Baseball Playoffs Start Today

Ok, some of you East Coasters might believe that they started yesterday when the Yanks beat the Angles to go up 1-0 in their AL division series.

But I’m here to tell you that the MLB playoffs don’t truly start until today, when my hometown Astro’s take on the Atlanta Braves.

The Houston Astros are the one team that nobody else in the playoffs wants to play. Houston is my pick to win it all this year. And I’m not alone. Go read Pitching will lead the Astros to title from ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark, which details exactly why he thinks the ‘Stros are the team to beat too.

This team was 15-30 on May 24, 14 games behind the Cardinals and 11½ out in what was then a complete wild-card free-for-all. But since that date, the Astros are 74-43. And how many teams in either league have a better record since then?

How about none?

The Astros have what might be the best 1-2-3 playoff starting rotation in my lifetime: Roger Clemens leads the majors in ERA (1.87). Andy Pettitte, who has the major’s 2nd lowest ERA (2.39) has also been the best pitcher in baseball in the second half of the season:

He’s 7-0 since Aug. 16. He’s 14-2, with a 1.56 ERA, since June 22. And he won our NL second-half triple crown, leading the league in wins (11), ERA (1.69) and opponent batting average (.201).

And who’s number three in that rotation? Roy Oswalt, who is the only pitcher in baseball to win 20+ games in each of the last two seasons.

All those big three have to do is get the game to closer Brad Lidge, and much like Mariono Rivera for the Yankees, the saves (wins) are almost automatic. In fact, Lidge is probably the most dominate closer in the playoffs this year, and that includes Rivera:

“Jason Isringhausen isn’t in that category,” said one scout. “Frankie Rodriguez is good, but not like that. Trevor Hoffman can still do it — but not dominate the way this guy can. There’s nobody more dominant than Brad Lidge. Nobody.”

Clemens, Pettitte, Oswalt, and Lidge are only one side of the story though. Biggio, Berkman, Bagwell, Ensberg, and Fast Willie Taveras are the other reasons that this team is the one to beat:

So there. It has to be the Astros.

Unless it doesn’t.

But they might bring as many dominating starters to this postseason as all the other teams combined. And that’s good enough for us.

“I’m not going to tell you they’re guaranteed to win,” said one scout. “But I can guarantee you this: I don’t think any team wants to play this club.”