Matchup: St. Louis Cardinals (90-72) vs. Philadelphia Phillies (102-60)
Breakdown: The Cardinals are one of the hottest teams in baseball right now after their amazing September run to win the NL wild card. The presence of Albert Pujols, Matt Holliday, and a resurgent Lance Berkman in the middle of the lineup is always a threat, and Chris Carpeneter is as reliable of a starter as any team has. However, they will have to take down Goliath in the Phillies. Philadelphia has a very balanced offense, featuring Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino, Chase Utley, and Ryan Howard - I mean the weapons are there. And with any semblance of an offense, the murderer's row of pitchers Roy Halladay/Cliff Lee/Cole Hamels/Roy Oswalt will take over and completely dominate.
Key Players: For the Cardinals, they need another starter to step up and match the strong starting pitching of Philly. Therefore, between Kyle Lohse, Jaime Garcia, or Edwin Jackson, someone needs to step in and pitch the game of their life for the Cardinals to really have a chance in this series. On the Phillies side of this, the only question mark really comes in when the stud starters leave the game, so the key players are going to be Brad Lidge, Antonio Bastardo, and Ryan Madson. It will be up to them to finish out these games, unless of course the starters go all 9 innings.
My Pick: Phillies in 3
Matchup: Arizona Diamondbacks (94-68) vs. Milwaukee Brewers (96-66)
Breakdown: After emerging victorious from the NL West, the Diamondbacks are pit against a pretty solid team in the Brewers. Arizona is pretty top-heavy: their ace, Ian Kennedy, is a Cy Young contender, and their stud hitter Justin Upton has been in the MVP race all season. However, the rest of the roster has been nothing if not prone to hot streaks, and a streaky team can definitely fall on its face in the playoffs. Milwaukee has a very balanced team, on the other hand: they can hit for power, they have team speed, and their starting pitching can carry them. Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder, and Rickie Weeks provide the fun with home runs, and Yovani Gallardo and Shawn Marcum team with my unashamed man-crush Zack Greinke as a huge reason why the Brewers finished as a top 5 team in strikeouts.
Key Players: The key to Arizona's success will lie in the hands of the secondary guys. The D-Backs have a group of surprising players this year who have the potential to join Upton in carrying this team: Chris Young, Ryan Roberts, Miguel Montero, Paul Goldschmidt, and Aaron Hill. If any combination of these players can show up in this series, they have a great shot at matching the Brewers' firepower. The critical cog in the Brewers machine is centerfielder and lead-off man Nyjer Morgan. If "T-Plush" can get on base, steal some bases, and just be a nuisance to the Diamondbacks' pitchers, that could totally open up the floodgates for Braun, Fielder, and the rest of the Brewers' power bats to take over this series.
My Pick: Brewers in 4
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