Baseball playoffs: Who ya got?

October starts tomorrow and with the Cardinals out of the playoffs, it's time to choose sides this fall. I'm going to go out on a limb and say much of Southeast Missouri will be rooting for the Dodgers or against the Cubs.

So, who do you like to win it all?

I'll be back later tonight with my picks. And if you think I don't know what I'm talking about (which my wife usually does), go back and read this entry that included:

If they [the Cardinals] can … go 8-1 in those games, then split the remaining games with the Cubs and D-backs, the Cards would finish 90-72. Can they win 12 of their final 18 games?

As it turned out, the Brewers finished 90-72 and the Cardinals won eight of their final 18 games.

The postseason schedule is here.

In recent years the teams that finish the regular season on a "hot streak" seem to make the most noise in October - the '06 Cardinals were a wild-card -- so watch out for the White Sox, who made a 2007-Colorado-Rockies-like run to the playoffs with wins Sunday, Monday and tonight.

The wild-card teams this year are dangerous in that Boston is the defending champions and the Brewers have been playing postseason-like games for the last few days.

The top dogs in both leagues -- the Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Angles of Anaheim, Calif., USA, World, Universe -- will probably not go out without a fight.

The dream World Series match (if you happen to be a TV exec) is the Cubs against Boston or LA but we could have a Freeway Series (Dodgers vs. Angles), The Windy City Series (Cubs vs. White Sox), the Sweet Lou Series (Cubs vs. Rays, both coached at one time by Lou Piniella) or Manny Mania (Ramirez's old and new teams).

Cardinal fans can root for just about any team. The Dodgers have Joe Torre while the Cubs have Jim Edmonds. The Phillies have So Taguchi and Ryan Howard (St. Louis native). The Brewers feature Jeff Suppan while the Rays have Troy Percival closing for them.

For my picks in the Division Series, I like the White Sox over the Rays in 4, the Angels over the Red Sox in a tough 5 that could go either way, the Cubs over the Dodgers in 5 and the Phillies over the Brewers in a sweep.

For the ALCS, the Angels will sweep the White Sox while the NLCS will go the distance with the (gulp) Cubs winning. I like the Angels but the whole 100-years-since-the-Cubs-last title thing is too perfect. Since my friend, a life-long Cubs fan, is getting married in November, I'm thinking this is his year and the Cubs will pull it off with an extra-inning Game 7 win. Nothing is ever easy for the Cubs.