Baseball playoff guide

My dear friends at MLB.com generously provided the following graphic:

It's odd and a bit ugly. (Why do two teams need to have both their city/state included with their team names? And it seems very odd that the Yankees are so small and undistinguished - they need to spend some time coming up with a nice logo.) But it allows me to provide guidance to those of you that have no idea who to root for in the upcoming games that start today.

Yankees vs. Twins: This one's easy, we need the Twins to win. They won't, but it would be nice.

Rangers vs. Rays: Not quite as easy, but I give the nod to the Rangers. My years growing up in Colorado predisposed me to hate all things Texas, but I'm mellowing a bit. Plus it would make Rick happy. Plus I generally have to pull for teams on the correct side of the Mississippi River. I do like that the Rays ended up in first in the AL East, relegating the Yankees to the Wild Card.

Braves vs. Giants: Duh. I hate the "tomahawk chop" and would like to see the Braves battered senseless by the Giants. It's not going to happen though - there will be a lot of 1-0 and 2-1 games. The Giants will prevail though.

Reds vs. Phillies: I've got to go with the Reds and Dusty.

My dream World Series would be Giants vs. Rangers. FOX hates me (I'm sure they want Yankees vs. Phillies again), but then I hate FOX - they are not broadcasting any games until the Giants play the Reds and no AL team is on broadcast TV until the World Series. Speaking for all who refuse to pay for cable or satellite TV, this is pathetic and MLB should be embarrassed. It relegates MLB to the same level as the NHL and NBA - a second tier sport.

In any case, today you will hear baseball coming from my office nearly all day.

And hopefully some cheering (and few bad words).

That's it - Play Ball!