The Travis Time MLB Playoff Report: The LCS Preview

With only hours before the opening game, Travis takes a look at all four LCS teams and realizes that we’ll be watching one of the hardest to predict LCS’ in recent memory

It’s always a little bit harder to watch a baseball series when the New York Yankees aren’t involved. With the Yankees, you knew that you’d be watching a team of all-stars that came in as the clear favourites. You knew who to cheer for, and everybody had a united front. In this year’s LCS, that standard feature isn’t there. I’m still not clear on who to cheer for and who to cheer against. Let’s take a quick look at the pros and cons of each team:

Detroit

Pros: Their fantastic celebration after beating the Yankees. They knew it was only the LDS, and they knew that they needed to hop on a plane headed to Oakland. But it appears that the Tigers are believers again. They had a disappointing second half, seemingly confirming what everybody thought: that they were a fluke. All of a sudden, they knock off the Yankees, and immediately hold a huge celebration on the field just to let the city of Detroit know that they have a competitive team.

Cons: Their problem in the second half might have had something to do with overconfidence, and something to do with the fact that they heavily underestimated Minnesota, and began to cave when they realized it. What does that celebration on Saturday tell us? That they might be getting a little overconfident. Add to that the fact that Minnesota just got thwomped by Oakland, largely due to the fact that they didn’t know what they were in for, and this series could be a Detroit disaster.

Oakland

Pros: Frank Thomas. Forget the fact that he’s got a World Series win from last year. If the A’s go all the way this year, this will be known as Frank Thomas’ only World Series victory. Also, the A’s might have the claim of the ultimate underdog. Compared to New York, Boston, Detroit, Minnesota, Chicago, and even, to an extent, the Angels, Oakland got barely any press heading into the playoffs, and then absolutely stumped Minnesota, who came in as a heavy favourite despite the fact that Francisco Liriano’s face was plastered on the side of a milk carton.

Cons: Good luck naming one of their hitters outside of Thomas. It’s not as fun cheering for a team if you don’t know who’s hitting for them. That usually doesn’t bode well for an offence, either. You can’t always just hope that the bats coast on the success of their team’s arms.

St. Louis

Pros: A great fanbase, a team that appears to be jelling together, and the fact that they’re not a huge market team. Also, they might be the only team in the National League playoffs who own a surefire winning pitcher in Chris Carpenter. You want reason #1 as to why the NL can’t keep up with the AL? They don’t have any pitching. Having three brilliant two-way players (Pujols, Edmonds, and Rolen) usually also helps a team get some cheers, too.

Cons: If a team nearly choked away a double-digit division lead in the last two weeks of the season to a team that frightened absolutely nobody because they consistently can’t score more than one or two runs per game when their three stud pitchers are on the mound (Let’s not even mention the fact that the Astros also have one of the most brutally uneven closers in baseball, meaning that even if they do get a typically razor-thin lead, there’s a huge chance that they can’t hold it), maybe they shouldn’t even be in the playoffs.

NY Mets

Pros: For Blue Jays fans: Carlos Delgado. Likely no incentive otherwise.

Cons: There’s way too much money on this payroll, they still don’t have a pitching staff, and when I say that I don’t want the World Series going to New York, I don’t just mean the Yankees.

After that runthrough, it’s safe to say that I’m cheering against 24 of the 25 Mets. As for the AL, it’s still a tough call. I’ll probably sway towards the Tigers, but I’ll be hoping for the junior circuit in the World Series, anyway, so let’s just hope for an excellent series.

My Predictions: A’s in seven, Cardinals in six

All of Travis MacKenzie’s work can be found on his site, Travis Time. Some of his sports-related work is featured on MOP Squad Sports and Armchair GM. Any questions or comments directed towards Travis can be placed in comments on Travis Time, on the MOP Squad Fan Forum, or e-mailed to TravisTime@gmail.com

The Travis Time MLB Playoff Report: LDS Day 4

As the Oakland A’s finally shake off their playoff reputation of past years, another team fully injects themselves back into the World Series talk

“As for the AL, all of these teams (except for possibly the Tigers, whose faces indicate that there’s no way they could win three-out-of-ten against the Yankees) could positively destroy the NL in the World Series. Oakland and Minnesota provided a showcase today. Hopefully they don’t wear each other out for the winner’s trip to New York.”
- Me on October 3rd

