With six Canadians and a multitude of storylines, there's plenty of reasons to turn the channel to the MLB playoffs and turn off pre-season hockey.
PLENTY OF REASONS TO WATCH
Am I the only one who thinks the pendulum has swing a little too far when the sports networks in this country, including the one that gives me a lot of work, are showing NHL pre-season games as part of regular programming? I mean, come on, bad enough that the Stanley Cup playoffs run as far into June as they do, where players end up looking like ZZ Top before it ends. Now they are forcing September hockey on the masses.
Who's that wearing No. 58, by the way? I guess I shouldn't complain, at least it gives my TV brothers lots of work to stay afloat in these troubling financial times.
Canadian sports fans should have plenty of reasons to watch the opening round of the MLB playoffs, currently being shown in its entirety on Rogers Sportsnet.
There is a six-pack of Canadians, which makes any red-blooded Canuck sit up and take notice. Justin Morneau and the Twins were the final team eliminated from regular season in Monday night's sudden death playoff to determine who would represent the AL Central. If they had advanced, Morneau, the 2006 AL MVP and New Westminster, B.C., native, as well as Toronto's Jesse Crain, would have joined Cubs starters Ryan Dempster (Gibsons, B.C.) and Rich Harden (Victoria), Dodgers catcher Russell Martin (East York, Ont.-born, raised in Chelsea, Que.), Brewers reliever Eric Gagne (Mascouche, Que.), Phillies outfielder Matt Stairs (Fredericton) and Boston's Jason Bay (Trail, B.C.) in an absolute northern invasion on the playoffs.
And there's plenty of former Blue Jays also taking part: Reed Johnson and Ted Lilly (Cubs), Dave Bush (Brewers), Jayson Werth, Matt Stairs and Scott Eyre (Phillies), Casey Blake and Jeff Kent (Dodgers), Eric Hinske, Gabe Gross and Trever Miller (Rays), and Kevin Cash (Red Sox). With this wealth of familiar faces, and the variety of storylines, there are loads of reasons to skip pre-season hockey.
Can the Cubs finally reach the unreachable star and win the World Series exactly a century since they last did? Can Joe Torre and Manny Ramirez keep that from happening? Can the Red Sox repeat despite many health concerns? Are the Angels the best team in the post-season? Will midnight strike for the worst-to-first Rays? Can the White Sox veterans club their way to a title? Will Pat Gillick's Phillies bring him a title before he retires? Can CC Sabathia deliver a title to Milwaukee before he hits free agency?
But my main reason to watch the playoffs? There will be plenty of bad hockey to watch here in Toronto -- 82 games to be specific. I'm no doctor, but staying away to watch the post-season is probably better for your overall mental health anyway.
RANDOM POST-SEASON THOUGHTS
It sure is a lot easier to take Manny Ramirez dressed in Dodger Blue than it ever was when he patrolled left field with the Red Sox. Maybe it's because I've always disdained all things Red Sox, but after watching him thump his 25th career playoff home run -- the all-time record -- in the opener of L.A.'s stunning manhandling of the Cubbies, it's quite clear that despite his odd way of going about things, this cat can flat out rake. (Sorry for all the street slang, but it just flowed out that way). After he was shooed out of Boston, all Man-Ram has done is hit. Including Game 1 of the NLDS, Ramirez has hit .398 with 18 HRs and 54 RBIs in 54 games as a Dodger. All this while looking free agency in the face. I wonder if the Yankees will bring him East to re-stoke the New York/Boston rivalry as they move into the "House That George Built" next April...
The one pitcher that I'm watching closely is Dodgers starter Derek Lowe, who is also due to become a free agent after the playoffs. Even if the Blue Jays are able to retain A.J. Burnett's services, Lowe would fit in nicely in the middle of the suddenly porous rotation in Toronto. And having pitched for many years within the AL East, he'd be the perfect veteran to keep Jesse Litsch and David Purcey in the proper slots on the rotation's pecking order...
Speaking of pitching, I always enjoy watching young pitchers showing their wares in the post-season, and the performances by Philadelphia's Cole Hamels and Boston's Jon Lester showed, once again, just how many good young throwers coming down the pipe year after year...
Not sure why the Red Sox felt it was so important that injured veterans Mike Lowell and J.D. Drew be hustled back into the line-up. I saw the Red Sox play 12 times after the all-star break this season, and they played better up-tempo ball -- which will be needed if they want to upset the fundamentally superior Angels -- utilizing their speed instead of waiting for the long ball. Right now they are better team with Coco Crisp in centre, Jacoby Ellsbury in right, Kevin Youkilis at third and Sean Casey at first...
Funny how home runs have gone done significantly now that we're in the post-steroid era, but home runs were the deciding factor in two of the three opening games of the LDS...
