September 30th update

MLB Playoffs start today


Now that the field is set after the unbelievable events of Wednesday's regular season finales, we're finally ready to start baseball's second season. Here's a preview of the 4 series:

Phillies vs. Cardinals: Cardinals fans were big fans of Philadelphia as recently as Wednesday as the Phillies sweep of the Braves enabled the Cardinals to make the playoffs. But now they need to find a way to score runs off one of the best rotations in MLB history. Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels were #2, #3 and #6 respectively in ERA and all have won either the Cy Young award or the World Series MVP before. Roy Oswalt is no slouch either, especially as the fourth starter. The question will be whether or not the Cardinals can find a way to score some runs and shut down the Phillies talented but inconsistent hitters.

Diamondbacks vs. Brewers: On paper this looks one-sided. The D-Backs have exactly one elite hitter (Justin Upton) and one elite pitcher (Ian Kennedy) while the Brewers look like a video game team with Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun, Rickie Weeks, Zack Greinke, Yovani Gallardo and John Axford. But Arizona has been scorching hot (literally and figuratively) and will look to continue their great play into October.

Yankees vs Tigers: New York had the best team in the American League and has a team full of stars including 3 of the top 4 RBI leaders in the A.L. but they'll probably have to go up at least twice against a guy having one of the best pitching seasons in recent memory, Sportico favorite Justin Verlander. It will be tough to beat Detroit if they lose twice to Verlander and Detroit also has masher Miguel Cabrera and a consistent group of veterans around him in the lineup.

Rangers vs. Rays: A rematch of last year's ALDS, both teams have actually lost key contributors but return here nonetheless for much different reasons. The Rangers have
had one of the best offenses in baseball all year and have 3 young hard throwing left-handed pitchers who have seemed to get better and better as the year has progressed. The Rays led the majors in multiple pitching categories, had the second lowest starters ERA of any team in the past 20 years (The 2010 Oakland A's were 1st) and benefited from sizzling hot streaks from Sam Fuld, Desmond Jennings, Evan Longoria, B.J. Upton and Matt Joyce among others. The series may simply depend on which team has more guys get hot.


Big early season matchups in Week 4 of NFL


• It's been quite a few years since the Detroit Lions were pegged as part of the game of the week. However, when the upstart Lions play the Cowboys Sunday in matchup of first place teams, the winner will be on a good pace to make the playoffs. The teams are a combined 5-1 with the only loss being a late Dallas collapse against the Jets in a game they led by 14 in the 4th quarter.

• In other games, the Houston Texans high-octane offense will get a boost from the probable return of Arian Foster as they meet the Steelers intimidating defense in a matchup of 2-1 teams.

• Tom Brady and the high-flying Patriots passing game invades Oakland where the Raiders are playing football again for the first time in years... (Oh wait, they never stopped? I guess it just seemed like it). Oakland sports the #1 rushing offense in the NFL and would be undefeated if they'd managed to hold onto a big lead in Week 2 against Buffalo.

• Last but not least, on Sunday night, the Jets and Ravens will be sure to do a lot of trash talking and hard hitting in a solid matchup of playoff regulars.