Wild Friday
With the Major League Baseball playoffs officially underway tonight, you will see two teams come out of the first round as winners and the other 2 as losers.
Tonight’s games mark the first time in Major League Baseball history that 2 teams from each league will be a wild card team. The way this will work is that the top 2 teams from each division who did not win the title will play in a one game playoff to see who will move on to the Divisional Series. All the action starts tonight at 5:07 pm EST.
The first game of the night will be down in Atlanta where the streaking Braves take on last season’s champ, the St Louis Cardinals. The pitching matchup will be Kyle Lohse for St Louis vs. Kris Medlen, whose second half performance has been incredible. This game could come down to the last at bat as the Cards have the playoff experience from last year, but it is down in Atlanta which is a hard place to win at. And to top it off, this could possibly be the last time we ever see the legend Chipper Jones play a game of baseball, because if the Braves lose, they are out. Prediction for this game- 6-5 ATL
Over in the American League, Buck Showalters Orioles head down to Arlington to face off against the 2 time defending AL champs Rangers tonight at 8:37 pm EST.
The Orioles, who made a remarkable turnaround coming back to lose the division on the last day looks to make their first playoff return since 1997 one not to forget. The team is clicking at the perfect moment and this one game is the determining factor to get one last shot to knock the Yankees out in the divisional playoffs.
Then you have the Texas Rangers, who are doing everything they can to not become the Buffalo Bills of baseball. Being to the World Series 2 straight years, they are just knocking on the door for a title.
The matchups tonight for this do or die game will be a good one as Joe Saunders is on the hill for the O’s facing Japenese sensation Yu Darvish. Both pitchers should be able to go deep into the game, although the Rangers may have the advantage being at home. Even with that, the Orioles will still manage to squeek by with a win. 3-2 BALTIMORE
Predictions on Playoffs to be posted later in weekend
Ray
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