golfrewind.com

Well, I was really looking forward to cheering on the Cubs before the season started but things haven't gone quite as I would have liked. Luckily, they're in the midst of an exciting wild card chase. I'm thinking the Giants will end up winning the NL West and the Cubs will take the Wild Card as the Dodgers fade. I don't believe the Astros will catch the Cubs.

Then there's also the Yankees/Red Sox series to talk about. I also know there are some Cards fans here who have had a lot to cheer and have a lot to look forward to. Let's hear some baseball talk!

Would love to see the Chicago White Sox but I think for them it's next year!

Looks like the Atlanta Braves will win the NL east again without all the superstars.

Now that the Phillies (beloved team of my youth) are not even on the wild-card radar, they've finally figured out how to beat the Marlins in Florida. Trying to save Larry Bowa's job for him, I guess.

Here in Minnesota, the Twins (beliked team of my, um, seasoned years) are headed for the postseason. Only questions are who they'll play and where. To get home-field advantage, they need to finish with a better record than the AL West champ. So we're watching Oakland and Anaheim. Tonight I'm rooting for Anaheim. Could change tomorrow.

I'm just hoping that thehatedYankees (that is 1 word, right) shell Schilling when they face him this weekend. I make him to be the front-runner for the AL Cy Young Award. But the Twins' Johan Santana is leading the AL in K's and ERA, and as I write this he's cruising to his 20th W. He'll need all of these stats to get past the bias that helps big-market athletes (at least that's what we in the mid-size markets say).

If Santana doesn't win the Cy Young the voters should have their heads examined, haha. Schilling has a more wins but his ERA is around .6-.7 higher if I'm not mistaken.

As for the rest of the teams, GO REDBIRDS!!! After a few years of having good teams that just couldn't get it done in the postseason, we Cards fans just feel there's something magical about this team that will lead them to their first WS victory since the year I was born! So long as that freak injury (Rolen getting run over by that Arizona guy in 2002) or occurrence (Ankiel losing it in 2000) that seems to happen to them a lot stays away this year I like their chances. Hopefully Rolen and Carpenter get rested up and healthy so we can steamroll through the playoffs! I think the WC will go to Chicago and LA will win the West. We could get the two best rivalries in baseball as Championship Series matchups if things fall right-Cards/Cubs and Yanks/Sox. Imagine the storylines-the two cursed franchises take on their biggest rivals who happen to hold the most WS titles in their respective leagues. For a chance to possibly break out of their century-long slumps. I can hardly wait for the playoffs to start!

DODGERS!!!!! We shall own..... i hope

Hey, Card... I thought you might show up on this thread!

I hadn't thought about the possibility you raise above. I'll be a Redbirds fan if that comes about. What a season they're having. As I write this, they're minutes away from their 101st W of the year, with 9 more games to go after tonight. (106 W's is the club record, as you know.) I'm guessing they'll have Carpenter (biceps) and Rolen (calf) healthy for the postseason. Lookout, everyone!

Rolen I have no worries about, he is tough as nails and the only reason he is not playing now is that they don't want to aggravate it before the playoffs and put him out. He'll probably play some next week just to shake the rust and he'll be ready to go. As for Carp, he won't pitch til next week and the injury is a nerve problem, so you can never tell with those. I'd like to think he'll tough it out and be our horse in the playoffs. And yes, the Cards just finished off the Rockies 5-4. Didn't want to jump ahead of myself and jinx them, haha.

But the talk of the Cards lately, at least amongst our fans, has been Rick Ankiel. His comeback has been fairytale-like to this point. His first home appearance this past weekend striking out the side with a packed house in Busch roaring was spine tingling just hearing it on the radio highlight. I really hope he will continue to move forward and fulfill the massive potential he had coming up, not just because I'm a Cards fan, but because he's a good kid and he deserves it.

