Great start to the postseason

What a great game today/tonight between the Twins and the Tigers. That game had everything - big hits, great catches, plays at the plate, bone headed plays, and extra innings.

Let's hope the Twins' roll continues tomorrow against the Yankees. That kind of momentum can take a team a long way. The Rockies rode a great September, and a one-game playoff win, all the way to the 2007 World Series.

The 2009 playoffs look wide open. The Dodgers will likely dispatch the Cardinals, but the Phillies could either win it all or lose to the once-again hot Rockies. I see both the Dodgers and Phils advancing, with the Phillies repeating as NL champs.

In the AL, I'll stick with the Twins to upset the Yankees and the Angels to top the Sox, with the Angels stopping the Twins' run.

If that happens baseball will have something it has rarely had since the demise of the recent Yankees Jeter-Torre-Williams-Posada-Rivera-Petitite dynasty - a repeat champion. If the Phillies or Angels go to the Series one team will join the 2004 and 2007 Red Sox as the only squad with more than one championship since 2001.

In that regard baseball has had much more parity than the other major sports; seven different teams have won the last eight World Series.

Compare that to the NBA, where six teams (Lakers, Spurs, Celtics, Bulls, Pistons, Rockets) have won 24 of the last 25 championships. That league is an oligarchy.

The NFL is like the NBA, with two teams (Pats and Steelers) winning five of the last eight Super Bowls. However, to the Super Bowl's credit some odd teams such as the Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks have played for a championship recently,

From First to Worst

But enough about championship teams, let's revisit our hometown Nats. The Nationals finished the 2009 season as the only team to start the season with a seven-losing streak and end it with a seven-game winning streak. They also had an eight-game win streak in there too.

In fact, if you look at the standings at the end of that eight-game streak the Nats were in last place with a 40-72 record. The other last place teams were: Pittsburgh (45-66); San Diego (47-66); Baltimore (46-66); Kansas City (43-68) and Oakland (50-62). A few things worth noting:

• At that point the Nats were only 3 games back of the Royals and 5 of the Pirates, and for a while Evan and I hoped we would catch one of those teams and not finish with the worst record in the majors. That did hot happen;
• It didn't happen because the Nats finished the season by going 19-31;
• However, if you add the eight-game winning streak it's an almost respectable 27-31 record;
• The only teams to win fewer games than the Nats after August 11th were the Orioles with 17 and the PIrates with 17;
• Of the six teams in last place on August 11th, five finished in last place. The only team to move up in the standings were the Padres, who went 27-20 after August 2nd to pass the Diamondbacks (18-30 after the 2nd).

For the record, here are the standings for the last place teams AFTER August 11th:

San Diego 27-20

Oakland 25-24

Kansas City 22-28

Washington 19-31

Arizona 18-31

Pittsburgh 17-32

Baltimore 17-32

So compared to our last place colleagues, the Nats didn't do so bad (except compared to those show offs in California).

Finally, it will be interesting to see what the Nats' front office does in the off season. In today's Post GM Mike Rizzo stated 'we are not going to bring back the same team that won only 58 games.' It seems safe to assume that the core of good (ZImmerman, Dunn, Lannan), hurt and/or promising (Morgan, Flores, Dukes, Detwiler, Mock, Staman, Desmond) and decent (MacDougal, Martin) players will return but after than who knows?

Carolina Football

I still cannot believe how badly Carolina played - in Chapel Hill! - in their loss to previously winless Virginia. The young offensive line has been exposed, and as a result the 2009 football season is practically over for the Heels.