There's Always Next Year, Yankees Fans

Moving right along with this season's second edition of There's Always Next Year...

The Detroit Tigers are headed to the American League Championship Series for the first time since 2006 after scraping past the New York Yankees 3-2 Thursday night with an exciting Game 5 victory in the Bronx.

The Texas Rangers, who advanced to the ALCS on Tuesday after taking three of four Division Series games over the Tampa Bay Rays, were ready and waiting and probably didn't give a crap who they faced in the end, as long as they get another shot at the World Series.

But enough about the winners. Let's have an emotional look at the losers. In sad photo montage, of course.

Yankees Force ALDS Game 5 with 10-1 Punishment of Tigers

The Detroit Tigers put Rick Porcello on the hill for Game 4 in the hopes that he would get the job done and send the New York Yankees packing for the offseason.

Instead, the Yanks took advantage of a couple of the 22-year-old pitcher's mistakes before busting the game wide open off the relief corps for a 10-1 victory to force Game 5 of their American League Division Series.

Derek Jeter drilled a 1-0 slider for a two-run double in the third inning before Curtis Granderson, who made a spectacular catch with the bags juiced in the first, crushed one for an RBI double in the fifth to give New York an early lead. Then they kicked the door in with a six-run eighth inning off relievers Al Albuquerque and Daniel Schlereth.

While Yankees starter A.J. Burnett sucked pretty much all season, he did what he had to do against the Tigers, who wasted opportunities with runners in scoring position the entire game. They failed to get a hit with men on four separate times, in fact.

The two teams will meet again Thursday in the Bronx for the deciding contest at 8:07pm ET on TBS. This marks the first postseason series for Detroit that will go the maximum number of games since 1972 when the Tigers lost at home to the Oakland Athletics in Game 5 of the ALCS.

[The Detroit News]

There's Always Next Year, Rays Fans

Here we go again, kicking off another postseason of "There's Always Next Year, Dot Dot Dot." We absolutely love this part.

The Tampa Bay Rays, who fought so damn hard to get into the playoffs in the first place, find themselves the very first team to be eliminated out of postseason contention after the insane bat of Adrian Beltre and the Texas Rangers knocked them back into the offseason Tuesday afternoon. We know.... we wish we could give Evan Longoria a hug too. Among other things.

Adrian Beltre Homers Three Times, Texas Rangers Headed to the ALCS

Thanks to three Adrian Beltre longballs during Game 4 of the ALDS, the Texas Rangers have sent the Tampa Bay Rays packing and are headed straight to the American League Championship Series for the second season in a row.

The slugging first baseman went yard in his first three at bats during the 4-3 victory Tuesday in St. Petersburg. He hit solo shots off starter Jeremy Hellickson in the second and fourth innings before adding another solo homer for good measure in the seventh off reliever Matt Moore. Unfortunately, he missed the opportunity to hit a fourth home run in the eighth when he flied out to shallow right field.

After getting just one hit in 11 playoff at bats so far this postseason, Beltre really turned things around to become the sixth player in the history of the game to hit three home runs in a single postseason performance, and the first to do it during a divisional series. So that's pretty sweet.

The Rangers will now watch and wait to see who will face them in the ALCS between the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers, who play Tuesday evening at 8:30pm ET on TBS. The Tigers have the chance to send the Yankees home tonight, as they lead the best-of-five series 2-1.

[ESPN Dallas/Fort Worth]

David Price, Tampa Bay Rays Drop Game 3 to Texas Rangers

David Price was cruising through Game 3 against the Texas Rangers like nobody's business until suddenly, in the seventh inning, he coughed up the 1-0 shutout.

The All-Star lefty, who was winless in six starts last month, has still never beaten the Rangers. Counting two unfortunate losses during last year's ALDS, Price is a career 0-6 against Texas... which is so weird, cause he's pretty awesome against everyone else.

The sixth time the Rangers found themselves with runners in scoring position -- failing to record a hit the five times prior -- Mike Napoli made it count with a two-run bomb to kick off a four-run seventh.

Price left the game after allowing a Craig Gentry two-out single, but reliever Brandon Gomes walked two in a row to load the bases before Josh Hamilton crushed a two-run single off J.P. Howell that gave Texas a 4-1 lead. Howell knew he totally blew it:

"Disgust. I'm just really bad. That's it. It's a negative. All negative. But move on, the series isn't settles, so let's just roll on."

