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While the Bulls season tips off tonight, the regular season technically began last night. So again, my apologies for being a day late in posting these picks that are largely reprints of what I had last year.
The major exception this time around is that for the first time in some five years, I don't have the Miami Heat winning a division and coasting into the NBA Finals once again. While the loss of LeBron will certainly be devastating, the Heat should still be able to hang around in the one division in the East that has a little bit of doubt. But the debate in the East essentially boils down to which one of the two teams in the Central you like more: the Bulls or the Cavs.
The West remains an absolute freak show of talent, with some 10 teams having a realistic shot at making the playoffs. I had a hard time deciding which one of last year's teams I wouldn't pick to make it again this year.
It's still somewhat amazing for me to see the Spurs as such predominant favorites in most of the picks I've seen thus far, not because I don't think they're not talented and able to repeat but more because I've grown so used to them being dismissed as "too old" year in, year out. Still, I know we're bound to get (at least) one major injury that screws everyone's picks and possibly eliminates a very popular title favorite.
All of that said, I'll still take a stab at how I see every team finishing and which one will be hoisting the Larry O'Brien next June.
And please forgive me for the spacing and font size issues as I'm posting this while
I'm
on
my
lunch
break.
One right, one wrong in last round with neither series lasting as long as I had predicted. Since the Wild Card round concluded, the only consistency in my predictions has been that I've been right about the Giants, wrong about the Royals, and incorrect on the length of every series. I'm 2-6 for this October, so fans of either team going into this last round would be right to hope that I don't pick their club.
It's not as though the baseball postseason has been necessarily bad, as there have been a number of very close games decided very late. However, none of the series have approached the maximum length and I don't really sense that the pattern's about to change—no matter how much I personally might be hoping otherwise.
This year's Fall Classic gives us one team that is seeking its third title in the past six years (dynasty?), and a club that hasn't won anything since it last appeared in the playoffs the same year Ronald Reagan was beginning his second term as president and my beloved Bears began a Super Bowl season by winning their first dozen games. It should be clear who I (and probably most of America) are pulling for, although what's really the point in getting my hopes up now?
After another abysmal round for me, I am now one for six in picking winners this postseason. At this point, I would almost be better served just pasting the predictions I made before the season began even though most of those teams have been eliminated.
This will be a somewhat strange rooting interest for myself (and a lot of fans) as it relates to this pair of series. Over in the American League, we have two relatively likable squads from cities that are three decades (or more) removed from their last World Series appearances.
And in the National League, we have the same two teams that have alternated as pennant winners for the past four years.
So we're left with a feeling of "Finally!" for one series and "Again?" for the other. It's already pretty clear which league I will be pulling for when we're down to the last two teams, but there's certainly reason to believe that we'll at least get two competitive series over the next week or so.
And having said that, now watch us get two sweeps.
So I was unable to get these picks up before the puck dropped last night (Blackhawks season, after all, begins tonight). I don't think being a day late gives me any sort of profound advantage or additional insight that any of the experts out there didn't have for the months leading up to making their own predictions.
And as the graphic here indicates, my beloved Blackhawks are quite the popular pick this year. While at the bank yesterday, a segment on PTI simply asked Tony and Michael "Kings or Blackhawks?"
Such is the way of the NHL, where much like the NBA, the West is seen as the overwhelming favorite. And while Chicago and L.A. are understandable favorites, you really couldn't fault anybody for liking other clubs in the West that upgraded this off-season, such as, say, St. Louis or Anaheim.
While seeing the Blackhawks being the choice of so many admittedly bolsters my optimism about a prolonged first viewing of the NHL Playoffs with the newborn (who will be a year old by the time the Cup is awarded), I'm also left a little uneasy by the distinct likelihood that an overwhelming favorite probably won't pan out.
Nonetheless, with the Bears being such a disappointment thus far this season and my still being left with a fair bit of skepticism about how much hope to invest in the Bulls (and let us not even speak of the Braves), hockey arrives at just the right time. Oh, how I have been longing to hear the voice of John Wiedeman again.
Well, that didn't go so well. At least I specifically admitted that I wasn't "terribly optimistic" about how I'd do, and I'm no more optimistic this round than I was in those two Wild Card game.
Sure, there seems to be a couple favorites here, but strange things happen in the baseball postseason. I suppose that if nothing else, I should just sit back and take a moment to appreciate that we won't have to endure the possibility of another October featuring the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox.
However, we've still got the Cardinals. And the Dodgers. But at least those two clubs are playing one another in this round, so one will be gone by the next time I'm posting picks. It's going to be hard to top the thrill of that extra-inning Kansas City victory, but I'll keep my fingers crossed.
