SCOTT JACOBS

All 162 games for each respective MLB team is in the books, and the Giants made sure that not a single regular season game more would be needed to determine this year’s 8 playoff participants.  So here we are, a day away from the start of the playoffs, which will officially kick off indoors in the awkward dome of Tropicana Field (hey Tampa, even the Twins are playing outside baseball now!)  But that’s neither here nor there.  This year’s 2010 tournament looks top-heavy with favorite Tampa Bay, New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco, but in a short series anything can happen (ask the NBA, why do you think they changed their best of 5 format a few years ago– well that and money).

And with a short series all a inferior team truly needs is that one red hot pitcher and some timely hits, so while the Reds, Twins, Braves, and Rangers look like underdogs on paper, all it takes is one great week to knock out their opposition.

The Reds and Rangers come in as the biggest surprises, both unexpected division winners, and both comfortable division winners at that.  It feels like the Rangers have had the AL West on lockdown since the All-Star Game, which judging by past history could be a good or bad thing.  The Reds withstood a charge from the Cards to advance to their first post-season in the 21st century.  Think Synergy Field as the last time the Reds were in the second season.  Both teams facing formidable tasks getting the two best teams in baseball, the Phillies and Rays.

The Rangers have been hit hard by the injury bug but so has Tampa, and before you write off the Rays as genuine contenders, keep in mind that this may be their last year as contenders for a while, with their owner Stuart Sternberg prepared to shave off potentially $20 million in payroll next year.  That means key cogs, Rafael Soriano, Carlos Pena, and franchise cornerstone Carl Crawford could all be gone after this run.  The Rays like each other and living on borrowed time as a team, like they are, should make them a tough out in the AL.

The Yankees are well, the Yankees, but their success the past few years against the Twins has to run dry eventually. Right? Unfortunately for Minnesota, they start their post-season journey without the services of Justin Morneau, who is out for the playoffs.  New York slumped into the post-season and Minnesota was just as good record wise so this could be a great battle.  Minnesota is a great home team, but a mediocre road one, so they have to get a jump on the Yanks in order to have any shot at knocking out the champs.

Meanwhile in the National League the Phils, coming off an impressive 4th straight NL East crown, look for an even more impressive 3rd straight NL Pennant.  They have to be considered one of the favorites with the play of Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels, and brilliant trade acquisition Roy Oswalt, who has been everything Philly could have hoped for and more.  The Phils bring back their same core of the last few years and that could present problems for the young Reds, who haven’t tasted post-season success in a long time.  Can the Reds pull off the improbable?

Finally we head west to the Bay Area where the Braves and Giants kick off the Ironic Series. The Braves had to root for San Fran the last game of the season to beat the Padres so they could clinch the Wild Card, and in doing so, locked up a berth with each other.  The Braves come in beat up, with Chipper Jones shelved for the season, but it is Bobby Cox’s last post-season rendezvous and even though he made his name winning division titles, how great would it be if he took his Wild Card team on one last magic carpet ride, maybe even to a championship.  Meanwhile the Giants are back in the NL West’s throne for the first time since 2003, when the Wild Card Marlins knocked them out in 4 games.  Florida didn’t make the playoffs in 2010, and the Giants have a fantastic array of starting pitching.  Buster Posey has also been a force.

So before we unveil our picks, here’s my playoff rankings from 1 to 8.  Below are our predictions.  Feel free to chime in below with your opinions and picks.  And remember: just because a team is ranked lower, doesn’t mean they can’t pull off the upset.  It just takes 3 baby.

1. Philadelphia
2. Tampa Bay
3. New York
4. San Francisco
5. Minnesota
6. Atlanta
7. Cincinnati
8. Texas

Here’s our picks:

Photo: Reuters
Graphics: Scott Jacobs

SCOTT JACOBS

Contact Disney, start sending them the scripts. This is officially a Hollywood story.

The Tampa Bay Rays knocked out the champs, and now they’re four wins away from being the champs.

Ten years of futility? Forgotten.

Ten years of misery? Gone.