Tampa attempted a comeback with rookie Desmond Jennings hitting his second solo shot of the game in the eighth off reliever Mike Adams to make it a one-run game, but the scoring ended at 4-3.

Facing elimination, Rays rookie Jeremy Hellickson is scheduled to pitch Game 4 against lefty Matt Harrison Tuesday afternoon at 2:07pm ET on TBS. In fact, there are four ballgames today. You should probably just call in sick.

[Rotoworld]

CC Sabathia Struggles in Game 3 Loss to Tigers, Yankees on Brink of Elimination

CC Sabathia was all over the place Monday night in his New York Yankees' 5-4 loss to the Detroit Tigers, who now hold a 3-1 lead in the best-of-five American League Division Series.

The chubby left-hander, who could barely lob the ball to Russell Martin on an intentional walk, matched a postseason-worst with six walks. He literally could not find the strike zone... and he feels pretty bad about it:

"I put us in a bad spot... the next time I get the ball, I'll try to go out and try to help us win."

Too bad he might not get the chance until next season.

But it wasn't all CC's fault. Rafael Soriano, the $161 million man who was tagged with the loss, surrendered the go-ahead home run to Delmon Young in the seventh inning. Two innings later, Jose Valverde had Tigers fans sweating for the second straight game with the Yankees rallying in the ninth, but Derek Jeter failed miserably, striking out with two runners on for the final out.

Justin Verlander was pretty solid for Detroit, giving up four runs on six hits with three walks, but fanning a career postseason-best 11 batters. Hitting an incredible 101-mph on the gun into the eighth inning, the right-hander gained run support through second baseman Ramon Santiago, who went 2-for-4 with 2 RBI. Meanwhile, Jhonny Peralta nailed an RBI double to tie it up in the sixth just before Sabathia's exit.

Now on the brink of elimination Tuesday night, the Yankees will look to A.J. Burnett, who sucked quite a bit this season, to shift the series back to New York and force a Game 5. Rick Porcello, a career 2-2 with a 5.56 ERA against the Bronx Bombers, will pitch Game 4 for Detroit at 8:30pm ET on TBS.

[Detroit Free Press]

Detroit Tigers Fend off New York Yankees to Even up ALDS

The Detroit Tigers held off the New York Yankees to tie up their American League Division Series on Sunday with a 5-3 win at Yankee Stadium, and are very much looking forward to heading back home to Detroit Monday night.

AL Batting Champion Miguel Cabrera smoked a two-run homer off Yankees starter Freddy Garcia in the first to give Max Scherzer an early lead before adding another RBI in the sixth along with Victor Martinez to make it 4-0. Scherzer actually pitched no-hit ball into the sixth before the Cano blooped one the opposite way into left field, but we totally forgave him for that.

About the time it started to rain again, Curtis Granderson hit a solo shot in the eighth off Joaquin Benoit, but Don Kelly answered with a home run of his own in the top of the ninth to bring the score to 5-1.

Things got a little crazy in the bottom of the ninth when Nick Swisher went yard and Andruw Jones added a sacrifice fly to bring the Yankees within two.  Tigers closer Jose Valverde then walked Granderson to put runners on first and second, but quickly recovered to retire the hot-hitting Cano and cap Detroit's victory to bring the series to Motor City for Game 3 Monday at 8:30pm ET on TBS.

Ivan Nova, Robinson Cano Lead Yankees Past Tigers in ALDS Game One

A day after their rain-suspended Game One of the American League Division Series, the Detroit Tigers headed back the Yankee Stadium to resume play in the bottom of the second inning.

Right-hander Ivan Nova pitched 6.1 brilliant innings of relief while Robinson Cano contributed a tie-breaking double in the fifth and a grand slam in the six-run sixth to give their Yankees a 9-3 victory Saturday night.

Nova surrendered only two runs on four hits, striking out five and walking four. Opposing pitcher Doug Fister lasted just 4.2 innings of relief, getting the loss after fanning seven, but giving up six runs on seven hits.