Want proof that both A) I’m an idiot and B) How quickly the tide changes in the MLB Playoffs? There you go. The Tigers, who I absolutely wrote off just four days ago, are now suddenly as capable of going to the World Series as both the Yankees and A’s (and the Twins before they gave up when Torii Hunter missed the Kotsay homer). My personal opinion on this? I’m thrilled. I still have no clue what woke the Tigers up, but the looks on their faces after that awful first game transferred to the Yankees’ faces near the end of game two when Zumaya struck out Jeter. It’s great to watch a team that’s struggled for years in a great sports city start playing well in the playoffs against the unprohibited favourites. Regardless, I’m still terrified of the Yankees. They could easily grab these next two games, forget about the last two, and be absolutely ready to destroy Oakland when that one starts up. Though the networks are probably unhappy with the prospect of a Detroit/Oakland ALCS, my fingers are crossed.

The Travis Time MLB Playoff Report: LDS Day 3
After endlessly criticizing the whole league, Travis has something to admit: He’s looking forward to the NLCS

A major point came out of each of today’s LDS games:
Game 1) The Tigers remembered to play like they played early in the season, putting the Yankees’ ALCS spot in quite a bit of jeopardy.
Game 2) If Jeff Weaver is effective, then his opposition’s batting order is not.
Game 3) Shea Stadium is the favourite to become this year’s site of the annual AL World Series sweep.

So while we all enjoy an already-great American League playoff field that got even better today, the National League playoffs will go to the club that proves themselves to be the least ineffective. And in my opinion, they’re all pretty damn ineffective.

The only glimmer of hope: The Mets/Cardinals NLCS on the horizon could be a gem. We won’t be seeing the best teams, but we’ll watch two (potentially) explosive offenses, two great fanbases, and two teams that appear to be too good for the National League, but absolute fodder for the American League.

You can tell by watching the Mets that they’re not ready for any of the four AL playoff clubs. Their bullpen’s gonna be exhausted by next weekend, their defense was already looking shaky at the end of tonight’s game, and Tom Glavine (who was ineffective as a #2 playoff pitcher in his prime) is the ace that this team’s relying on. Regardless, they can hit the ball out and they can run, and that’s plenty enough for a top-flight NL team this year.

St. Louis is incredibly intriguing, as long as you’re willing to change your mindset on how their series has gone this week from “Wow, the Padres stink!” to “Damn, the Cardinals are good!”. I’m not gonna buy the fact that Jeff Weaver’s a reliable pitching option, because from what we’ve seen from him his whole career, he’s not. But with Chris Carpenter being worth two guaranteed wins in any NL playoff series (especially with the pitching staff that the Mets have got going), two wins out of five from Suppan, Marquis, and Weaver is doable.

Factor in the bats: Beltran, Delgado, and Wright for the Mets. Pujols, Edmonds, and Rolen for the Cards. Save for Carpenter’s two starts, this series is gonna be a home run derby. I’d say we’ve got at least one game with nineteen runs being scored, and another two with fifteen coming in.

With the Mets and Cardinals, are we going to see well played, strategic baseball? No. This is gonna be a shootout. Both teams have to know going in that they’ll be the next week’s victim. This is going to be the only competitive playoff series that the National League will be involved in this year, so both teams should be leaving everything on the field. With the National League, that’s usually more than you can ask for.

All of Travis MacKenzie’s work can be found on his site, Travis Time. Some of his sports-related work is featured on MOP Squad Sports and Armchair GM. Any questions or comments directed towards Travis can be placed in comments on Travis Time, on the MOP Squad Fan Forum, or e-mailed to TravisTime@gmail.com

The Travis Time MLB Playoff Report: LDS Day 2
Though he’s narrowed the field down to two teams that can possibly win the World Series, Travis still has to support his all-time favourite

Now that every team’s played in at least one game, I’ll admit that I can’t see a single way in
which this year’s World Series champions are anybody but the New York Yankees or the Oakland A’s. I’ve never seen a baseball playoff team look so visibly overwhelmed as the Detroit Tigers, and I don’t think that the extra 15 hours between games is gonna help them with any of that. Randy Johnson might just strike out 21 guys tomorrow the way Detroit looked in game one. As for the A’s, they’re playing a Minnesota team that’s much better on paper, and has been much better and played under much more pressure since the start of the season. Regardless, they’ve succumbed to Oakland’s style of play that quite simply is so efficient that it makes their opponents look bad. Cuddyer and Morneau’s “hit the ball out” mentality took away the small-ball that the Twins had been employing all season, and Torii Hunter’s wish to try to end Oakland’s 7^th inning at-bat is ultimately what cost them any chance they had of winning this one. If anybody’s gonna be able to beat this Yankee squad, it’s Oakland. I can’t wait for the ALCS.