The Tampa Bay Rays erased ten years of epically bad baseball in one season, and guess what folks: they’re still chugging.

Game one of the World Series opens Wednesday in Tampa Bay.

Phillies-Rays, and isn’t it fitting that Tampa Bay has to knock out another Philadelphia team en route to a championship? In 2002 they took out the Eagles in the NFC Championship game. In 2004 the Lightning knocked out the Flyers to win the NHL’s Eastern Conference. And now in 2008, Tampa Bay has a chance to triple the city of Brotherly Love’s misery.

But that’s another story for another day.

Tonight the story was the same story that has shocked baseball throughout 2008: The Rays rise to prominence.

And ya know what? We shouldn’t be shocked by anything this team does any more.

Rays win wild game two 9-8 in 11 crazy innings to tie their ALCS with Boston 1-1

SCOTT JACOBS

Fans were sleeping. Heads were slouched, yawns aplenty. On the surface, this didn’t look like the closing moments of a crucial game two. It looked more like the 2008 All Star Game, that kept going and going… and going. And what a marathon this game two was.

It took five hours and twenty seven minutes to finish this dandy. And when it was over, after pinch runner Fernando Perez slid safely into home on a shallow right field popup in the bottom of the eleventh with the bases loaded and an 0-2 count on B.J. Upton the Rays found themselves back in this thing. After the 400 plus pitches were thrown, the Rays found this roller-coaster ride of a season alive and thrillingly well. 1-1 going back to Boston. It’s a split Tampa Bay will gladly take.

So, instead of staring at a devastating 2-0 series deficit and the prospects of losing the first two at home, heading back to Boston for three, the Rays had to win this game. Nine runs later they did.

This one had it all. Seven home runs tied a post-season record. And that was with Scott Kazmir and Josh Beckett pitching. Twenty four hits. A brilliant three and a third scoreless relief appearance from the Rays Dan Wheeler. And lest we forget the rookie David Price stepping in during the 11th inning with one out and one on, and getting out of the inning unscathed.

The Red Sox weren’t as fortunate. Mike Timlin who had last pitched September 28th took the loss in his 45th post-season appearance. Maybe he just wanted some sleep! It was 1:35 a.m. when the Rays got the game winning run home.

David Ortiz has really struggled in this post-season without Manny Ramirez. Ortiz is just 4-23 in these 2008 playoffs.

It looked like the Rays had control in the 8th inning leading 8-7, but a wild pitch allowed Dustin Pedroia to score. And on and on we went into the wee hours of the night and into the morning.

Rays 9 Red Sox 8.

We’ve got a series folks.

This one’s got a long way to go.

SCOTT JACOBS

Hey guys! Welcome back to the program. Consider our two day hiatus away from your computer a re-examination, to make sure we were seeing things correctly. We had to get our contact prescription corrected so we could re-read the NFL standings. And we needed new glasses so we could make sure we read right that Tampa Bay is hosting the ALCS. And can the NFC West really be that bad? Well, actually that one’s kind of easy: yes.

So before you jump over a car, stick around as we make our way through the sports world seemingly with our beer googles on. It’s the only way to make sense of the madness.

Titantic shocker
So the Tennessee Titans are now 5-0 after coming back in Crabcake nation to defeat the Baltimore Ravens 13-10. The Titans being 5-0 is a surprise. A huge one infact, but it’s not the team that has us even more amazed. It’s 12,345 year old Kerry Collins, who has come out of nowhere to manage this team to a perfect record. Vince Young is no longer the golden boy, in fact, he’s now the problem child, and Tennessee’s number three draft choice from the 2005 draft looks like a bigger bust every day. So, when Tennessee made him the franchise quarterback, they hardly expected an old, ‘washed up’ quarterback to take his place, and lead the team to the best start in franchise history. Okay, so he hasn’t really led them persay, but he’s done everything to get out of that ferocious defense’s way.

