TigerHawk

TigerHawk (ti*ger*hawk): n. 1. The title of this blog and the nom de plume of its founding blogger; 2. A deep bow to the Princeton Tigers and the Iowa Hawkeyes; 3. The nickname for Iowa's Hawkeye logo. Posts include thoughts of the day on international affairs, politics, things that strike us as hilarious and personal observations. The opinions we express are our own, and not those of each other, our employers, our relatives, our dead ancestors, or unrelated people of similar ethnicity.

Monday, October 01, 2007

Let the games begin

By Charlottesvillain at 10/01/2007 09:08:00 AM

I have refrained from posting on baseball since I nearly jinxed the Cubs back on July 6th with my post Don't look now, here come the Cubbies! At that time they were one of the hottest teams in baseball, and while I did not actually predict that they would win the NL Central, I was optimistic. With their clinching of the title on Friday night, I could exhale after a stressful couple of months that saw the Cubs take first place in the division from the Brewers, relinquish it, take it back again, but never open up enough of a lead to be safe. Now the Cubs are in, and will face Arizona in a series that begins Wednesday.

For the Cubs it is their first postseason appearance since 2003 and the Steve Bartman debacle. Aramis Ramirez, Carlos Zambrano, and Kerry Wood are the only holdovers from that team if I have my facts right. The Cubs defy predictions so I will make none, but will hold on for what always ends up being a wild ride.

The rest of the National League picture will not be fully resolved until this evening, when the San Diego Padres play the Colorado Rockies in Denver in a one-game playoff to determine the NL Wildcard winner (Peavey vs Fogg). The winner will play the Philadelphia Phillies, NL East Champs on the final day of the season, courtesy of a stunning collapse by the New York Mets who had a 7 game lead with 17 to play. I won't gloat, Mets fans. I've tasted these agonies myself. Just pray the Phillies don't win it all and you have to spend the rest of your lives hearing about the "Miracle Phils" the way Cubs fans have had their '69 collapse rubbed in by the Mets.

In the American League, it will be the Yankees vs the Cleveland Indians, and the Boston Red Sox vs the LA (FKA Anaheim) Angels. The Yankees almost overcame very long odds to win the East outright, nearly overcoming a 14.5 game deficit in June. Naturally everyone looks forward to a Yankees/Red Sox Championship Series, which probably means the Angels will breeze through the playoffs and force us to watch those damn late games on the West Coast.

Regardless, I have a feeling that this year's playoffs will offer some very interesting stories, even after we get past the rehashing of the 99 years since a Cubs World Series Championship.

Full playoff schedules can be found here.

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5 Comments:

By Purple Avenger, at Mon Oct 01, 06:00:00 PM:

Any team that can't win a single game from the wretched Marlins this year is going nowhere fast.

By Anonymous, at Tue Oct 02, 01:08:00 PM:

Well, since my hometown Indians took 2 out 3 from the dreaded Marlins I think we can conclude the Tribe will be a force in this years postseason!

Andrew

By Cassandra, at Thu Oct 04, 08:46:00 PM:

Somewhere up in heaven, my nephew Tommy is smiling.

The Cubs were his favorite team. What a wonderful end to the work day. Thank you for this :)

By Anonymous, at Fri Oct 05, 11:14:00 PM:

Here's hoping for a Cubbies/Indians series. It does indeed feel good to end the week up 2 love on the Yankees!

Andrew

By Anonymous, at Sat Oct 06, 04:23:00 PM:

Chicago the windy city run by a whole bunch of demacratic windbags