As for the National League, what little hope they had can be pretty much summed up as vanquished at this point. The Mets (the only NL team that had a chance of not being brutally embarrassed against the AL) had trouble with a Dodgers team that put up plenty of huge mistakes. After the brutal display known as Cardinals/Padres game one, Dodgers/Mets was enough to take away almost anybody’s confidence in the National League.

The only reason that I’ve got any interest in the NL playoffs? Carlos Delgado. My all-time favourite athlete finally got into that first career playoff game (after 14 big league seasons) and tore it up. He was the star of the Mets yesterday, and the sole reason I want that team to get their act back together and hopefully be well-rested against a weary ALCS winner at the start of the World Series. Does it bother me that Delgado’s playing brilliantly in the playoffs while not wearing a Jays jersey? Absolutely not. This is not a guy who stood up Toronto. He’s a guy that management practically ran out. They felt that he was too expensive, felt that he was on the decline, and then took Troy Glaus’ nearly identical contract in just over a year later, with Delgado available in the Florida Marlins’ 2^nd ever Post-World Series Mega Clearance Sale. It actually pains me more to see Chris Carpenter succeeding in the playoffs, simply because he’s finally showing the potential he was unable to show while injury-ridden in Toronto. Realistically, Delgado’s not gonna be putting on a World Series ring at the end of this season, but until he’s eliminated, I’m along for the ride.

All of Travis MacKenzie’s work can be found on his site, Travis Time. Some of his sports-related work is featured on MOP Squad Sports and Armchair GM. Any questions or comments directed towards Travis can be placed in comments on Travis Time, on the MOP Squad Fan Forum, or e-mailed to TravisTime@gmail.com

The Travis Time MLB Playoff Report: LDS Day 1

After a day’s worth of games, Travis is already realizing who’s contending and who’s pretending in the MLB Playoffs (and Jake Peavy and the Padres aren't contenders)

Those trying to find a better way to take this year’s playoffs seriously should take a look back at the latest completed European soccer season. In Europe, there’s two major continental club tournaments: The Champions League (For the teams at the top of each national league) and the UEFA Cup (For the teams just below them). At the end, both Cup winners play each other in the “Super Cup”, which is more or less an exhibition game. For example, last year Barcelona won the Champions League, and Sevilla won the UEFA Cup. When they played in the Super Cup, Sevilla (winners of the NIT to Barcelona’s NCAA) came out on top. Regardless, nobody went as far as calling Sevilla the champions. Barcelona were still the recognized champs, Sevilla quite simply just beat them when they played. The champs were worn down from a much tougher prior schedule, and slipped against a decent team in a game that is well-known throughout Europe to be taken lightly by all significantly involved as preparations are made for the upcoming season.

That’s why I’m gonna propose that we treat the World Series as the Super Cup this year, the American League playoffs as the Champions League, and the National League playoffs as the UEFA Cup. After watching only three games of these playoffs, I can tell you all that the National League cannot be taken seriously this year. We might as well crown the winner of the A’s/Yankees ALCS to be baseball’s champion this year. Sure, the winner’s still gonna play the World Series, and maybe the Mets or Dodgers will win for all I know, but there’s no way, after watching game one of the Padres and Cardinals today, that the National League playoffs can be treated as any true test of talent when only three players on the combined rosters of the NL West and Central champions (Rolen, Edmonds, and Pujols) could be taken seriously in the AL today. St. Louis’ star pitcher was having trouble with a lineup that bats Mike Piazza at cleanup, and San Diego’s star pitcher imploded once Pujols connected. Unbelievably, St. Louis’ superior batting lineup just might be negated by their rotation, which consists fully of AL rejects and NL-average pitchers. It pales in comparison to a rotation that’s proud of having Chris Young and Boomer Wells in their midst. I’ll admit that I haven’t seen much of the Mets or Dodgers this year, but I really hope that one of them is good enough to run through the NLCS, and at least create a competitive World Series just by being more rested.