Collins has done nothing mind-blowing. In fact he isn’t doing anythig even good. His completion percentage is 27th in the league. When it comes to yards per game, Collins is 28th! So what’s been working? How about an offensive line that has given up just one sack since Collins has taken the field. It’s tops in the league.

The Titans may have beaten the Ravens on Sunday, but they sure looked like the 2000 Ravens on Sunday. That Ravens team, by some considered to be the greatest defense ever, was one of the most dominant units to ever take the field, but its hard to overlook what Tennessee’s relentless D is doing to opposing teams in 08. Okay, so it’s only a sample size (a mere five games) but the Titans are allowing just 11.2 points a game. They’re giving up just 4.2 yards a play, which is good for fourth best in the NFL. Tennessee is fifth in yards allowed.

That team is really good folks. I mean, that defense is really good. But the Titans are doing exactly enough to get the job done week in and week out. And unlike college football, where there are no polls, the Titans are winning, margin of victory be damned.

LCS Coverage from coast to uh, coast
We’ve got you covered with viewpoints from all four cities competing for a chance to win a World Series.

Starting in Tampa Bay, where the Rays expect another dramatic set of games, similar to the ones the two teams played in the regular season, in which the Rays won the season series 10 games to 8. And in case you were wondering, those days of free tickets in Tampa Bay are long over.

We take our act to Boston, where the Red Sox are the new Yankees. People just expect Boston to win now. That’s funny, before 2004, they were dying for a ring. Now, they expect one (every year).

In Los Angeles thank Don Mattingly for the Dodgers resurgence. Well, that Manny fellow is pretty good too.

In the City of Brotherly Love, they’re shifting gears and showing some love to (not Santa silly) Mets management. Without them, none of this could be possible.

Giant Start
The Giants look like the best team in the league right now, and if the playoffs started today, they’d be the favorites to win them all. Wait a minute, the defending champs, looking better then the defending champs? Does that happen? Well, not really, but then again, it’s not often a 10-6 team beats a 16-0 team to win the Super Bowl. So maybe if the Giants go undefeated they’ll get the respect they fell they deserve. Or maybe not.

Arizona and the Woeful west
Finally, we shift our attention to the NFC West where the erratic 3-2 Cardinals lead.

Arizona is the only team with a winning record in the west, and it’s their division to win. Seriously, do you want it? You want it? No. Take it Arizona. And if they beat Dallas (odds are better that one of the presidential candidates will say “that one”) then they should just be handed the crown. But seriously, what is up with Arizona and the west. The NL West was awful, and now the NFC West is following in its undesirable footsteps. Look people, throw us a freaking bone here. Everybody’s looking. Please, you’re embarrassing us.

SCOTT JACOBS

Goodbye laughingstock, hello final four.

If there was ever a doubt that the Tampa Bay Rays were for real, even as we entered the post-season, those doubts have been put to bed. If there was ever a wonder if these baby Rays could hang with the big dogs, those questions were put to rest. If anyone thought this team was a mirage, guess what? They’re still here. The Tampa Bay Rays once upon a time were the team that could only dream of playing post-season baseball. Now, they’re one Red Sox win away from hosting the ALCS.

After an impressive, scrappy series win over the home run happy White Sox, the Rays proved once and for all that they’re for real. And they’ve got another huge thing going for them. They’re from Florida. Once just a crazy efficient stat, there’s now something to this whole Florida teams in the playoffs thing.

Seven for seven.

Florida teams don’t lose in the post-season.

The Marlins christened both of their trips to the postseason with World Series titles, and the Rays look like they may be on their way to keeping that crazy string of Sunshine State success going.

Something in the water or something. Kind of astonishing if you think about it. No state, no pair of franchises has been more successful percentage wise in winning post-season series. Okay, so the Rays are still drinking from the sipee cup considering this is their first go around, but whatever they’re feeding those guys keep it up.

O and there’s this: maybe the Rays are just really good, and that their 97 wins were the true story. They survived a tough AL East to secure the second best record in the AL, and now their young guns are psyching themselves up for the ALCS. 9=’d 8, but today, 9=4, and maybe, just maybe, it equals 1.

