The postseason could not get here soon enough for me this year. While I am disappointed the Brewers have failed to make the playoffs for the 3rd consecutive season, with the way they have been playing the last month I am more than ready to start watching some exciting competitive baseball. Every year there is seemingly at least one team that people may not have expected to win, or was maybe a dark horse pick by some experts/myself, and this year that team is the Kansas City Royals. They ended MLB's longest active postseason drought at 29 years with an 89-win season and a wild card birth. I'm glad they at least get to play that one game at home in front of the KC fans, even though statistically they are a much better team on the road. And it's certainly really great to see Ned Yost finally make it to the postseason after getting canned towards the end of the '08 Brewers run. The A's managed to avoid an epic Brewers-style collapse to play KC in the Wild Card matchup, and they would definitely be a team to watch with their stacked rotation and the fact that they won't have to play the nemesis Tigers in the first 2 rounds. The torch for longest playoff drought will now pass to the Toronto Blue Jays, who have not made the playoffs since they went all the way in 1993. Another team I would put in the "surprise" category is the Angels, who led all of baseball with 98 wins. Despite an aging middle of the lineup and rotation, an RBI title from Mike Trout and a nice bounce-back year from Albert Pujols, along with a strong bullpen, led this team to the postseason for the first time in 5 years.
I picked the Dodgers to win the World Series this year, and I'm sticking to that, although I will be rooting for a Nats-Royals series. Even though I only lived in DC for about 7 months, the Nationals will always have a spot in my heart since I was there for their inaugural season.
PLAYOFFS START 9/30/14
NL Wild Card - #4 Pirates v. #5 Giants
NLDS - #1 Nationals v. WC winner
#2 Dodgers v. #3 Cardinals
AL Wild Card - #4 Royals v. #5 Athletics
ALDS - #1 Angels v. WC winner
#2 Orioles v. #3 Tigers
World Series Prediction: Dodgers defeat O's in 6
Rooting for: Nationals v. Royals
Preseason Predictions
#1 Dodgers
#2 Nationals
#3 Cardinals
#4 Brewers
#5 Braves
Dodgers defeat Nationals in NLCS
#1 Athletics
#2 Tigers
#3 Orioles
#4 Yankees
#5 Royals
Orioles defeat Athletics in ALCS
World Series - Dodgers defeat O's in 6
FINAL STANDINGS 2014:
Brewers 82-80, -8.0, 3rd NL Central
Reds 76-86, -14.0, 4th NL Central
Twins 70-92, -20.0, last AL Central
FINAL 2014 GAMES ATTENDED:
Erik - 7 (+26 worked)
Peter - 40
touch with baseball when his childhood heroes Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, and Jim Gantner retired but the Great Home Run Chase of 1998 reignited his passion. As a student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Erik became involved with the campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity. With this group Erik traveled to Portland, OR and Baltimore, MD to work on construction projects and help the group raise $25,000 to partially sponsor a house in Milwaukee. Also at UWM, Erik met Peter Nagel. The two attended their first Brewers game together during Opening Weekend 2003. Despite their failure to ignite the coals at their first tailgate, the two had a blast and were soon making weekly trips to the ballpark. Erik has gone on to several colleges and changed careers several times, and has moved all the way out to New Hampshire, but has always stayed true to his baseball roots by holding part-time stadium usher jobs. To this day he looks back fondly on his incredible cross-country journey.
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