As for the AL, all of these teams (except for possibly the Tigers, whose faces indicate that there’s no way they could win three-out-of-ten against the Yankees) could positively destroy the NL in the World Series. Oakland and Minnesota provided a showcase today. Hopefully they don’t wear each other out for the winner’s trip to New York.

All of Travis MacKenzie’s work can be found on his site, Travis Time. Some of his sports-related work is featured on MOP Squad Sports and Armchair GM. Any questions or comments directed towards Travis can be placed in comments on Travis Time, on the MOP Squad Fan Forum, or e-mailed to TravisTime@gmail.com

The Travis Time MLB Playoff Report: The LDS Preview

In trying to (once again) return to a regular writing schedule, the MLB Playoffs seems to be the right time to give it another shot. My conditions for this stretch:

1. No more than 500 words a day (officially broken for the first time in this writing). I won’t stick to this rule forever, but it’s a good way to help with daily updates. 500 words is pretty easy provided that you even have a semblance of what you’re talking about.
2. I can guarantee right now that I won’t be watching all the games, but I’ll try to catch all the highlights in order to best provide my thoughts on the games. That said, I’ll put off as much of my regular t.v. viewing as I can for the purpose of the playoffs. By the way, “as much as I can” does mean that I’m watching my top tv show of the past two seasons, Lost, as it airs. Game two of Yankees/Tigers can go on without me.
3. If I have enough time and space, I’ll try to fill it with some non-baseball thoughts. I’ve already formed some solid opinions on this tv season, and I’ve learned many lessons about picking the NFL already this year (#1: Stay away from Miami and Tennessee under ALL circumstances).
4. This means that it’s time for me to handicap each LDS series. I’ll try to parse on the words, as I’ll have plenty of time to elaborate if writing daily. Let’s start with the AL, then move on to the NL.

Oakland/Minnesota – When fans underestimate a team, that team quickly becomes dangerous. The attention around them is nothing compared to what their opponents and all other teams are getting, and it gives them a boost. Look at the 2003 Marlins, 2004 Red Sox (post-game 3 of the ALCS), and the 2005 White Sox. These teams were all just written off, and all won the World Series. I still look at these match-ups and try to figure out why Oakland’s there in Anaheim’s spot. This is despite the fact that Oakland’s rotation is top-to-bottom as good as anybody’s in the playoffs. Forget winning the ALDS, right now, the A’s are my pick to win the World Series. Oakland wins 3-1

Detroit/Yankees – As much as I hate to say it, the Tigers are dead men walking against the Yankees. None of these pitching matchups work in their favour, and home field works even less so. I’ll be cheering for Detroit, but it’s way too big of a mismatch. Yankees win 3-0

St. Louis/San Diego – This becomes the biggest toss-up of a series because of the simple fact that both teams have rotations that, outside of their game one starters (Carpenter and Peavy), feature guys that could get shelled at any given time. I’ll take San Diego on their veteran presence in the rotation as well as the crucially underrated Chris Young. San Diego wins 3-2

Dodgers/Mets – I wouldn’t be too worried about a lack of Pedro Martinez in Queens. Even without him, the Mets were the only NL team capable of competing in the AL this year. Mets win 3-1

All of Travis MacKenzie’s work can be found on his site, Travis Time. Some of his sports-related work is featured on MOP Squad Sports. Any questions or comments directed towards Travis can be placed in comments on Travis Time, on the MOP Squad Fan Forum, or e-mailed to TravisTime@gmail.com

My MLB Column: The 2006 Travis Time MLB Midseason All-Stars

Travis makes his return by offering his view on how the All-Star Game should look

Every year, aspects of the All-Star Game undoubtedly bother me, as much as I enjoy it. This year, I finally grew enticed enough to create the Travis Time All-Stars. The criteria:

· 2 25-man rosters (AL vs. NL). Why should rosters for the All-Star Game be any bigger than a regular season roster? This also raises the importance of making the All-Star team

· 2 catchers

· 3 middle infielders (at least one 2B and SS)

· 3 corner infielders (at least 1 1B and 3B)

· 5 outfielders (at least 1 and no more than 2 LF, CF, and RF)

· 1 DH (can go to a non-DH in order to even out the fairness of teams, though that won’t apply to the AL this year)

· 5 SP

· 2 Middle relievers. This is one thing that’s always bothered me about All-Star Games. Credit is never given to the relievers who do great jobs without closing. Plus, what’s a great team without great middle relief?

