American League Division Series Playoff Predictions

Well, the AL side of the bracket is ready to go, and we'll have to wait til tomorrow night to see who's going to represent the NL as the wild card. Until then, here are my predictions for the ALDS:

Boston Red Sox vs. Anaheim Angels

Anaheim typically does not play well in Boston - drawing the Yankees would have been a much more favorable matchup for the Angels. Manny Ramirez finally looks like he's ready to rejoin the team after taking the last month off, and if Boston's firing on all cylinders, they'll be awfully tough. The only questions about the Red Sox is the state of their rotation - after Josh Beckett, they'll trot out a suddenly very old Curt Schilling, an awful Tim Wakefield, and an out-of-gas, overworked Daisuke Matsuzaka. I still can't pick against Beantown here, so I'm saying Boston wins in 4.

New York Yankees vs. Cleveland Indians

This series is much tougher to call. Taking into account the way that the Yankees manhandled the Tigers last regular season only to be outclassed in 4... it's important to remember to wipe the slate clean, so to speak. Cleveland is going to pitch ace C.C. Sabathia twice, which actually doesn't really sway me - the Yankees actually hit the good pitchers really well; it's the journeymen and rookies that usually wind up with 7 innings of 3 hit ball against them.

Regardless, I have ZERO faith in this Yankee team this year, so I don't even have my hopes up. They either put up 15 runs in a game, or nobody hits at all; 5 straight games of quality starts, or a week where no starter gets out of the 4th inning. All that said, I I'm taking Cleveland in 5.