Adios Padres, League Championship Series Schedule & Picks

This probably should have been posted last night, but sore muscles and apathy led me to neglect my duty to all the readers I don't have.

I went to the batting cages on Saturday night. First time I'd done that in probably 16 years. It was great fun, but boy have I been paying for said fun the last few days in kind with sore muscles and achy joints. I'm a lot stronger now than I was as a 15 or 16 year old, and my coordination is better, but my recovery time sure ain't what it used to be, and with my military injuries it's not that easy to do the things I used to.

Anyway, as should be common knowledge by now, the San Diego Padres were eliminated last night. Overall, it's been an extremely boring playoff so far, with little excitement in the LDS, gameplay-wise at least. I'm sure I'd get some arguments from Tigers fans about how "exciting" it's been, and though I will readily admit to the excitement of Detroit upsetting the Yankees in the first round (God knows how exciting it is when the Angels do it!), watching "the greatest lineup in history" go 0-for'06 was, well, a good sedative.

So today is a day without baseball, which gives us a breather as the LCS starts up tomorrow.

2006 League Championship Series Schedule

No more three-game days, no more shuffling announcers (though dammit, every game is on Fox so it looks like we'll have a McCarver-O-Rama for the rest of the playoffs), and hopefully, less boring games.

So, with that, it's time once again for this prognosticator to make his picks for the next series.

NLCS

New York Mets vs St. Louis Cardinals: Cardinals in five. Both faced rather lackluster opponents in the NLDS, which means that neither team was too spent from the first round. Without Pedro Martinez and Orlando Hernandez, the Mets and the Cardinals have pitching staffs of about equal strength, but St. Louis has the offense that, provided it comes through, will propel them into their second World Series in the last three years.

ALCS

Detroit Tigers vs. Oakland Athletics: Tigers in six. Detroit is on a roll, shutting the Yankees down in 4 in the ALDS with superior pitching and a surprising offense. While the A's have Barry Zito on the mound, they aren't as deep and don't have the high of shutting down the heavily favored Yankees behind them. Expect this one to be the more exciting of the two, with better pitching ad hitting than the NLCS.

Keeping in mind that I was 1-4 in the LDS, don't be surprised to see a Mets - A's World Series. I know I won't be.