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NLCS teams are set

by Matt Smith

Strictly speaking, my prediction from yesterday isn’t wrong just yet! While I may have written that the Cubs were the most-likely team to come back from their 0-2 deficit, I did put a disclaimer on the statement by saying that I didn’t think any of the 0-2 crowd actually would recover. So if the Angels and the Yankees both go out, I can claim I was right.

That’s my story anyway.

Being swept in the division series is a cruel way to end your season. Having fought like mad over 162 games to get to the post-season, the Cubs and the Phillies are out within a blink of an eye. Right now, the joy of winning their division pennants will seem a distant memory, almost as if the effort was wasted. In a sense it was, but they will enter their 2008 campaigns as proud division champions and with even more motivation to get back to the post-season to make up for their early exits this year.

The NLCS was always destined to be an interesting match-up once the four teams competing for the two spots were known. I guess a Arizona-Colorado NLCS doesn’t have the TV execs licking their lips as much as a Cubs-Phillies series would have (never mind a Dodgers-Mets series etc), but for neutral fans it is perfect. Two relatively unheralded teams, neither of which were expected to be playing in October and both containing several players capable of coming out from the shadows and making a name for themselves on the national stage. Both teams also have their flaws, but that only adds to the unpredictability of the upcoming series.

The only slight downer is that, due to the newly extended post-season format, the NLCS doesn’t start until next Thursday. Four off-days might not be much of a break for a football team, but it’s a long time for baseball players. And for baseball fans. Let’s hope the American League division series lasts a bit longer to fill the void, so long as Boston and Cleveland win through in the end to make my prediction come true.

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