Freddy Garcia will get the ball for New York Sunday afternoon for Game Two of the best-of-five series at 3pm ET on TBS. He'll face 27-year-old righty Max Scherzer, who is a career 3-0 in as many starts against the Yankees, with a 2.84 ERA. Garcia, who came to the Bronx this winter, is 18-8 with a 3.88 ERA against the Tigers over 32 career starts, seeing lots of time against them while with the Chicago White Sox in the AL Central.

[Baseball Nation]

Tampa Bay Rays Rookie Matt Moore Crushes Texas Rangers in ALDS

Matt Moore is a total stud. You know it, I know it. Joe Maddon definitely knows it, and now the entire baseball-watching world knows it.

The adorable 22-year-old rookie left-hander, who joined the Tampa Bay Rays just three weeks ago, had the game of his life Friday night in just his second big league start ever. Tossing two-hit ball, he struck out six Texas Rangers and walked two.

No pitcher in the history of the game had ever started a postseason opener with just one career start under his belt until Moore took the hill at Rangers Ballpark less than 24 hours after being informed he was pitching in the playoffs. Eight days earlier, he fanned eleven New York Yankees over five scoreless innings and surrendered just four hits and a walk... pretty impressive to say the least. Moore had this to say post-game:

"They didn’t give me a whole lot of time to get nervous and to think about it a lot. I didn’t want to be out of it before I was in it… I tried to be as normal, as normal and as calm as possible. And it was just a matter of getting comfortable, and there on it was throwing strikes."

Justin Verlander vs. CC Sabathia: Welcome to the 2011 Postseason

Update: The game was suspended due to torrential downpours in the second inning. Play will resume Saturday night at 8:37pm ET.

It's starting to get cold up in here here. The leaves are falling, the flowers are dying, and birds are literally getting the hell out of Dodge.

That can mean only one thing: it's time for some playoff baseball.

And what better way to warm up on a Friday night than to watch the American League Division Series between the Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees? Exactly. There is no better way. Especially when you'll have Justin Verlander pitted against CC Sabathia, two of the premiere aces in the AL.

Verlander, who went 24-5 with a 2.40 ERA and 250 strikeouts during the regular season, is all but a lock for this season's Cy Young Award. Meanwhile, Sabathia is a career 15-12 with a 4.84 ERA against Detroit, after spending much of his career in the AL Central with the Cleveland Indians.

None of that really makes a difference at this point though. It's like a whole new season, a clean slate with everyone's numbers reset to zeros. The last time these two teams met in the postseason was back in 2006, when the Tigers ended up winning the AL pennant. Any predictions?

Holy Crap, Wild Card Wednesday Was Nuts

What a finish to baseball's regular season, the greatest show on dirt. That was literally the most exciting night of baseball we have ever witnessed in our entire lives. Sincerely hope you got to see at least one of these games.

The Atlanta Braves and Boston Red Sox polished off their respective collapses while the Tampa Bay Rays made the most improbable comeback of their young franchise's history. Also, Chris Carpenter and the St. Louis Cardinals plowed through the Houston Astros like they had the worst record in baseball... oh, wait.

Guys like Nolan Reimold and Robert Andino, who forced Jonathan Papelbon's soon-to-be infamous blown save, are maybe the last two names you'd expect to hear today. Maybe, if you're living outside of Baltimore, you have no clue who the hell they are. They're spoilers. Season-enders. Game-changers for a day.

Many Red Sox fans, already disappointed with Carl Crawford's once-promising season in Beantown, may want to kick him in the nuts today after his disgraceful, missed catch on Andino's low liner to end the game. Pure laziness. David Ortiz summed it all up in his post-game interview:

"Umm....this is... this might be the worst situation that I have ever been involved in, in my whole career."

Then there's Evan Longoria, who enjoyed a two-home run evening -- one being quite possibly the biggest walkoff bomb of his career -- at Tropicana Field as his Rays rallied from a 7-0 deficit in the eighth inning. And Dan Johnson. Batting .183 on the year and the last guy you want at the plate when your team is down to their last strike of the season in the bottom of ninth, goes yard to tie it up and give Tampa a shot at October.

Texas Rangers: First Time for Everything

Cliff Lee was clobbered by his Texas Rangers teammates Tuesday night after they beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-1 to advance to the ALCS for the first time in their 50-year history between Washington and Texas.

That's a long time without winning a playoff series.