· 2 Closers

· 1 rookie pitcher (any type, decided after other pitchers are named, meaning an additional rookie is added). This is done in order to give fans a peek into the future of baseball, even in years where no young stars are clearly evident.

· 1 rookie hitter (any position, decided after other hitters are named, meaning an additional rookie is added).

· No maximum or minimum number of players-per-team. The best 25 are in, no matter who they play for.

American League

C: Joe Mauer, Minnesota

C: Victor Martinez, Cleveland

C (Rookie): Mike Napoli, Los Angeles Angels

An obvious slant towards hitting here, but there’s nobody else who’s been as deadly consistent as these two throughout the season. Though it was tough to pass up on Ramon Hernandez, clearly the best power bat of any AL catcher, Mauer and Martinez are much better hitters, and draw a much higher number of walks as well. Napoli’s numbers are outstanding for a guy with so few at-bats so far. His only rookie competition was fellow catcher Kenji Johjima of Seattle, who gets blown away in terms of at-bat-by-at-bat production.

2B: Jose Lopez, Seattle

SS: Miguel Tejada, Baltimore

SS: Derek Jeter, New York Yankees

Lopez and Tejada are no-brainers. Their power bats undoubtedly eclipse those of anybody else in the league. Jeter was a bit tougher. I’m not a guy who typically relies on a total hit count to select him over another player (Carlos Guillen in this case; Then again, I snubbed Michael Young, who has more hits than Jeter). Jeter’s walks don’t even overwhelm Guillen (42 to 39), and Jeter’s power numbers (5 HR, 52 RBI) get beaten by both Guillen (10 HR, 52 RBI) and Young (5 HR, 57 RBI). In terms of intrinsic leadership, Jeter gets the nod. He gets stuff done right, his batting average (.345) is nearly three percent better than Young’s (.316, and take note that Young has been considered one of the best pure hitters in baseball), and I was shocked to find out that Jeter is an 18-for-20 base stealer, much better than Guillen’s 12-for-17 and Young’s 4-for-6.

1B: Jason Giambi, New York Yankees

1B: Justin Morneau, Minnesota

3B: Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees

Giambi’s out of this world. It’s often tough to compare players like Giambi and Morneau with Giambi’s lack of at-bats, but considering that his walk rate nearly triples Morneau, he’s a no-brainer. The only real shocker with Morneau is that he might only be the 4^th-best guy on that team. A-Rod wins my third baseman toss-up with Troy Glaus due to the fact that Glaus’ batting average is killing him. Trust me, I love having him on the Jays, but if he was hitting even .260, A-Rod wouldn’t be on this list.

LF: Manny Ramirez, Boston

LF: Raul Ibanez, Seattle

CF: Vernon Wells, Toronto

RF: Jermaine Dye, Chicago White Sox

RF: Alex Rios, Toronto

Ramirez, Wells, and Dye absolutely trump everybody at their chosen positions. Ibanez trumps every AL outfielder outside of those three, especially with his 70 RBI. Nick Swisher is probably the 5^th best AL outfielder, but with two LFs already, Rios is the next best option. There’s a reason JP Ricciardi never gave up on this guy’s lack of power over the last couple of seasons. Though he’s still had a very good season, Vladimir Guerrero’s an unfortunate snub.

DH: David Ortiz, Boston

Essentially a statistical toss-up between Ortiz, Thome, and Hafner, but Ortiz’s clutch hitting makes this one unbelievably obvious.