Windy Worst Nightmare

And just like that Chicago is wiped right out of the playoffs. The Cubs bowed out quietly to the Dodgers on Saturday in their second consecutive sweep to the NL West winner. The White Sox at least got a win before being punched out by Tampa today. And just like that the dream is dead. South Side. North Side. How about no side? With both teams already out there will be no Chicago party this year. There is however still the possibility of an LA-LAA Fall Classic. When Juiced Sports went to press the Angels had just started game four of their series with the Red Sox.

How about a Dodgers-Phillies NLCS? Well, we’ve got it. The Dodgers hadn’t won a post-season series since 1988, and the Phillies hadn’t done anything in October since 1993, so the NLCS presents a matchup of two playoff success starved teams and it should be a good one. As you may know Philly’s sports teams haven’t won a championship (sorry Arena League doesn’t count) since 1983, a curse commonly known around the city of Brotherly Love as the Curse of William Penn. They haven’t been to the Fall Classic since Joe Carter belted them right into elimination and history in 1993. The Dodgers haven’t been to the Fall Classic in 20 years. Someone’s going to get back there in 2008.

And a Rays-Red Sox ALCS would be bon apetit. It’s about time the Yanks-Sox rivalry takes a back seat. What better matchup then the new rivalry growing between the Sox and Rays. And just sort of a funny fact: if the Red Sox advance to the ALCS, the Rays will have to beat both Sox to make it to the World Series.

Sock it to ‘em Tampa Bay! Beat Sox=Fall Classic? Could be a catchy t-shirt Joe Maddon.

SCOTT JACOBS

The only thing more frustrating then the start of these 2008 MLB playoffs is the bombardment of annoying Frank TV ads that we the sports fan have to suffer through every other commercial. O yeah, there’s also been the stunningly boring play taking place on the field.  This post-season appeared to set up as the most wide open field in some time.  Instead, a few days in, we’re almost already out of the first round and into the league championship series.  Why?  Because every series is 2-0.  Every single one!  Last year we had three sweeps (and one four game series), and that was as anti-climatic as we’d seen in some time.  This year, we could be looking at a foursome of sweeps.  Get out the brooms, no one’s safe.

Not the Brewers, who have proven to be a one man wrecking machine that now just looks broken, after their ace was pummeled in game two.

Not the Cubs, who are once again on the verge of another disheartening playoff exit, just moments into what looked like “the year.”

Not the White Sox, who have given the South Side little to cheer about.  Sure, they’ve taken the lead early, but they couldn’t hold on, and a pair of two run leads in successive games has gone all for not.  After the week they had, having to play two games after the season had ended, it’s excusable for them to be on the verge of being swept, but the Angels?

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, might as well be renamed the “Who cares what they’re named, the Red Sox own them.”  Seriously, the Red Sox have taken the Angels, who won 100 games, and looked like clear cut favorites to win another world championship, and they’ve just knocked them down every time the Angels look like they’re trying to get up. It’s incredible.  Make it eleven consecutive post-season wins for Boston over LA, a new major league record.

The Angels had eleven hits, and one was an extra base hit.  The Halos scratched and clawed back from a 5-2 deficit early on, but once again, like the Spurs owning the Suns, Boston put away what is no longer even the best team in Southern California.  That distinction right now would go to the Dodgers.

That series looked like it would be the best of these four (and it has been, for whatever that’s worth), and at least a pair of these series looked like good bets to go at least four.  But that looks unlikely now.

With the Brewers reeling, and their offense held at bay, Philadelphia looks like they’ll get the knockout blow Saturday.  Milwaukee’s lack of hitting has cost them dearly, and now that C.C. Sabathia is off the list, the Phils can feel it.

The Dodgers will look to finish off the shell-shocked Cubs Saturday when the series shifts to Los Angeles.  If the Cubs have anything going for them, it’s that the Angels couldn’t win in LA, so maybe the same will go for the Dodgers.  But not likely.  In fact, look for the Dodgers to complete the sweep tomorrow, officially putting Cubs fans out of their misery for the umpteenth time.

