The Dog Days of Summer

As we rapidly approach those brutal, hazy, humid days of late summer, our heroes of the diamond begin their assent to October glory. Let's have a look at where we stand now and how I think we'll finish up:

AL East: Simply put...professional sports' most brutal division (I give it a slight, I mean very slight edge over the NFC East). Sawx, Yanks and Rays will battle to end...I hear many calling for the Rays to revive their magic of a year ago, but I just don't see it, you only strike gold once. I'm going old reliable....Sox, Yanks...one's got the division, one has the wild card...I'll let the Bronx Bombers come out of top, but everyone over at Stan's Sports Bar better realize that the pitching staff as presently constituted ain't gonna cut it! (At this very moment in time, Mike is calling me because word just broke that Big Papi and Manny tested positive in 2003, yes Mike, I know! Are we really that surprised?....I am not answering his phone call though because I don't want to hear how we needed roids to break an 86-year old curse...ARod, Giambi, the list goes on....everyone did it, everything has an asterisk...I'll bet my walking boot, players on the Cardinals team we beat were doing it too!!!) Anyway.....the Beantowners have more pitchers than The Beechmont! Oh, and Halladay stays put....too much for any one team to give up to get him.

AL Central: A not so big step beneath the AL East in terms of brutality...Tigers, Twins and Ozzie's Bunch separated by only 3 games....no chance anyone here steals the Wild Card, but one hell of a race for the division it will be. I like the Twins here...constantly underrated, but always find a way to sneak in...outhit and outscore the other two squads. I got 7-2 odds, Ozzie goes ballistic on someone in his own dugout before season's end. And how about a hand for Mark Buehrle...hell of a week my friend....quick trivia here for you 501 fans....umpire Eric Cooper was behind the plate for both of Buehrle's no hitters...Stump the Schwab kids!!!!

AL West: With Oakland out to pasture, the division is somewhat close with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim South of San Francisco and North of San Diego lead the Rangers and the surprising Mariners. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say the Rangers sneak up and catch the Angels...no reason in particular, just a feeling.

NL East: No one catches the Fighting Phils, especially now with the addition of Cliff Lee...The Metropolitans are an abject disgrace and are better served taking their side show to the Iona College wiffleball league (hey Cips, you have a new team!).

NL Central: Quite the race we have brewing here as well....I do not believe the Wild Card will come from here because the teams just simply beat each other up too much. My heart says the Cubbies, but my mind says the Cards. Sorry North Siders.....there's always next year!

NL West: No one catches Mannywood and despite an incredible rotation of young fireballers, the Giants lose out of the wild card to the Rockies....check the stats my friends, San Fran is 10 games under .500 on the road, Colorado has a winning record.

So here is how we stand heading into the playoffs:

American League: Yankees, Twins, Rangers, Red Sox (WC)

National League: Phillies, Cardinals, Dodgers, Rockies (WC)

Divisonal Series:

Twins over Yankees in 6

Red Sox over Rangers in 6

Cardinals over Dodgers in 7

Phillies over Rockies in 6

League Championships Series:

Red Sox over Twins in 5

Phillies over Cardinals in 7

World Series:

Red Sox over Phillies in 7 (at last a chance for the BoSox Faithful to celebrate a title at The Fens!)

Let me know what you think of my predictions...hey, maybe one of the other 501 Boys will actually contribute to the blog and not play hours of mini putt all day (Jay!)!