SP: Johan Santana, Minnesota

SP: Francisco Liriano, Minnesota

SP: Mike Mussina, New York Yankees

SP: Scott Kazmir, Tampa Bay

SP: John Lackey, Los Angeles Angels

SP (rookie): Justin Verlander, Detroit

The obvious question here: Where’s Halladay? Well, as brilliant and reliable a pitcher as Roy Halladay is, his strikeouts don’t match up with these five, who all hold sub-3.50 ERAs, and these easiest way to get a guaranteed out is a strikeout. I treat Justin Verlander and Jose Contreras the same way (though Verlander sneaks in through the rookie exemption). While the first four in this rotation have gotten plenty of publicity, Lackey has not, but he has had a fantastic season which has been somewhat marred by the ineffectiveness of his team. An Angels bounce back largely rests on this guy’s shoulders. Verlander makes the roster (beating out Bobby Jenks) due to the fact that Liriano, Joel Zumaya, and Jonathon Papelbon all qualified before the rookie exemption was used.

MR: Joel Zumaya, Detroit

MR: Scot Shields, Los Angeles Angels

Zumaya’s officially my favourite young player in baseball. He’s got the future superstar closer tag already. Shields is another guy who’s being hidden by his disappointing team, but he’s still a workhorse with great control of the ball.

CL: BJ Ryan, Toronto

CL: Jonathon Papelbon, Boston

Mariano Rivera and Bobby Jenks are brutally tough snubs to make, but Ryan and Papelbon are far and above the best closers in the American League this year.

National League

C: David Ross, Cincinnati

C: Mike Piazza, San Diego

You likely have barely heard of David Ross, but he’s got 12 home runs, 31 RBI, and 16 walks in only 119 at bats. He’s currently tied for 7^th among NL catchers in RBI and tied for 1^st in home runs, despite the fact that anybody challenging him has had at least 60 more at bats. Among the rest, Piazza edges out the statistically similar Michael Barrett. At first glance, Johnny Estrada should be on here, but if I added a guy with eight walks in the first half of the season to this team, even I’d have to stop taking myself seriously.

2B: Chase Utley, Philadelphia

SS: Jose Reyes, New York Mets

SS: Edgar Renteria, Atlanta

Utley’s the class of National League second basemen, and a fantastic all-around player that I regret not seeing more of to this point. Jose Reyes is the National League equivalent of Jose Lopez. Renteria edges out Bill Hall, who plays like a poor man’s Alfonso Soriano.

1B: Albert Pujols, St. Louis

1B: Lance Berkman, Houston

3B: David Wright, New York Mets

3B (rookie): Ryan Zimmerman, Washington

It absolutely kills me to leave out Miguel Cabrera, and he’s undisputedly the toughest snub I’m gonna have to make for this team, but Pujols, Berkman, and Wright barely edge him out. Needless to say, the trio listed clearly betters the AL’s group. Zimmerman beats out Florida second baseman Dan Uggla for the rookie exemption, though his glove (his prime asset) might never be as good as Wright’s.

LF: Jason Bay, Pittsburgh

LF: Carlos Lee, Milwaukee

CF: Carlos Beltran, New York Mets

CF: Andruw Jones, Atlanta

RF: Bobby Abreu, Philadelphia

Sure, Bobby Abreu’s barely hit the ball out since he went yard nearly four dozen times in Detroit last summer, but he’s got 83 walks. That’s practically guaranteed entry in my book. There’s two snubs I’ll call notable here, the first being Alfonso Soriano, whose numbers are fantastic, yet can’t live up to those of Bay and Lee. As for the second, remember what I said about Johnny Estrada? The same applies to Jeff Francoeur.

DH: Ryan Howard, Philadelphia

Another corner infielder that edges Miguel Cabrera out, Howard’s power bat is too tough to snub over Cabrera’s slightly more well-rounded game. I’m actually not too upset about having to do Howard over Cabrera, seeing that Howard knows how to leave an impact, with the 500 free flights shot likely being Howard’s leap into the national consciousness.

SP: Brandon Webb, Arizona

SP: Chris Capuano, Milwaukee

SP: Brad Penny, Los Angeles Dodgers

SP: Chris Carpenter, St. Louis

SP: Chris Young, San Diego

Sure, this rotation looks awful, but all five of these guys are having fantastic seasons. As for the snubs, Carlos Zambrano and Jason Schmidt allow too many walks, Roy Oswalt has too few strikeouts, and Pedro Martinez and Bronson Arroyo don’t live up to the other five, despite great first halves of their campaigns.

