The Making of Bryan Cranston's One-Man MLB Postseason Show

If you like any combination of baseball, Bryan Cranston, Bugs Bunny, Pedro Martinez and the organ player from the Polo Grounds, then just sit back and enjoy.

Unfortunate Order Is Restored to MLB Postseason

The League Championship series have been set with the Tigers taking on the Yankees for the AL crown, and the Giants and Cardinals chasing the pennant in the NL.  All of the headlines entering the postseason have been erased with a very familiar four teams still remaining, taking away from what has been one of the best playoffs in recent years.

The four teams remaining are very capable of playing good baseball, so the games should prove to be just as entertaining.  But think about everything we had heading into October and how it has panned out so far.

The Atlanta Braves made the first Wild Card spot in the NL, hoping to go the distance for third baseman Chipper Jones, in his final season with the club.  Jones earned a World Series ring in 1995, but in a season where he was honored at nearly every park he went to, this would have been the ultimate icing on the cake for a first-ballot Hall of Fame career.  The Braves were bounced after a very questionable call in the Wild Card play-in game to the defending champion Cardinals.

The Oakland A's erased a 13-game deficit from July 1 to take the AL West crown.  A team that hasn't been relevant since 2006 was surging ahead of the Angels and right on the heels of the AL Champion Rangers.  Josh Reddick acting like Stone Cold Steve Austin, Grant Balfour "Ragefest," a pitching staff that impressed time and time again even though the average fan couldn't name more than two members.  They were the ultimate underdog story, the second-coming of Moneyball.  Coco Crisp, Brandon Moss, George Kottaras and Josh Reddick were all former Red Sox players, so that even gave them a little momentum back east.  After a stunning 3-run comeback in Game 4, they got crushed by ace Justin Verlander and the Tigers in Game 5, leaving the craziest fans in baseball sitting at home til next April.

The Baltimore Orioles went 69-93 last season.  In 2012 they flipped it around, coming out of nowhere to finish inches behind the Yankees in the AL East at 93-69.  Oriole Park at Camden Yards has been referred to as Fenway and Yankee Stadium South when those teams visited, with the hometown fans usually getting drowned out by the opposition.  For Game 1 of the Division Series, every seat was filled with an orange shirt waving an orange towel, chanting "Seven Nation Army" like they do across the street at M&T Bank Stadium.  The team hadn't made the postseason since 1997, and with a collection of young talent backed by veterans like Jim Thome you couldn't help but root for them against the Evil Empire.

Finally, the Nationals.  A team that received more criticism than congratulations.  General manager Mike Rizzo made the decision to shut down Stephen Strasburg because of a strict innings count he put on the starter to begin the season, which unnecessarily riled up competing GMs.  Other young stars like Jordan Zimmermann and Bryce Harper mixed with the veterans Jayson Werth and Adam LaRoche gave the Baltimore-Washington area more reason to gear up for the postseason.  The Nats had the best record in the league, and blew a 6-0 lead to fall 9-7 to the Cardinals Saturday night, cutting the franchise's first playoff appearance since 1981 short.

Now, baseball is right back where it always has been, where four of the bigger market teams remain.  With the except of 2008, the Yankees have been in the postseason every year since 1995.  The Tigers have a marketing machine in Miguel Cabrera after he won the Triple Crown, and have already finished off the Yankees' season twice since 2006.  The Cardinals have won two World Series since 2006, and are the least interesting team to watch.  As for the Giants, well they're the best of a bad situation in the NL West, and after losing Melky Cabrera to a steroids suspension, they have proved to everyone their offense is still a force to be reckoned with.

Best case scenario is Tigers and Giants in the World Series with the Tigers capturing glory.  The ALCS starts Saturday night at 8 p.m.

E-40, Giants Fans Show Support Through Song

I mean, its like a car wreck. A 30-car pile-up. Like that moment in a NASCAR race, when cars start flipping and you go from thinking its awesome to getting sick to your stomach.

