2013 Wild Card Playoff Predictions: Keep the single-elimination fun going

As I said in my NHL predictions last night, I'm a little pressed for time right now. So my apologies for not customizing the little accompanying graphic a bit, but it's not like I had any great ideas at the moment anyway. Still, I can never pass up the opportunity for postseason picks, and after last night's tiebreaker game sent Tampa into the playoffs, the next two nights will see two more do-or-die games for four teams. It certainly should be fun, maybe even infuriating if there's another infield fly rule call.

Sorry, I'm not bothering with the picks of other experts this year, but here's my own in descending order of confidence:

Pittsburgh Pirates over Cincinnati Reds

Well, I had both of these teams making the playoffs this year, and while the Pirates didn't win the Central like I originally picked, it certainly looks like a good possibility that Cincy will get bounced in this round as I had expected. The Bucs were charging late and everybody knows that crowd at PNC tonight is going to be just absolutely apeshit crazy for this game. While the home teams have really been faltering in these recent one-and-done games last night and last year, all signs for me point to Pittsburgh finally bucking that trend.

Tampa Bay Rays over Cleveland Indians

The Rays were my pick to win the East, but I never expected Cleveland to so quickly experience the resurgence it had this year. Still, let's keep in mind that the Indians also won something like 17 of 19 games this year against the lowly White Sox. Take away that opponent, and we're more or less talking about a barely above .500 ball club. Yes, the Tribe comes into this game roaring and coasting on a 10-game winning that's included such featherweights as the White Sox, the Twins and the Astros. Yeah, consider me skeptical. Something tells me that the Rays take the crowd out of it early in Cleveland and end this so-called storybook season for the Indians.