The Rays will look for the sweep at U.S. Cellular, and boy has that bullpen been impressive.  Those young kids over in Tampa Bay have proven to be real gamers, and you can’t help but think a Red Sox-Rays ALCS would be absolutely riveting theater. Not quite Yanks-Sox, but certainly a compelling matchup nonethless.

So that’s where we stand.  Tonight’s Red Sox-Angels game was a thriller, but Boston just oozes with confidence.  They may no longer have Manny, but the defending champs are still incredibly clutch.  And how about Jason Bay, homering in his first two post-season games.  Not a bad pickup, was Bay, who looks incredibly comfortable in what looked like a tough role to fill.

So that’s the story this post-season.  Both teams in the mega Manny swap look well on their way. All they have to do is win one game at home, and they’re golden.

The Brewers and White Sox get to go home, but neither one of their chances looks all that great.

I’m not sure that this has ever happened, but could we be looking at FOUR sweeps in one round?

It certainly looks like a realistic possibility.

SCOTT JACOBS

It’s the only sport for months, and then football comes along and it gets buried. The excitement wavers. The anticipation dies down. It’s only natural for there to be a drop-off in concentration, when football pile drives into the picture. So the good folks at JSB sort of put baseball on the backburner amidst all the hoopla that football brings each year. But hey, we’re back. We hope you don’t think of us any differently.

Ned Yoast=Toast
When your team is in a pennant race with 12 games left in the season and you’re team is tied for the division lead you would:

A. Fire your manager
B. Shock even your own players
C. Blame Whitey
D. A & B (Not so much on C, although Yost is white. Hmmm…)

Answer: D.

Yup, the Brewers stunned the baseball world by axing their manager out of the complete blue. Sure, the starving for a playoff trip, please let our fans piss their pants Brewers have been free-falling down the stretch. Sure, Milwaukee is now nine games back of the division leading Cubs, and the Brewers are actually now a half game back of the Wild Card leading Mets (more on that in just a sec), but to fire your manager this late in the season, it’s just, it’s… desperate. Okay, so Milwaukee has now lost 5 in a row, and they’ve won a pitiful 2 out of their last 10, but look on the bright side: they could always be the Rays (Announcer whispers in ear: okay, so I guess that one doesn’t apply to this year). Still, did someone confuse baseball for hockey? That’s where coaches get fired out of the blue for no reason. Yes, it’s true: we made a reference to hockey. How you going to act? Yeah, keep reading. That’s what I thought!

The Collapse: Part Two?
Okay, so the Mets didn’t own a 7 1/2 game lead with 17 to play like they did last year, but everything was rolling around smoothly (sans the whole Billy Wagner nightmare) and then this happens. What’s this you ask? This, is the sky falling around the Mets. New York’s other team closing out a stadium this year is still 16 games above .500 but they’ve lost three in a row. Now, they trail the Phillies by a half game in the NL East. With a horrendous bullpen that is a question mark every time they take the mound, the Mets have to be chalk full of nerves with the end of the season in sight. And this wasn’t supposed to happen. Remember all that money they spent on that Johan Santana fella? Wasn’t he supposed to make this all go away? But hey, the Mets finish the season with Florida for a three game set. O wait a minute, wasn’t that the team the swept the Mets the last weekend of the season last year? Yeah, I do believe it was. And, with the Marlins coming on strong, is it possible that the Fish could be vying for a division crown too when the two kick off a crucial three game set at Shea?

Do you believe in the Rays now? If you don’t, well you’re just anti-family
It’s gonna happen. No, not the Cubs winning the World Series, though that could happen. No, the Rays are going to make the playoffs. It’s a done deal. Mathematically there’s that small window of losing every game the rest of the year, but there is no way that happens, so I’m going to proclaim it now: Congratulations Tampa Bay! Your fans can come out of hiding now, it’s okay to root for the Rays now. Amazing, Baseball Prospectus proclaimed the Rays would win almost 90 games and I thought they were crazy. And look at ‘em now, high fiving each other, taking turns buying each other steak dinners. Damn you Baseball Prospectus for being so damn smart. The Rays have 89 wins and a one game cushion on the Red Sox in the AL East, but more importantly, they have an eight game cushion on a playoff spot. Next year, Tampa Bay will probably not be ashamed to put “Tampa Bay” on their uniforms. You hear that Baseball Prospectus? That’s my bold pick for next year, and I’m making it right now!

