There is going to be three game 5′s in the 2011 Divisional Series, also known as the Wild Card round. This is significant because the first round of the Major League Baseball playoffs is only a 5 game series. The League Championship and World Championship series are both 7 games long.
This 5 game series makes a first round upset much more likely to happen. This is what the favorites in the AL and NL are hoping to avoid. Both the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Yankees were favorites to win their respective leagues, but both teams have been pushed to the limit. Will we see a major upset?
Game 5 Picks
Philadelphia vs St Louis
It would be a monumental collapse if the Phillies lost to the St Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals were an unlikely candidate to even make the playoffs. They sat 8 1/2 games back of the Atlanta Braves at the beginning of September. They made it into the playoffs on the last day by beating the Houston Astros while the Braves lost their last game to the Phillies.
This would make for an all-time irony if the Cardinals can repay the Phillies by beating them in game 5. Philadelphia looked like a shoe-in for the second round when they beat up the Cardinals for the first 11 innings of the postseason. Since then, they have had to scratch and claw for every run as the Cardinals pitchers have shut down the Phils vaunted offense.
However, the fantasy ending is not going to happen this time around. Roy Halladay is the started and the Phillies are at home for game 5. Roy shut the Cardinals offense down for 7 of the 8 innings of work in game 1 after he gave up 3 runs in a shaky first inning. The Cardinals are countering with their best pitcher, Chris Carpenter. However, Carpenter is going on short rest again and looked very average in the first two innings of game 2.
My predictions is that the Phillies are going to get out of the gates early on Carpenter and ride Halladay for an easy 5-1 win.
New York vs Detroit
The Tigers roared through September with the best record in baseball. They easily won the Central Division title, but couldn’t beat out the Rangers or Yankees for home field advantage. Because of that, the Yankees get to play game 5 at home.
The Tigers had a good shot at eliminating the Yankees after beating them in games 2 and 3. They were facing a mediocre in AJ Burnett. But, the Tigers could not capitalize with their bats and New York took all of the momentum back home with a 10-1 thumping.
New York has to hope that the game 5 starter for Detroit, Doug Fister, was as average as he appeared in game 1. If that is the case, the Yanks could run away with this game early. Except for Jose Valverde, the Tigers have no relief pitchers to help out if they get into trouble.
The Yankees are pinning their hopes to the Ivan Nova who effectively shut down the tigers for 4 hits over 6 1/3 innings in game 1. If they can get past Fister before the 7th inning, they should be celebrating in New York tonight.
I predict that the final score of this game 5 will be 10-4 Yankees.
Milwaukee vs Arizona
This series turned out to be more exciting then I thought. Both of these teams are very closely matched, finishing just 1 game difference in the standings. The home team has won all 4 games in this series so far.
Fortunately for Milwaukee, they were the ones that finished one game ahead in the standings, so they get the home field in game 5. Fans in both cities may want to call off work this Friday, as the game starts at 5:07 ET and 2:07 PT.
This is going to the toughest game 5 to call. Runs are going to be at a premium as both aces Gallardo and Kennedy will take the mound in this critical matchup. Will Milwaukee continue the home team trend or can the Diamondbacks complete the 0-2 comeback?
My prediction for this game is that the Milwaukee Brewers will win a tight game 3-2.
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