2008 Woodie Awards
Sideline Pass
TRENT LOOTENS
Arbiter Journalist
Issue date: 10/9/08 Section: Sports
The 2008 Major League Baseball playoffs are shaping up to be very interesting.
The league championship series was set last week, looking a little different than most would have thought.
Who would have ever thought at the beginning of the season that the New York Yankees would be replaced in the playoffs by the Tampa Bay Rays?
Apparently, the Rays were the only ones who predicted that one.
The Yankees on the other hand, are out of the playoffs for the first time since 1993.
From the beginning of the season all the way into the American League Championship Series, the Rays proved they are a force in the American League.
Now that the Rays have proved everyone wrong, only one team still stands in their way: the Boston Red Sox.
The Red Sox have the most experienced lineup in baseball. They have been in this position many times and are the defending World Series Champions.
The Rays will have to rely on the bats of Evan Longoria and B.J. Upton to carry them the rest of the way to the World Series.
If those two get cold and don't hit like they have been through the entire season, it will be a long ALCS for the Rays.
Now that the two best teams going into the playoffs, the Chicago Cubs and the Los Angeles Angels are out, the World Series is up for the taking.
The Philadelphia Phillies swept the Cubs out of the playoffs in three consecutive games behind their three big sluggers: Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley.
They will have home field advantage when they face the revived Los Angeles Dodgers led by powerful slugger Manny Ramirez who was acquired from a trade with Boston after the All-Star break.
The Dodgers are without a doubt the hottest team in baseball and in a lot of ways are favored to win the National League Championship Series. Since the arrival of Ramirez, the Dodgers have been a different team, running away with the National League West Division and bringing a newfound life to baseball in Los Angeles.
Ramirez and former Yankees manager Joe Torre were enemies this time last year, but have joined together in Los Angeles, looking to get back to a familiar place for both, the World Series.
It's likely Ramirez and the Dodgers might face Boston in the World Series. This would be one of the most controversial World Series of all time.
Ramirez already started stirring the pot (like he always does) when he said, "The Red Sox are paying my salary," and "I'm pulling for them."
It's hard to say what kind of welcome Ramirez would receive if he steps up to the plate during the World Series at Fenway Park with a Dodgers uniform on.
The NLCS should be a great series to watch. It will come down to who can win on the road and who can hit more home runs.
This series is loaded with home run hitters.
The best thing about the playoffs this year is that there is no clear favorite; it really is anyone's game.
The league championship series was set last week, looking a little different than most would have thought.
Who would have ever thought at the beginning of the season that the New York Yankees would be replaced in the playoffs by the Tampa Bay Rays?
Apparently, the Rays were the only ones who predicted that one.
The Yankees on the other hand, are out of the playoffs for the first time since 1993.
From the beginning of the season all the way into the American League Championship Series, the Rays proved they are a force in the American League.
Now that the Rays have proved everyone wrong, only one team still stands in their way: the Boston Red Sox.
The Red Sox have the most experienced lineup in baseball. They have been in this position many times and are the defending World Series Champions.
The Rays will have to rely on the bats of Evan Longoria and B.J. Upton to carry them the rest of the way to the World Series.
If those two get cold and don't hit like they have been through the entire season, it will be a long ALCS for the Rays.
Now that the two best teams going into the playoffs, the Chicago Cubs and the Los Angeles Angels are out, the World Series is up for the taking.
The Philadelphia Phillies swept the Cubs out of the playoffs in three consecutive games behind their three big sluggers: Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley.
They will have home field advantage when they face the revived Los Angeles Dodgers led by powerful slugger Manny Ramirez who was acquired from a trade with Boston after the All-Star break.
The Dodgers are without a doubt the hottest team in baseball and in a lot of ways are favored to win the National League Championship Series. Since the arrival of Ramirez, the Dodgers have been a different team, running away with the National League West Division and bringing a newfound life to baseball in Los Angeles.
Ramirez and former Yankees manager Joe Torre were enemies this time last year, but have joined together in Los Angeles, looking to get back to a familiar place for both, the World Series.
It's likely Ramirez and the Dodgers might face Boston in the World Series. This would be one of the most controversial World Series of all time.
Ramirez already started stirring the pot (like he always does) when he said, "The Red Sox are paying my salary," and "I'm pulling for them."
It's hard to say what kind of welcome Ramirez would receive if he steps up to the plate during the World Series at Fenway Park with a Dodgers uniform on.
The NLCS should be a great series to watch. It will come down to who can win on the road and who can hit more home runs.
This series is loaded with home run hitters.
The best thing about the playoffs this year is that there is no clear favorite; it really is anyone's game.
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