The next video is from rapper E-40.  The guy who only has one song?  False.  It was only a few days ago that I searched some of his stuff on Spotify and found some gems.  Here are a few highlights:

Gargoyle Serenade
In This Thang Breh
Stove On High
My Lil Grimey N*gga
I'ma Teach Ya Hot To Sell Dope
Extra Mannish

You get the idea.  So here's his latest addition to the mix.  Enjoy.  Or try to.  Or don't, probably easier if you don't.

Crabcakes and Baseball - That's What Division Series Are All About

It took five games for the Tigers to outlast the Athletics, and it took five games for the Giants to stage a backs-against-the-wall comeback against the Reds.  Friday night, the Orioles will attempt to take down the Yankees at home, and the Nationals will try to use their own home field advantage to wipe out the defending World Champion Cardinals.

The Reds won their first two games against the Giants in San Francisco, but went winless at home -- where they went 50-31 in the regular season -- for the remainder of the series to fall 3-2.  The A's, fresh off a walk-off win in the ninth inning of Game 4, could only muster four hits without a run against the indomitable Justin Verlander to fall 6-0 in Game 5, and 3-2 in the series.

But onto Friday.  The Orioles have never lost a series in New York, and tied the season series at 9-9.  They'll send Jason Hammel into the trenches against Yankees ace CC Sabathia.  Neither team has gotten their offense going, with players like Matt Wieters, Adam Jones, Jim Thome, Alex Rodriguez, Robinson Cano and Nick Swisher all hitting under .200 for the series.  I like the Orioles here, though.  The Yankees have looked sluggish at home, and if the O's can get an early run on the board, that should be all the confidence they need.

Just south of Baltimore, Washington will try to advance using their "October Natitude."  I agree, its one of the worst postseason slogans, but whatever gets the people going.  Riding the coattails of Jayson Werth's walk-off home run, their momentum coupled with Gio Gonzalez on the hill should bump them past the Cards with ease.

Underdog stories are few and far between in baseball.  The A's have already been bounced, with the O's and Nats trying to play Cinderella this year.  Last season, the Cardinals barely squeaked in to win it all.  Thinking back before that, however, you'd have to go to the Rays in 2008, when they beat out the defending champion Red Sox.  They couldn't get 15,000 people to Tropicana Field on a given night, but then the postseason came, the place was filled to the catwalks, and I was hearing cowbells for the next week and a half.

They eventually lost to the Phillies for the World Series, but in my opinion, baseball has never been on the stage it is on this year.  The NHL is in a lockout, freeing up fans' evenings as the season should be underway.  Cities like Oakland, Baltimore and D.C. have turned out in full force to support their teams like never before, filling up their respective parks.  If there would be any games to watch this postseason, it will be the games tonight.

Jayson Werth Forces Game Five After Hitting Walk-Off Home Run on Thirteenth Pitch of At-Bat

What do Raul Ibanez, Coco Crisp and Jayson Werth all have in common?  They have all had walk-off hits within the past 24 hours to push their teams closer to the Fall Classic.

Wednesday night, Ibanez came in as a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the ninth, hit a game-tying bomb, then a game-winning shot in the twelfth to take a 2-1 series lead over Baltimore.  Crisp, with his team down 3-1 going into the bottom of the ninth, capped the three run comeback off with an RBI single to force Game 5 against Justin Verlander and the Tigers.

Thursday night, with a close game at 1-1 going into the ninth between the defending World Champion Cardinals and the Nationals, Werth led off the bottom of the frame.  The Nats were feeling it on defense, with the pitchers collecting eight of the last nine outs by way of the K.  Werth saw 12 pitches against starter-turned-reliever Lance Lynn, and with a full count, the 13th pitch came, and it sure did go.  Werth slammed a line drive home run over the left field fence to force another Game 5 in the 2012 MLB postseason.

"I was sitting at home watching my boy Raul Ibanez do it, and he gave me something to do today," Werth said after the game, still catching his breath from the celebration.

