I’ll admit it. I was completely wrong a few weeks ago in my Major League Baseball postseason picks. They were terrible, and I am ashamed.
It was so bad that my World Series winner (the Tampa Bay Rays) was eliminated in the first round by the now-American League champion Texas Rangers.
My National League champion (the Philadelphia Phillies) didn’t do much better, losing to the San Francisco Giants (who I had losing to my Atlanta Braves in the first round).
I’m sorry to all the hundreds of you who put lots of money on my expert picks. It was just terrible on my part, but I can’t pay you back. Just deal with it and bet a lot of money on whomever I don’t choose here to win the World Series.
However, I will say this much: Whoever picked the Giants to play the Rangers before the playoffs began is either a baseball genius, lucky or a huge fan of one of those two teams (I wasn’t even aware Rangers fans existed outside of my freshman-year roommate).
Honestly, those two teams were the last picks in my rankings for their respective leagues.
But they made it through, and it’s going to be a great series.
The analysts on ESPN, MLB Network and all the other shows keep talking about how it’s a great series because of the stories behind the teams.
For the Rangers, you have a formerly coked-up manager, a former alcoholic who has been through it all and a club that hasn’t even seen the World Series in its nearly 50 years of existence.
For the Giants, it’s one big group of misfits. They have a rookie catcher who’s tearing up the postseason (much to my dislike), a black-bearded former LSU pitcher who is unhittable and a hippie former Cy Young winner who is just as untouchable.
In between all that, the oddest story may be the fact that current Ranger catcher Bengie Molina will get a World Series ring no matter the outcome. Molina was traded by the Giants to Texas on July 1 to make room for that aforementioned rookie catcher whose name I refuse to say, so he was an integral part to both teams’ success.
All are great stories, but sometimes we in the media get too caught up in the stories.
I’m looking forward to the baseball that’s going to be happening on the field with the teams, not the individuals. These are by far — whether I want to admit it or not — the best two teams in the playoffs (emphasis on teams).
They play together. It shows. Just watch, and you will see what I’m talking about.
With that said, I’m taking the Rangers in seven games (sorry Rangers fans for my cursed pick). I had no faith in them before the playoffs began, and now after having watched all of their games, I have every last bit of faith in them.
It’s a great story, similar in some ways to the New Orleans Saints’ run to the Super Bowl last year.
I’m ready to sit back and watch a great World Series.
But I’ll be happy no matter the outcome because the Phillies and Yankees aren’t in it.
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Contact Andy Schwehm at [email protected]