LCS Preview/Predictions

Here's what each team has going for them in their upcoming series:

Detroit:

• They're better than Oakland in pretty much every quantifiable manner.
• They definitely got a wakeup call when they lost the division on the last day to the Twins.
  
• They seem to have that "team of destiny" thing going on after the Yankees series.
• They have Andy Van Slyke.

Oakland:

• We all know that team of destiny stuff is horseshit. Then again, Oakland fans are probably feeling like this is their "team of destiny."
  
• Both teams that won in the AL Division Series' were underdogs, just as Oakland is in this series.
  
• Didn't Detroit kind of look like a team that had just won their own personal World Series when they were spraying the crowd with champagne and partying like it was 1999 on Saturday? They may be out of gas.
  
• They have home field advantage for the series.
• Think about what happens in LCS's when Van Slyke, Slaught, McClendon, Lamont, and Leyland are all involved.

New York:

• They're really freaking good.
• The Cardinals kind of suck.
• Karma dictates that Oliver Perez has complete game 17 K 2-hit shutout in him.
  

St. Louis:

• Albert Pujols and Chris Carpenter play for them.
• I've developed an interesting theory. Each year, one of the finalists in the major sports championships (I'm throwing hockey out for now because of the lockout and rule changes) seems to be a failed semi-finalist from the year before. This year's NBA Finals had the Heat. The Super Bowl had the Steelers. The World Series had the Astros. The 2005 NBA Finals are an exception, but the 2005 Super Bowl had the Eagles and the 2004 World Series featured the Red Sox. The only failed semi-finalist from last year that's left? The St. Louis Cardinals. Recent history may be in their favor.
• Also, I hate them and I doubt I'll be lucky enough to see them lose.

This time around I'll base my predictions on what happened in the prior round. The A's and Tigers won despite both what my head and my gut told me. That means that as much as the Tigers seem like the favorite in this one, the A's will win in 7. In the NL, I made both of my predictions in the Division Series based on my gut feeling rather than my head. I was wrong in both cases. This time I'll use the ol' noggin, Mets in 5 (only because Carpenter gets one start).