To celebrate their first postseason victory in franchise history, they gathered around the visitor's clubhouse donning red ALDS Champion t-shirts and goggles, toasting ginger ale in support of their recovering alcoholic/drug addict batting champ, Josh Hamilton.

There's Always Next Year, Rays Fans

Last week it looked as though the Tampa Bay Rays might be headed to another ALCS before they went and dropped the first two games against the Rangers in St. Petersburg. Then they came back to win the next two in Arlington before losing the finale to a dominant Cliff Lee Tuesday night at home while the Rangers won their first postseason series ever. Pretty impressive.

The Rays had the American League's best regular season record this year, so their 2010 wasn't a complete failure. Hang in there Rays fans, don't be sad... there's always next year!

Tonight's Badass ALDS Pitching Matchup

Oh boy are we in for a treat.

Down 2-0 after dropping the first two games of the ALDS at home, the AL East champion Tampa Bay Rays bounced back to take the next two from the Texas Rangers on the road in Arlington. Tuesday night at 8pm ET, they'll play Game 5 at Tropicana Field, deciding who will play the New York Yankees in the ALCS.

Cliff Lee, who is 5-0 with a 1.52 ERA in six career postseason starts, will get the ball for Texas with the full intention of finishing what he started in his fantastic Game 1 performance.

There's Always Next Year, Twins Fans

The Minnesota Twins were the first team to enter the playoffs this season, and upon meeting the New York Yankees in the ALDS, they were the first team to make an exit.

Between the lack of hitting, poor pitching, awful base-running, craptastic bullpen management, ridiculous throwing errors, etc. on behalf of the Twins, I'm not exactly sure what happened there.

Babes Love Reader Feedback!

Dearest BLB readers,

We hope you've been ok with the downtime between game 162 and the start of the playoffs. It's a difficult time for all of us, but fear not, the playoffs will be here tomorrow. You could take this time off to do something you've been meaning to do for a while.. household projects, spending time with friends and family, feeding your dog... OR, you can read MLB blogs so you can fend off the shakes and get your baseball fix.

Obviously, you know which route we're taking.

So, to fill the void in our lives for the next long 24+ hours, we want to hear YOUR thoughts! What did you think of all the end of the season firings around MLB? What are your predictions for the post season? Which matchups (ALDS/NLDS or possibly in the ALCS/NLCS) are you most excited to watch this month? What were the highlights of the 2010 season? Which team totally shit the bed this season? Who really needs to hang it up next year (that isn't already)? You read what we had to say all season long, now we want to hear YOUR thoughts!

Happy Playoffs to you and yours!

XOXO,

Sooze and Marea

There's Always Next Year, Twins Fans

Alex Rodriguez has erased almost all notions of his unclutchness in October, as the New York Yankees swept the Minnesota Twins in their ALDS with a 4-1 Game 3 win on Sunday at the now-extinct Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome.

The Twins fought an incredible uphill battle to get to the postseason, winning 17 of their final 21 games to force and win a tiebreaker against the division rival Detroit Tigers. However, not even Metrodome magic could stop the Yankees in their quest for a World Series title.

There's Always Next Year, Sox Fans

Well, I pretty much needed a good 24 hours after my team was eliminated from the playoffs to regroup. You'll be happy to know I've moved on and it's time to make fun of the losers. Yes, even my Twins.

The Los Angeles Angels rallied from a 5-1 deficit in Game 3 of their ALDS against the Boston Red Sox to come out on top with the sweep. Big hits, amazing catches and fantastic pitching -- not to mention the memory of fallen teammate Nick Adenhart -- has carried this team through the postseason thus far.

There's Always Next Year, Angels Fans

So once again, the Boston Red Sox are off to the American League Championship Series. Another year, another pennant, yada, yada, yada.

Instead of going on and on about how fricking awesome the Sawx are, we're gonna go ahead and make fun of the Los Angeles Angels for being the best team in baseball from start to finish, yet still managing to deflate like A.J.'s ego after Sunday's loss.

There's Always Next Year, Sox Fans

The Chicago White Sox won four straight elimination games this weekend, only to blow it on a 6-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 4 of their AL Division Series Monday night.

Gavin Floyd had seen better days, after a breakout season which ended with a fourth-inning bow-out to put the nail in the coffin of a craptastic postseason for the South Siders. Even Junior went 0-for-4 in the final game.