Thursday afternoon, the Giants won their Game 5 against the Reds, becoming the fifth team to ever come back from a 2-0 deficit in a five game series.  Game 4 of the Orioles-Yankees series is set to begin at 7:37, with Phil Hughes taking on Joe Saunders.  For the nightcap, the amazing story of the Oakland A's continues with Game 5 from O.co Coliseum.

As for my picks?  0-for-3.  I picked the Braves to win the now Cards-Nats series, so there goes another one, and my World Series winners, the Reds, were eliminated in their hometown today.  Awful news.

But man, do I love baseball.

Josh Reddick Is Reason Enough to Want the A's to Beat the Tigers

If you had a childhood, then chances are you like wrestling.  If you follow baseball, then chances are you like Josh Reddick.  Former Red Sox great was traded to Oakland this past offseason in a deal that included closer Andrew Bailey.

Given Bailey's thumb injury that sidelined him for most of the 2012 campaign, its easy for Red Sox fans to sit back and badmouth the deal, but no one could have predicted Reddick's breakout year.  He's playing in a bigger park, for a smaller market team and hasn't gotten a haircut in two and a half years.  Yet he's leading the charge against the Detroit Tigers as his team trails two games to one going into Game 4 in Oakland today.

When the A's captured the AL West crown, Reddick donned his yellow A's bathrobe and paid homage to the wrestling great "Stone Cold" Steve Austin by doing the classic double beer chug.  I picked the A's to go to the World Series this year, and even with the Tigers one win away from moving on, I'm keeping the faith here. 

Balfour Rage.

Postseason Picks Going South, But There's Still Hope For Me In Cincy

As if I needed more proof that I'm just not very good at predicting the future of baseball, here it is.

Both Wild Card games I selected have been wrong and the Oakland A's are down two games to none.  What I'm about to say could change the shape of the postseason altogether, since I seem to be horrible luck, but I will say it anyway.

I am putting all of my stock into the Cincinnati Reds.

I picked the Reds to win the World Series from the get-go.  They're up 2-0 on the San Francisco Giants so far, with the remaining three games, if necessary, to be played at home at Great American Ballpark.  In Game 1, the Reds lost starter Johnny Cueto after just eight pitches, but managed to shake off the loss of their ace and pull out a win.

Cueto, along with the entire Reds organization, hopes he will be ready to pitch in Game 3.  He left the first game with back spasms, which shouldn't be too serious.

I picked the Yankees to win their ALDS match-up, and even though I didn't pick Baltimore to get this far, I would love nothing more than for them to win.  They're down 1-0 after a ninth inning meltdown last night, but I'll hang my hat on their 9-9 record against the Bronx Bombers any day of the week.  As for the Braves losing, I don't want to talk about that.  Chipper Jones.  That is all I want to say about that.

Infield Fly Rule Called By Outfield Umpire? Braves Fall to Cardinals, 6-3 After Controversial Call

This was the scene at Turner field on Friday night.  If you're familiar with sports, you have probably seen the replay of the controversial call during the one-game Wild Card playoff game between the Braves and the Cardinals more times than you can count.  And even if you're not that familiar with the rules of baseball, you still can't believe what you saw.

Don't even try to make sense of this, because it just defies everything you've ever learned in your entire life.  To make a call like this, an "infield fly" call, when the ball is very clearly past even shallow left left, is just plain absurdity.

This could have been a bases loaded situation for the Braves with one out and Brian McCann coming to the plate.  Instead, there were two outs, with the should-be runner on first sitting in the dugout, while McCann looked towards the field as beer bottles and trash reigned down from the entire stadium.  Its a disgusting sight to see, but I can understand the fans' frustrations.  But, come on, guys, Chipper Jones' last game and this is how you act?

Any way you slice it, the ridiculous call did account for some entertainment in the Twittersphere.