Other tid bits…

Why Milwaukee for a team playing in Houston? There was nothing closer? Nothing at all? Nothing at least on the West side of the country?

Don’t look now, okay, so you can look, but the Marlins have won six in a row.

The Dodgers are rolling to the NL West crown. I’d say Arizona’s collapse has been stunning, but when you hover around .500 for most of the year, is blowing a recent 4.5 game lead that shocking?

The White Sox and Twins are battling it out for the Central. Meanwhile, Detroit’s season was an epic failure.

But hey, I did predict the Yankees to fail to make the playoffs. 14 years and counting, that steak is over. Now I just have to look up who’s next in line with the longest streak after this year. My guess? The Angels, maybe.

Speaking of the Angels, barring a terrific finish, they won’t win 100 games. When did it become so hard for anyone to do it?

Cause I wasn’t told.

I told you at the beginning of the year: Diamondbacks-Indians World Series! And boy was I not even close.

It’s the eve of the biggest series in the history of Tropicana Field and the whole town is, well, basically going crazy for the Rays.

Except for the approximately 1 billion transplanted New Englanders who live here, myself included.

For us exPats we’re caught in the crossfire, torn between our loyalty to the team we grew up loving and the region we’ve adopted as our new home.

Not that we’re rooting for the Rays, who just recaptured first place in the AL East on Sunday when they won a 4-3 decision over the putrid Pirates and the Sox dropped a 3-2 heartbreaker to the lowly ‘Stros.

But for the first time in over a decade us Boston transplants are feeling like the minority in our new home, and this series that starts Monday night could be the first one ever in which the home team’s fans outnumber those wearing the red, white and blue of the defending champion Red Sox

Don’t get me wrong I’m not looking for symapthy or wishing there weren’t any Rays fans at the games, but even the most diehard longtime “D” Rays fans (yes, there are some) will admit that it’s going to be pretty strange to see the loyalties at the teflon Trop divided down the middle.

After all Tampa Bay has earned the right to be proud of its team after wallowing in 10+ years of less-than-mediocre baseball only to suddenly have a bona fide division challenger in its backyard.

Even if most residents don’t want to think of South St. Pete as “their back yard.”

Making matters all the more interesting will be the reverberations of the beanbrawl that took place at Fenway a few weeks ago, the latest in a long line of dustups and brouhahas between these two division opponents.

In that series Sox center fielder Coco Crisp took offense to an objectionable tag by Rays shortstop Jason Bartlett, but instead of taking his frustrations out on Bartlett Crisp used his next time on base to retaliate on second baseman Akinori Iwamura’s package.

The next day Tampa Bay starter James Shields did what everyone who has ever watched baseball knew he would do – plunked Crisp on the leg – but instead of taking his base Crisp charged the mound, inciting an MMA-style event on the field.

Eight players were suspended for their roles in the Raysbrawl, including Crisp who will miss this series as he sits out his five game penalty, so we won’t be treated to Crisp/Shields II when the Rays righthander opens the series Monday night.

But either way the stakes are high and the tensions will be too in what should be a knock down, drag out three games to see which team is the beast of the East.

And then Boston will go on to play its real rival, the hated Stankees.

SCOTT JACOBS

Welcome to another edition of JUICED NUMBERS. I post this on the same night that Carlos Mencia debuts his Performance Enhanced* comedy skit. This week, we bring you Performance Enhanced Numbers. Stats that at least for the Tampa Bay Rays, don’t call them Devil Rays, seem crazy, but actually are real. Don’t touch that remote folks! You might miss the Yankees losing another game.

