Sunday Question
Well, we are through one round of the playoffs and there were some interesting results. Moving onto the next round we have the following match-ups:
ALCS
Texas Rangers v. Detroit Tigers
NLCS
Milwaukee Brewers v. St. Louis Cardinals
This weeks question is fairly simple. What team was the biggest surprise/letdown in the ALDS?
For me there was one surprise, and that was the Cardinals beating the Phillies. With the starting rotation of the Phillies I really didn’t see them getting bounced in the first round.
You may be wondering if I was surprised by the Yankees getting bounced, but I really wasn’t. The team wasn’t hitting at all with the exception of Cano, Posada, and Gardner. Hard to win games when you can get guys on base. Was I disappointed, sure. Surprised, not at all. Tigers played better.
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It would be easy to say the Yankees were the biggest letdown because they are my team but I would have to say the biggest surprise was the Phillies losing. Perhaps the biggest letdown goes to the Rays who had their fans (they exist right?) in near hysteria over the final week of the season and then the air came out of their balloon. But, perhaps the biggest letdown was the Red Sox who didn't make the playoffs despite a 9 game lead heading into September.
The fact that Philly was OUTPITCHED of all things was the most surprising thing of all. The Cardinals were all but dead a month ago and here is the old veteran starter leading them to victory with one of the best pitching performances I've ever seen. And the fact that Ryan Howard suffered a major injury on the very last play was just injury to the insult.
I'd go with Philly. I think people were giving them a free pass to the World Series and there is a reason they actually play the games. The Cards just outplayed them.