Cards/Cubs and Yanks/BoSox would be just amazing. I wonder if people would cheer for a Cubs/BoSox World Series again? I'm sure if those were the two Championship series, it would probably come down to Cards/Yankees in the World Series. Well, the Cubs and Cards both won. So did the Yankees. I guess my prediction of the Giants going ahead of the Dodgers just got a little tougher to meet but they still have a lot of games between the two.

wazmankg,

Bond's numbers are up there and I (and many others) firmly believe they're tainted. I really don't want to start that debate because neither side can prove he was, or he wasn't taking steroids. My earlier point was I keep looking in the on deck circle to see where he left his horse. Hence, the "Knight in Plastic Armor" reference. I guess the only other question I have is, which of his former managers or team mates will draw the short straws and HAVE to attend Bond's Hall of fame induction?

The Cubs lost a heartbreaker today. Up 3 runs with 2 outs in the 9th and they give up a game tying home run. The bullpen has to step it up!

The bullpen has cost the Cubs the entire season so far and it'll be tough to make it in the playoffs on their rotation alone. Starters just don't go the distance much anymore.

As for Bonds, he went from about 175 lbs in the mid 90s to 250 lbs of muscle now in his late 30s. Athletes just don't do that often. Now I don't know whether he took steroids or not but that's been my observation. His and all other MLB players' body armor has to go. It's ridiculus and takes away the inside part of the plate for a lot of guys. It's borderline cheating. If they want to stand on top of the plate that's fine, let 'em, but they wont get any extra protection because they want to do so.

In today's game, there is no inside part of the plate. If a pitcher even tries to back a hitter off the plate the hitter charges the mound or the opposing pitcher tries to nail your best hitter in retaliation. That's not pitching. It's throw it up there and see how far they can hit it.

Gibson, Drysdale, and Ryan....where have you gone Joe Dimaggio?

Since I'm a Tiger's fan, post season baseball is a memory for me. But we dusted Gibson, Brock, and the rest of those Cards back in the day!

I really don't care who makes it to the play-offs. The games are on so late and take so long to play that it takes all the interest out of it for me. My son and I love baseball but baseball at midnight and 4th grade just don't mix. I know it's all about "prime time" TV viewers but MLB is losing an entire generation of our youth by not starting the play-off games earlier. It's a battle to get my son to go to bed after he's watched 4-5 innings of an exciting game. I always feel bad because I know exactly how he feels. I was him once....I only wanted to watch the game, not stay up all night.

Oh, I'll be watching and saying, "Ok, just one more inning" but I don't look forward to the look in my son's eyes when I turn out his light....in the 6th inning!

You are exactly right leagugolf. The division series games might be on during the day sometimes but the championship series and World Series games always start at 8 or 9, way too late. Baseball has always been the most fan-friendly of the major sports but they are going the way of the rest and worrying more about the $$ or the ratings than the fans....

The thing is that MLB thinks people want to see home runs, and they are favoring the hitters big time in order to appease the fans they think...well this fan would like them give pitchers a chance again. The raising of the mound again was a good start, now the body armor goes next.

Oh, and as for the Tigers beating the Cards..I don't acknowledge anything that happened before my birth unless it works in my favor!

Dominating pitchers are extremely rare in today's game. There's a handful good ones, but the game belongs to the hitters. I can't stand the body armor either but if I'm making millions per year I don't want my career to end because of a wayward pitch.

Raising the mound is a good start, but being a long time player and umpire, I have a different solution. Expand the strike zone to the dimensions specified in the rule book. Call the high strike and pitching becomes a bigger part of the game again. Belt high fastballs are a strike in any league....except MLB.

Sure, Home Runs put fans in the seats, but if I want to see a 12-9 baseball game I'll stick with Little League.

Typical youth of today....if I didn't see it, it didn't happen. I'm pulling for your Cards to win it all. Do they have what it takes after falling woefully short last year?

I hope they do have what it takes, last year they didn't even make the playoffs!! But if they fail I can understand and it will still have been a remarkable season as I never imagined they would have fared as well as they have given their division rivals' big improvements and the "experts" saying they'd be lucky to finish third.