-8- This week was a historic week for the Tampa Bay Rays. Not only did they manage to get the spotlight along with the Marlins, but they (unlike Florida) kept winning. Tampa Bay even got to eight games above .500 on May 16th, a first for the Rays ever. That says two things. One, Tampa Bay has finally turned the corner. Two, the Rays (I guess I mean Devil Rays) stand alone in infamy for having the worst 10 opening seasons to start a franchise in baseball history. Eight games above .500, not once before this week? Wow, I have a new found respect for loyal Rays fans.

-288- He’s not the superstar he once was, but Randy Johnson is just 12 wins away from 300. After shutting down the Detroit baby cats for seven innings in a 4-0 Diamondbacks win, Arizona’s greatest player in team history, continued down his slow path to become the last player in baseball history to get to the magical mark. He can’t hit the 98 mph mark, but Johnson still has enough to be a quality arm in a stacked Snakes rotation. He’s now won 4 straight decisions, and the D’backs are a Major League best 28-16.

-8- The only reason the Boston Celtics are in the Eastern Conference Finals is their sterling 8-0 record inside the Garden. I should be quick to clarify that your daddy’s Celtics these are not, because Boston has been atrocious on the road this post-season. They won an exciting game seven to defeat the over-matched Daniel Gibson-less Cavs, and get Detroit starting Tuesday. Boston has reason to be afraid though: their home wins are getting closer and closer, and the Pistons will eat the Celts alive if they repeat their second round game one abomination this Tuesday night.

-6- Pittsburgh did on Sunday in their 6-0 game five win, what the Detroit Red Wings were unable to do on Saturday: secure a spot in the Stanley Cup Finals. I will admit that I have not followed the playoffs like I usually do, but Pittsburgh’s rise to the top of the East is truly amazing. Just a few years ago the Pens were on the verge of moving from Pittsburgh. Mario Lemieux has done amazing things as owner of that team, including keeping them in the Steel City, and now they’re going to the finals for the first time since him and Jagr did it back in 1992. Worth noting: just 17 months ago, a very rich Canadian opted not to buy the team, and in essence ended efforts to move them to Canada. Now, they’re four wins away from their third title in team history.

-1- … More win if Big Brown wants to secure the Triple Crown. I confess to not giving two s*** about horse racing, but the feat is becoming rarer by the day. Brown won by an impressive 5 1/4-lengths at the Preakness, and is a win at Belmont from claiming the sports’ first sweep since Affirmed in 1978. One, may also be symbolic of the number of people at out of every 10 so called sports fans who actually care. Nevertheless, it’s worth noting because, well, I couldn’t think of anything else.

-5.5- Games out of first place the New York Yankees are. Here’s the amazing thing: in the National League West, the Los Angeles Dodgers are also 5.5 games out of first place in their division. They’re in second place! The NL West is so lopsided right now in Arizona’s favor, that the Dodgers are really the D’backs only opposition for a second straight NL West crown. The second biggest first place to second place deficit in baseball: the Cubs lead the Cardinals by two games in the NL Central. The moral to the story: Arizona’s division lead is more then twice that of any division leader in baseball.

-.87- The difference in batting points between the NL batting leader Chipper Jones and the AL batting leader Mark Grudzielanek. Granted, Jones is batting an astronomical .412, and making an early season push to finish the season above .400, but that kind of gap between the two league leaders is almost unheard of. In fact, Grudzielanek’s .325 batting average wouldn’t even be good enough for fifth in the National League! Have the tables turned, or have we just found a loop hole in one patricular offensive category between the two leagues?

-2- Dallas is two wins away from coming back from a 3-0 deficit. Game six is at home at the American Airlines Center, and a Stars win would push the once red hot Wings (9 wins in a row before losing to the Stars in game 4) to the brink of elimination. Don’t expect it to happen, but the Stars do have history sort of on their side. It’s been done twice in hockey history.

Hope you enjoyed this as much as I did researching it. See you next week for another edition of JUICED NUMBERS, and in the meantime, hugs not drugs.

Goodnight everybody.