MR: Scott Linebrink, San Diego

MR: Duaner Sanchez, New York Mets

There’s no real standout from this group, so Linebrink and Sanchez are quite simply the best of a mediocre class.

CL: Trevor Hoffman, San Diego

CL: Tom Gordon, Philadelphia

CL (rookie): Takashi Saito, Los Angeles Dodgers

Phil Garner definitely got this right by naming both to the real All-Star team. Though the National League’s taking plenty of heat for their lack of veteran talent, these two are putting those thoughts to silence. As for Hoffman’s performance in the actual game, let’s just put those thoughts aside for the moment. With Saito’s emergence, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Eric Gagne on the off-season trade block.

All-Stars by Team

4: Minnesota, New York Mets, New York Yankees, San Diego

3: Boston, Los Angeles Angels, Philadelphia, Toronto

2: Atlanta, Detroit, Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee, Seattle, St. Louis

1: Arizona, Baltimore, Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Houston, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, Washington

0: Chicago Cubs, Colorado, Florida, Kansas City, Oakland, Texas, San Francisco

It’s quite obvious that this team is up for debate. You’re free to e-mail me in order to discuss, as I’d be happy to converse over any aspect of these teams.

All of Travis MacKenzie’s work can be found on his site, Travis Time. Some of his sports-related work is featured on MOP Squad Sports. Any questions or comments directed towards Travis can be placed in comments on Travis Time, on the MOP Squad Fan Forum, or e-mailed to TravisTime@gmail.com

Travis Time Update: 2006 Baseball Predictions

The TravisRankings will be here sooner or later, but Travis felt like registering his standings predictions right now.

Unfortunately, I don’t presently have the time to write a full baseball column previewing the season at the moment, but I plan on having a good-length baseball column out in early May. For now, I’ll just give you all my straight-up predictions. If you have any questions, comments, or issues with my rankings, don’t hesitate to contact me or to post a comment. I’ll be sure to respond.

AL East
1. New York
2. Boston
3. Baltimore
4. Toronto
5. Tampa Bay

AL Central
1. Chicago
2. Detroit
3. Cleveland
4. Minnesota
5. Kansas City

AL West
1. Anaheim
2. Texas (Wild Card)
3. Seattle
4. Oakland

NL East
1. Atlanta
2. Philadelphia
3. New York
4. Washington
5. Florida

NL Central
1. St. Louis
2. Houston (Wild Card)
3. Milwaukee
4. Cincinnati
5. Chicago
6. Pittsburgh

NL West
1. San Diego
2. San Francisco
3. Arizona
4. Los Angeles
5. Colorado

LDS
New York Yankees over Texas in 5
Anaheim over Chicago White Sox in 3
Houston over Atlanta in 4
San Diego over St. Louis in 5

LCS
Anaheim over New York in 7
Houston over San Diego in 6

World Series
Houston over Anaheim in 5

What I Have to Say: March 28, 2006

Today, Travis focuses on two guys who have quite a lot to say: Chad Johnson and Barry Bonds

· We begin with the return of the notable quote. This one comes from one of the legends, Chad Johnson, after hearing of the NFL competition committee’s plans to cut down on touchdown dances:

"Tell the competition committee that Chad said you can't cover 85, and there's no way you can stop him from entertaining"

· Johnson’s antics might not be the ones that I’m enjoying the most at this time, however. Barry Bonds is taking that category hands down. An asterisk has to be placed on this year of the Barry Bonds era, simply because the reality tv cameras are on him. The Paula Abdul bit confirms that Bonds is making a play for the ratings. Regardless, all bets are off in terms of Barry Bonds this year. After joking about jumping off of the Empire State Building and stating that he wanted the season to start so it can get closer to the finish on Monday, he pulled off a Lance Armstrong-esque feat of confidence on Tuesday, leaving training camp early with a 10-for-16, four homer, nine RBI performance simply stating that he’s ready. I think we’re headed for the most entertaining single season of all-time out of Bonds. He’s gonna make Terrell Owens look like an angel.

· As for my March Madness bracket, I actually survived quite well relative to everybody else, getting Florida, one of my predicted finalists, into the Final Four. Because of that, I’m currently thinking they’ll beat UCLA in the finals, but in the year of George Mason, this is the least predictable tournament of all-time. For those still wanting to see my bracket, it can be found here.