The NL series are going to be extremely close. My round one upset pick is the Pittsburgh Pirates over the St. Louis Cardinals in five games. I believe that Andrew McCutchen will have a great series and really take over a couple of games. He will be the difference-maker in this series. It will be close and the Cardinals will get two wins because of their good pitching, but ultimately the underdog story will continue. In the other NL series, I will pick the Dodgers over the Braves in four games. I think that the Braves have too many players that strike out a lot and the Dodgers starting pitching will take advantage of that, especially Clayton Kershaw.
In the AL I have the Red Sox over the Rays in five games. Both teams have real good pitching. The Rays might have the upper hand in that department because of ace David Price, but besides Evan Longoria, nobody in their batting order strikes fear into opposing pitchers. The Red Sox have experienced players who have been here before such as Shane Victorino and Dustin Pedroia who will be huge in this series.
In the other AL series, I have the Tigers beating the Athletics. The Tigers’ hitting and pitching is really all around better than the A’s. Players like Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder are going to help the Tigers dominate this series.
In the NLCS I have the Dodgers beating the Pirates in six games. The Pirates would make a good run but ultimately fall short to a team that is all around better than them. The Pirates’ inexperienced pitchers will likely falter against the Dodgers’ hitters.
In the ALCS I have the Tigers beating the Red Sox in six games. The Tigers’ lineup is so much more intimidating than the Red Sox lineup and I also do not see the Red Sox being able to beat Tigers’ ace Justin Verlander twice in this series.
My World Series Prediction is the Tigers over the Dodgers in seven games. This series is going to be close and a World Series for the ages, but I think Tigers’ manager Jim Leyland’s team will finally manage to win the World Series after losing it last year.