World Series Odds and Picks

The playoff picture is set and framed, with games to start Friday evening.  In this postseason already filled with storylines, will their be a Cinderalla, an upset, a front runner?  Anything is possible in October.

Here are the bettings odds for each team winning the World Series:

New York Yankees   5/1
Washington Nationals   5/1
Cincinnati Reds   5/1
Detroit Tigers   6/1
Texas Rangers   7/1
Oakland Athletics   15/2
San Francisco Giants   15/2
Atlanta Braves   12/1
Baltimore Orioles   15/1
St. Louis Cardinals   15/1

It's tough for me to predict how the postseason will go this year without my biases getting in the way, but that's half the fun, really.  No one can deny how strong the Tigers pitching rotation is, or how the Yankees are getting hot as the most opportune time.  You can't overlook the Reds offense, and you can never really count the Cardinals out of anything.  With all that said, here are my picks.

Wild Card

AL: RANGERS over Orioles

NL: BRAVES over Cardinals 

Division Series

AL: ATHLETICS over Tigers

YANKEES over Rangers 

NL: REDS over Giants

BRAVES over Nationals

Championship Series

ATHLETICS over Yankees

REDS over Braves

World Series

REDS over Athletics

Now, as we've seen with a number of my Red Sox posts throughout the season, I have been wrong several times.  But I'll start the conversation with my picks, so if anyone would like to disagree, throw some comments down below.

Moneyball 2: The Chronicles of Reddick and the Rest of the Postseason Teams

 
I'm in the process of getting the rights to that first part of title, so don't even think about using it.

Well, baseball's postseason is set, with the two Wild Card games set to play Friday.  From the American League, the Texas Rangers and Baltimore Orioles will square off for the Wild Card, with the winner facing the number one seed New York Yankees.  The middle match-up will be between the Oakland A's and Detroit Tigers.

In the National League, Friday's Wild Card match-up is between the Atlanta Braves and defending World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals.  The winner of the one-game playoff will face the number one seed Washington Nationals, and the middle match-up is between the San Francisco Giants and Cincinnati Reds.

Some big surprises and storylines in the playoffs here, which always makes for great baseball.  The A's were down 13 games to the AL West-leading Rangers going into July, and completed the division-winning comeback by sweeping the Rangers in games 160, 161 and 162.

Looking at the team this year, Billy Beane appears to have done it again.  Former Red Sox great Josh Reddick is having a career year to lead the team, alongside the likes of Coco Crisp, Brandon Moss, Brandon Inge, Josh Donaldson, Yoenis Cespedes, and George Kottaras.  Their pitchers?  Travis Blackley, A.J. Griffin, Evan Scribner -- ever heard of them?  You're not alone.  Looking for big things out of this team, they remind me of the 2004 Red Sox.

Oakland A's fans get a pretty bad rap for being, well, bad.  But if you haven't seen the phenomenon that is Balfour Ragefest, then that link right there is for you.  They have all of those intangibles you look for in a Cinderella Story, plus all of the goofy pieces and players that you look for to jump on the bandwagon.

As for the rest of the postseason, the Orioles haven't made the postseason in any form since 1997, and an hour south, the Nationals haven't made an appearance since they were the Montreal Expos in 1981.  For the Braves, this will be Chipper Jones' last season, and last postseason.  Can the Braves get Chipper one more for his already Hall of Fame-bound career? So many season to love baseball.

Bryce Harper Can't Celebrate With the Older Boys

The Washington Nationals clinched the National League East division with a loss to the Phillies when the Braves also lost to the Pirates on Monday night.  The last time the franchise won the division, whether in Montreal or Washington?  1981.

Players in the locker room donned their playoff hats, shirts and snorkel masks when the news was official, and cracked open countless bottles of champagne in celebration.  One player was noticeably absent from the festivities, however. 

Only 19-years-old, Bryce Harper could not partake in the shindig, and instead celebrated with first baseman Adam LaRoche's 9-year-old son, Drake, according to The Washington Post.  The two celebrated in a separate room, spraying apple cider.