TTTTHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEE YANKEES WIN THE PENNANT! That’s right sports fan. The Yankees are off to the World Series to face the Philadelphia Phillies. What a game 6.

After the Angles hand the Yankees walking papers in game 3 and 5 in LA, I thought for sure LA got the best of us but our starting pitching got us through the entire season.

So lets recap my predictions (fail).

The Division Series games for baseball are now over and the Championship Series games are set. Just like I predicted, except in the number of games they it would take get to this point.

• PHI vs. LAD – The only game that I was correct that it would take 4 games.
• LAA vs. NYY – Who knew both teams were going to sweep!

The Yankees are still on track to face LAD in the World Series, but something I didn’t think of before. We could have either an East Coast Series with the NYY playing PHI or a West Coast (Highway) Series with LAD vs. LAA. However it could still be a mix of both West and East coast teams.

Game 1 of the NLCS is Thursday on TBS and on Friday it’s Game 1 of the ALCS on Fox. More great baseball on it’s way!

My brackets are so off. Who would guess that all three of these teams would sweep. Hopefully I will get one right with the NLDS game of COL vs. PHI.

I watched the LAD sweep STL and after watching the batting styles of LAD, they are going to be a tough team to beat in a 7 game NLCS or WS. However, LAD pitching is still shaky compared to NYY’s 1-2-3 punch. NYY Game 3 pitching duel with MIN was a gem. Pettitte pitched like it was 1998 and even A-Rod came out in a clutch again. MIN failed in the running part of this game.

I am really surprised by BOS being sweeped by LAA without even winning at home. Tough break for the BOS team, but they were not playing their best at the end of the season; even being sweeped again against NYY at NYY.

Now it’s off to the ALCS on FOX. _{And yes.. I didn’t like the TBS broadcasters and style. They didn’t know anything!}

The postseason is here… at least for me. The New York Yankees completed the three game sweep of Boston RedSox’s to secure the AL East Crown, even though they had already clinched at least a playoff spot a series before hand when playing the Los Angeles Angles in Anaheim, CA because of Texas’s lost to Oakland.

Lets just say that the AL Central race was also crazy. Who would ever predicated that it go to 163 games and the winner of Detriot vs. Twins would come down to one game. Hats off to the Twins! 12 innings. Walk off fashion! Instant Classic!

So what’s in store and how do I think it’s going to play out? Find out!

So today was the first time I visited CitiField, the home of the New York Mets, and let me tell you that the ball park, just like the new Yankee Stadium is impressive! A friend came along as we have had gotten two tickets. Heading to CitiField was just like going to Shea. Headed via Exit 22B and parked in the 1939 New York Worlds Fair is still the most convent route to take.

Since the Yankees are in first place in the AL East and Baltimore is in dead last, and with tonight win (84) over the Orioles lost (79) that is 163 games. Now each team plays 162 games a year. To be eliminated in the division or even the Wild Card standings if the first place team plus the other teams lost is equal or greater than 162 your chance to win the division or wild card is over.

Direct from MLB.com:

The Elimination Number for any team is determined by adding their number of losses to the number of wins for the team leading the division, and subtracting that total from 163. The Elimination Number for the second place team is the “Magic Number” for the first place team.

Elimination have started. The only other team close to being eliminated at this point is the Nationals, but other teams like the Pirates and Padres are very close as well. Most of the AL teams minus the Orioles have at least 10+ games needed before they are eliminated.

Just as I was posting this… the standings page has updated to indicate such. Hats off to the Orioles! I visited you once season!

Update 9/2/09: With the National’s lost last night, they are also now eliminated from the division officially. Most people didn’t think they had a shot anyways at the start of the season.

The game tonight with the Yankees playing the Red Sox’s at Fenway. The game lasted over 4 hours, but every minute was worth it. The Yankees didn’t do any better though since the pitching towards the end was just bad and same with the defense. Good thing we got the lead early huh?

Click here for a recap of the game on MLB.com.