Major League Baseball Playoffs Begin as One Team Crumbles

The Playoffs for Major League Baseball are underway and there has already been some shocking moments, one of which is the exclusion of both the Atlanta Braves and the Boston Red Sox from the season’s end.  In fact, the Red Sox have had quite a disastrous month, as they went through September 7-20 and even blew a nine and a half lead in the wild card game.  All this despite one of the best rosters in the sport!

What happened to the Red Sox?  Was it really the failure of Terry Jon Francona, who was apparently judged to be such a de-motivational force that he actually got fired after eight long seasons?  Or was it Theo Epstein, who arguably made a series of bad decisions leading up to the new season?  Then again, the problem could have been the team itself, perhaps suffering from a bit of overconfidence, as they dominated the early season but lost sight of the goal.

The Red Sox season will go down in history as one of the most unlikely and poorly managed finishes to a MLB season.  Life goes on however and now–ironically–the talk of the sport is that the New York Yankees could go on to win their 28th World Series title.  The major competition this season will be the Philadelphia Phillies who currently have the best score card in the game.

The Phillies certainly do have some advantages going into the playoffs, including Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee, who actually chose to play with Philadelphia instead of New York.  Do the Yankees have a chance?  Offense wise, they are intimidating (Granderson and Cano come to mind) but honestly they haven’t been playing at championship caliber this season.  Most fans will admit their pitching rotation is flawed.

Of course, anyone who really keeps track of the score should not be too surprised.  In baseball, the team with the best record early on has gone on to win the World Series only three times–a far cry from say, the NFL, when early favorites tend to build momentum and increase wins as the season continues.  Why can even bad Playoff teams go on to win championships.  Remember the White Sox win six years ago?  How about the Florida Marlins?

Who do you think has the advantage this year?

Categorized in: MLB