Eastern Conference Playoff Preview 2012

Two posts in a row that are almost theoretically relevant and on time, amazing I know.  If I ever have some time and get around to it, then sometime I plan on getting around to doing some blogs about politics and finishing my recapping of the remaining ‘unrecapped’ teams in the NFL.  Maybe someday, lol.

I wrote this over the last couple days, and by now day one of the playoffs is nearly over.  And surprisingly it was a fairly eventful first day, with Miami putting a beat-down on NY as expected, Derrick Rose suffering a season ending injury, and the Pacers having home court taken from them.

Eastern Conference

1 Chicago faces 8 Philadelphia.

I thought it was funny when some people (including Skip Bayless--a person whom I usually agree with) were saying that Chicago plays better without Derrick Rose.  And they would site the Bulls record with and without him as proof of their argument.  Hahaha.  If they would do some very simple math they would see that Chicago’s record without Rose 17-7 is virtually the same as their record with him 30-12.  Both are approximately equal to a 70% winning rate.  And I’ll grant that a fairly injured Rose is worse than a healthy CJ Watson.  But, if Rose is healthy then he is definitely the better player.  I would say that Chicago is a 5 type seed without Rose.  But, with him they achieve the first seed (again) and probably reach the Eastern Conference finals (again). 

Philly has a nice cast of players.  My favorite player of theirs is Evan Turner.  There are not many teams that are playoff caliber teams and yet do not have a preferred player to run their offense, but Philly is making another run to the playoffs without a star player.

Two system/execution type teams so this could possibly be an interesting matchup, but I see the Bulls taking it in 5.

2 Miami facing 7 New York.

Miami is basically the favorite of the East.  I have been glad that Miami has lost a couple games so that they have the 4^th best record in the NBA.  So they at least won’t be the prohibitive favorite. Imho this is kind of a horrible matchup for both teams.  On the bright side this will probably be the highest scoring matchup in the East. 

I have never been a huge of Coach Mike D’antoni so I thought that firing him was one of the best things the Knicks did all year.  I hope he gets a job with a Charlotte, Milwaukee, or another small market bottom team.  I think that he works the best when he has stars in a small market, aka Phoenix a couple years back.  Even if you have Stoudemire and Carmelo, imho it is very hard to win in the NBA without playing about half the game.  Or namely he doesn’t emphasize defense enough. 

New York finally gets to see Lebron playing in MSG in a playoff game…  But, he happens to be playing for the wrong team.

Also New York should finally get a playoff win.  A buzzer beater playoff win.  Actually I’m not even sure NY can accomplish that.  But assuming they can take a game, maybe they will have actually have a chance..  Yeah, right.  Miami in 5.

3 Indiana 6 Orlando

And now for the no name series, at least to most of the populace.  Even though Indiana is a 3 seed, if they were to do manage to get to the Finals I highly doubt that more than 00.3% of NBA fans would have predicted that. (and 94% of those few fans would happen to be Indy fans) 

Plenty of turmoil with D Howard throughout the season.  Orlando isn’t a bad team, but if they wouldn’t have D Howard (for any time this season) I wonder if they even would have beaten out Philly for the 8^th seed. 

This might be the most competitive series in the East, I have the Pacers advancing in 6.

4 Boston 5 Atlanta

If they're healthy, then Rondo, Allen, Garnett, Pierce, and Bradley forms such a sick lineup.  The Celtics really put something together since the all star break with the best record in the NBA. 

I would say Atlanta has about a 20% chance to play spoiler.  And that would be being fairly favorable.  Imho a horrible matchup for Atlanta, I think they would prefer to be playing any other team in the East. 

Boston in 6.

MLB Preview 2012

The random numbers above the division, like AL East 1, are my rankings of the AL and NL divisions combined.  So I think that the AL East is the toughest division in baseball, while the NL Central is the easiest.

American League

AL East 1     

Yankees    96-66   Manager Girardi and the Yankees win the division.   

Red Sox     95-67   Less beer, and they make the playoffs…  Coincidence?

Blue Jays  83-79    They play meaningful games in August.

Rays          82-80   In a lesser division they probably make the playoffs, but all the Rays get in the AL East is 4^th place.

Orioles      63-99    The Orioles get rolled in the toughest division in baseball.

 

AL Central 5           

Kansas City 86-76   With a payroll ½ the size of Detroit’s, KC makes the playoffs for the first time since 1985.

Detroit         84-78   Detroit suffers some injuries and finishes just outside playoff contention.

Cleveland   81-81    Masterson and the Indians remain competitive.

Minnesota  76-86    Minnesota improves slightly from last year, but it looks like they should have kept their old stadium.

Chicago      75-87   No Ozzie Guillen improves the Sox slightly, but not enough to even get out of last place.

AL West 3        

Angels           96-66       Pujols and Weaver lead the Angels to the best record in the AL.         

Rangers         90-72      The Rangers don't control the division this year, but they still make the playoffs.  

Seattle           73-89      Jesus Montero plays very well and Seattle doesn’t lose 90.

Oakland         72-98      Oakland underachieves slightly and almost lose a hundred. 

National League

NL East 2   

Philadelphia 97-65     The Phillies great pitching staff rolls through the NL.

Marlins         89-93     The Marlins huge payroll partially pays off, and they reach the playoffs.

Atlanta          88-74     No late season collapse this time for the Braves.

Washington  80-82     Strasburg and the nationals almost make .500.  

New York     72-90     The Mets try to pay off some of their debts.  Oh and they finish with 90 losses.

NL Central 6       

Cincinnati     87-75      The Reds pitching leads them to their 2^nd division title in 3 years.    

Milwaukee   85-77      Milwaukee is left just a couple games out the playoffs.      

St. Louis       84-78      St. Louis remains a fine team, but they are unable to defend their title.  

Pittsburgh     81-81      Pittsburgh has their first non losing season in 17 years.    

Chicago        73-89      Well, same old Cubs.. For this year anyways.

Houston        53-109    Houston leaves the NL as somewhat of a laughing stock.  

NL West 4             

San Francisco  90-72    No offense once again, but their first rate pitching leads them to the division title.

Arizona            85-77   They compete for the division, but fall short come September.

LA Dodgers      80-82   The ‘other’ LA team remains competitive, but falls just short of .500.         

Colorado          78-84   The offense improves from last year, but it can practically only go up considering last season.

San Diego        73-89   SD is not a bad team, but I think the other teams in their division are superior.    

AL Championship: - Angels over Yankees

NL Championship: - Phillies over Giants

World Series: - I am probably buying too much into Albert Pujols and Jered Weaver, but I have the Angels over the Phillies in the WS.