The hunt for October is over. This was an exciting year for Major League Baseball. We saw new records, such as Barry Bonds breaking the home run record, but what made the season great were the teams competing for the playoffs. We saw teams pull off a magical season and saw teams blow a lead into the playoffs. What would it have been like if the New York Yankees did not make the playoffs? This year we will not find out because for the thirteenth consecutive year the New York Yankees have made the playoffs. On May 29 the New York Yankees were 21-29, which is unbelievable for a franchise with high salaries they pay for their players. After that beginning of the season, people said that Joe Torre, the manager of the Yankees, would be, fired. The Yankees also at one time were in pitching trouble with having 10 different starting pitchers in its first 30 games of the season. After beginning 21-29 on May 29th they became the hottest team and went 70-38. They finished with a record of 94-68. This was one of the biggest stories of the season because the Yankees were 9.5 games out of the AL Wild Card. Then at the end they won the AL Wild Card to finish off a great story for this team. Alex Rodriquez, who had 54 homeruns, 156 RBIs, and143 runs, leading in all categories in the MLB helped make this happen. Although, they had a struggling pitching year, the Yankees offense was amazing. They lead the AL in homeruns and lead the MLB in RBIs, batting average, runs, and hits. The Yankees high powered offense helped them to be a great offense in the MLB.
Another exciting race that happened was in the NL East, which included the Philadelphia 
Phillies coming back to win the NL East and the New York Mets choking at the end. The New York Mets had a great record through May 31st by going 34-18, but they went 40-42 from June through August. With only 17 games left, the Mets had a 7 game lead over Phillies. The Mets lost 11 out of 16 games towards the end of the season. Even though the Mets, lost at the end of the season, the Phillies still had to play well. They went 12-3 towards the end and the two teams were tied with only one game to go. The Phillies beat the Washington Nationals 6-1, and the Mets lost to the Florida Marlins 8-1. Due to Mets lose the Philadelphia Phillies won the National League East. The Phillies were able to win as they had, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and Jimmy Rollins, who all had a terrific season. The Phillies led the NL in batting average RBI’s, runs scored, and was second in homeruns. The Phillies and the Mets help made the National League East an exciting race.
Phillies coming back to win the NL East and the New York Mets choking at the end. The New York Mets had a great record through May 31st by going 34-18, but they went 40-42 from June through August. With only 17 games left, the Mets had a 7 game lead over Phillies. The Mets lost 11 out of 16 games towards the end of the season. Even though the Mets, lost at the end of the season, the Phillies still had to play well. They went 12-3 towards the end and the two teams were tied with only one game to go. The Phillies beat the Washington Nationals 6-1, and the Mets lost to the Florida Marlins 8-1. Due to Mets lose the Philadelphia Phillies won the National League East. The Phillies were able to win as they had, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and Jimmy Rollins, who all had a terrific season. The Phillies led the NL in batting average RBI’s, runs scored, and was second in homeruns. The Phillies and the Mets help made the National League East an exciting race. Probably the greatest story to come out of the playoff race is the Colorado Rockies. Many Rockies fans believe that it was a magical year since the Rockies have not made the playoffs since 1995. The Rockies were the hottest team in September, going 20-8. The Rockies won 13 out of 14 games at the end including 11 games in a row. The team set a franchise record going 90-73. The Rockies had the best hitting average in the NL, led by their NL MVP candidate Matt Holiday. He had the best hitting average and the most RBI’s in the NL. The biggest reason why 
the Rockies are still playing in October is the teams fielding. They have the fewest errors in MLB and setting a record with the best fielding percentage all time in MLB with .989.The San Diego Padres and the Colorado Rockies played a tiebreaker to see who would get the NL Wild Card and get to play the Philadelphia Phillies. After a long game in Colorado, the Padres had the lead in the bottom of the thirteenth 8-6 with their ace closer Travis Hoffman. This is when the Rockies would rally tying the game 8-8 with Matt Holiday on third. Jamey Carrol would have a sacrifice fly and Matt Holiday would score, which many fans have argued over whether or not he was safe. The umpire called Holiday safe and the Rockies would continue on with their magical season into the playoffs after beating the San Diego Padres.
the Rockies are still playing in October is the teams fielding. They have the fewest errors in MLB and setting a record with the best fielding percentage all time in MLB with .989.The San Diego Padres and the Colorado Rockies played a tiebreaker to see who would get the NL Wild Card and get to play the Philadelphia Phillies. After a long game in Colorado, the Padres had the lead in the bottom of the thirteenth 8-6 with their ace closer Travis Hoffman. This is when the Rockies would rally tying the game 8-8 with Matt Holiday on third. Jamey Carrol would have a sacrifice fly and Matt Holiday would score, which many fans have argued over whether or not he was safe. The umpire called Holiday safe and the Rockies would continue on with their magical season into the playoffs after beating the San Diego Padres. Now that the playoffs have started who will win the World Series. Unfortunately, the playoffs have not been as exciting like the end of the regular season; three teams got swept and most of games were blowouts. With the divisional series over close to being over, the question is who will win the ALCS, the Boston Red Sox vs. the Cleveland Indians/New York Yankees, and the NLCS, the Arizona Diamondbacks vs. the Colorado Rockies. All we can hope is that these playoffs get more exciting like the end of the regular season was.
2 comments:
This 2007 baseball season was extremely exciting. You got to see 7 different playoff teams this season, the yanks being the only returnee. Being a huge yankee fan, and seeing my team rise from the dead to win the wild card and gain 12.5 games on the red sox was thrilling but another year being eliminated from the ALDS is crushing. However to me, the most exciting part of this season was to see all the young prospects play huge roles on a number of teams in the league. I think with this new crop of baseball players, basball's image is in the right direction of improving.
The end of the MLB season did seem to be more exciting than usual this year. The ALCS may not be as exciting this year wihtout the Red Sox/Yankees match up, but many people predict that the Sox and Cleveland will go to an exciting 7 game series.
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