someone with cheap tix" fans can be.  I can't blame you or anyone for judging the overall fanbase here harshly, which I hate to say.  The O's - let's consider there was "the story" of the Sox collapsing, combined with what was certainly a huge turnout of Boston fans.

[youseinthehouse]

Yeah, I've really been kicking myself that I didn't even think to go to the O's game on Wednesday night. I wasn't really defending Baltimore baseball fans, certainly attendance there has been low for many years, but that team has been mismanaged for decades.  The Rays, as you say, always seem to make something out of nothing.  I have a feeling O's fans would be out in droves if their team were ever within 10 games of a playoff spot in August/September.

Anyway, I know there are some diehards in Tampa, somewhere.  It is the only solace I have when their teams do well.  Lightning fans were moderately impressive last season, during the playoffs at least, when they had my attention ( http://www.rawcharge.com/2011/5/22/2184258/fans-make-human-lightning-bolt ).  Can't believe Bucs are having attendance problems having won the SB in the past decade.  Shit, the Eagles have never won a SB and the season ticket waiting list is 4000 years long (literally, albeit using some quite fuzzy extrapolation: http://www.aolnews.com/2007/06/01/want-eagles-season-tickets-wait-4-000-years/ )

[Ngamer]

Baseball Guru Alec Says...
Yankees 4
Rays 5
Phillies 3
Brewers 4


Third Knows His Role
Yankees in 4
Phillies in 4
Rays in 5
Brewers in 3

Phillies in 7
Yankees in 5

Yankees in 6
MVP: Robinson Cano

Boss Shuts Your Mouth
Yankees in 3
Rays in 4
Brewers in 4
Phillies in 4

Rays in 7
Phillies in 6

Phillies in 5
MVP: Cliff Lee

[Jack]

NL results are ridiculous.

[youseinthehouse]

NL results are ridiculous.

Agreed.  The AL, on the other hand, went about as smoothly as anyone* could have predicted.

*e.g. me.

[Thiradell]

mooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooorning

that was a good game

[Jimbo]

I have absolutely no relevant information to offer anyone in this topic, however I am very excited about playing a divisional opponent in the league championship series and I'm STOKED at the opportunity to possibly attend a World Series game! Thank you Fielder for securing NL home field advantage in the WS!

[Boss]

Wow I totally wiffed on the preds even having done them a bit late.  I think the Brew Crew are the favorites now though with home field throughout the rest of the playoffs.

[Jack]

Yankees in 4
Rays in 5
Phillies in 4
Diamondbacks in 5

Rays in 6
Phillies in 5

Rays in 7

MVP: Longoria

PWNED

[Jonesy]

Yankees in 4
Rays in 5
Phillies in 4
Diamondbacks in 5

Rays in 6
Phillies in 5

Rays in 7

MVP: Longoria

PWNED

Clearly my picks were for the bizarro playoffs.

[Ngamer]

Round One is over, and what a round it was!  Nearly every game was decided by a single run (or so it seemed!), there were some big upsets, and 3 of the 4 series went to the final game.  In the end we saw

Cardinals > Phillies in 5
Brewers > Dbacks in 5
Tigers > Yankees in 5
Rangers > Rays in 4

Let's check where that leaves us for our scoring!

(listed as player, current pts, possible pts remaining, Perfect Picks so far)

Ngamer - 4, Rangers in 7 (Perfect on Tigers)
Jack - 4, Tigers in 6, Tigers in 7, Miggy Cabs (Perfect on Tigers, Perfect on Brewers)
Youse - 4, Tigers in 6 (Perfect on Tigers, Perfect on Rangers)
Shadow - 4, Tigers in 6, Tigers in 6, Austin Jackson (Perfect on Tigers, Perfect on Brewers)
Jimbo - 3, Tigers in 6, Brewers in 6, Tigers in 6, Verlander (Perfect on Tigers)
Come - 3, nothing (Perfect on Rangers)
Clark - 2, Rangers in 7, Brewers in 6, Brewers in 5, Braun
Thingy - 1, nothing
Alec - 1, nothing
Third - 1, nothing
Boss - 1, nothing
Jones - 0, nothing

Dang, so much faith in the Tigers, and so little in the Rangers!  As a result it looks like our situation is...

* Clark wins with a Brewers Championship
* Ngamer wins with a Rangers vs Cardinals World Series
* Tigers in the WS and it will come down to how many games/MVP choice between Jack, Shadow, and Jimbo.

Goooo Brewers!

[Imperfect Clark]

Wait, that's what I say.  It will be nuts if the Cardinals go to the WS.

[Jack]

* Ngamer wins with a Rangers vs Cardinals World Series

Yep.

Now, the only question left is will the Cards troll us even more by winning the WS. I still find it funny that absolutely nobody picked them over the phillies in rd 1.

[wishiwasfamous]

Really bummed I missed posting about the postseason this year, welp!

For what it's worth:

Rangers in 6

[Ngamer]

Pretty good Championship Series, though it was a little disappointing that neither went to the final game and a lot disappointing that the wrong teams won.

Final Results:
Rangers > Tigers in 6 games
Cardinals > Brewers in 6 games

That means the World Series starts Wednesday night, the Cardinals will host the Rangers, and as you see from the scoring chart below...

Ngamer - 6, +2 from Rangers, nothing left
Jack - 4, nothing
Youse - 4, nothing
Shadow - 4, nothing
Clark - 4, got +2 from Rangers, nothing left
Jimbo - 3, nothing
Come - 3, nothing
Thingy - 1, nothing
Alec - 1, nothing
Third - 1, nothing
Boss - 1, nothing
Jones - 0, nothing

...it will be entirely meaningless!  In terms of our Elite predictions, that is.  0 picked the Cards to get this far (or even survive R1!), and although Clark and I both took the Rangers to make the WS, we both had them losing to the NL once they got there.

That means your 2011 baseball Champ is Ngamer, who defends his 2010 title and will be looking to threepeat in 2012.  Long live the King, baby!

[wheatrich]

still feels like ngamer should still be DQ'd for not picking the Brewers.  Major loss of brewer fan points imo