Albert wound up as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals for 11 years and helped lead his team to two World Championships, the most recent being just six weeks ago.

By comparison, Prince Fielder is likely walking away from the Milwaukee Brewers after the minimum six years.

Albert Pujols

And that’s not to even put Fielder in the same conversation as LeBron. Prince never half-assed it in any season while waiting to become a free agent. In fact, has Prince played in 959 of a possible 972 regular season games since 2006, a fact that agent Scott Bora$ is no doubt reminding potential suitors of.

But Pujols was on two World Champions in St. Louis, while Milwaukee’s ‘best’ to this point has been a couple of playoff appearances.

I get the bitterness in St. Louis. Albert was supposed to be the rare legend that goes old-school and plays an entire career in one market. Of course that tradition hit the rails long ago, and the handwriting that Pujols might leave has been on the wall ever since Pujols decided to play out the final year of his contract, which left open the possibility of the Cards being outbid by the dreaded ‘mystery team’.

You are welcome to hate on Pujols, but part of the onus also falls on the St. Louis organization, which was not able to lock up Pujols early on (2002-04) like the Brewers were able to do with Ryan Braun. The Cards added additional pieces (Chris Carpenter, Matt Holliday, etc.) to complement Pujols over the years, and STL wound up getting the maximum for their investments over the past decade. They just couldn’t agree with Pujols on the deal that would keep in St. Louis until he retires.

Tony LaRussa’s retirement possibly gave Pujols all the more reason to leave St. Louis as well. Now Cards GM John Mozeliak has to figure it all out, circa-1968 spectacles and all, and we will get to that in a second.

The Pujols contract may be an albatross in Anaheim come 2019 or so, but for now the Pujols signing sends a huge message that the Angels are definitely at the same level as the Yankees/Red Sox in the American League. The Angels are now also undisputed kings of the LA market – as the Dodgers’ idea of someone (other than Matt Kemp, of course) in middle of the order having a three-hit day is James Loney in his Maserati on the 101.

Then, the Angels signed pitcher C.J. Wilson (5 years/$77 million) away from the division rival Rangers. In hockey parlance, that is a ‘four-point’ game, a win for Anaheim and a loss for Texas. It also why the Rangers’ World Series loss stings just that much more – ‘window closing’ is quickly becoming ‘window closed’.

This leaves Prince Fielder as the next domino to fall in baseball’s Silly Season.

Prince Fielder

The logical idea is that if Pujols wouldn’t take $200 million+ from the Cards, then maybe Fielder will. Prince doesn’t hit for as high an average and isn’t nearly as good defensively, but he is four years younger and the power numbers are similar. The two sound like an easy enough match for me.

Personally, I’m not buying the reports of the Seattle Mariners being the front-runners on Prince. If that was indeed the case the Brewers better still be in the hunt, but they won’ bet.  It will be the Cards, or (less likely) the Cubs, or the ‘mystery team’ (Red Sox/Yankees, who trust me are laying low).

And that would leave the Brewers, as expected, as the biggest loser, possibly seeing Prince on a division rival.

The scary thought is names such as Carlos Pena (Mendoza Line and all) and Derrick Lee being mentioned as replacements. Casey Kotchman would be a much better option, as the defensive upgrade would make up some of losing Prince’s bat.

In another development, Francisco Rodriguez accepted arbitration from the Brewers. The good news is Milwaukee is set in the bullpen this year, but the bad news is K-Rod comes with a $13 million price tag – he could be yet a trade pawn before the off-season is over.

Yu Darvish

After Pujols/Fielder, the biggest free agent name is now Japanese pitcher/rock star Yu Darvish, who declared his free agency this week.

Most of the smaller and even mid-market teams will not be able to play at that table.

Darvish will command a $50 million+ posting fee for a MLB team just to be able to negotiate and then $50-$60 million more to sign. The Red Sox got bitten on this with Dice-K a few years back, but Darvish is the real deal (18-7, 1.44 ERA, 276 K’s/but an alarming 232 IP for Nippon in 2010) and this is a free agent class horribly starved on pitching.

Miami ‘Dealing’

The movie 'Baseketball' was surprisingly prescient in their prediction of a future sports team called 'Miami' and their uniforms that so clearly fit the style of the city.

And then there is the splash the Miami White Sox (I meant Marlins) have made, spending $191 million on free agents just this week after spending $170 million in the previous 14 years combined.  But it’s coming at a cost, as the Marlins are trying to make a third baseman out of Hanley Ramirez to make room for Jose Reyes, but now Henley is reportedly balking at Ozzie Guillen.

Hanley ‘upset’?? Ozzie, ‘quick fuse’?? Who knew.

But it’s obvious the Marlins are all-in. It’s a cycle that runs every ten years or so with a new stadium as the current centerpiece: buy a bunch of studs, become contenders for a year or two, go broke (as attendance plummets), then sell to the next shady owner while selling everyone off and re-developing the farm system.

Well at least they already have two World Championships in the last 15 years; the Mets and even Braves would have killed for at least one in that timeframe.

Or the Marlins and Miami Heat can join forces and start a baseketball league, considering the Marlins have already ripped off the Dealers uniforms. Projected batting order, 1. Reyes, 2. Hanley, 3. D-Wade, 4. LeBron, 5. Stanton, 6. Chris Bosh… I think that would get the Miami Dealers over the Milwaukee Beers.

So that takes care of the first wave of the baseball holiday shopping list. Expect more surprises in the Hot Stove Market, and don’t expect the Yankees/Red Sox to remain on the sidelines much longer.

Once Pujols started to tell the press he was open to looking at other options besides the St. Louis Cardinals I knew, in the back of my head, that Pujols was going to go against the words he spoke not that long ago.

“It’s not about the money every time. It’s about your family, uh you know, I’ve been blessed with $100 million which is more than what I deserve. It’s about being in the best city to play sports, you know not just baseball, sports at all. Our fans are the best.“

In a sports world filled with greed and fights over a couple more million dollars, Pujols stood out as the beacon of hope against greed and as loyalty to a team.

Or so we thought.

I am a Cubs fans who has been tortured by Pujols over the years. Yet a part of me still hoped to see him show loyalty to a city and fans who are some of, if not the, best fans in the country.

I’ve been to St. Louis, and I’ve been to a Cardinals game, and I can assure you that every day there’s a Cardinal’s game there is barely anyone without a Cardinals jersey on. The city lives and breathes baseball.

They love their players and are the reason why the players get to play in the first place. The fans pay for the tickets. The fans pay for the merchandise. Without fans to watch the sport, the sport doesn’t exist or thrive.

Has loyalty in sports become extinct?

I think it has.

I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen a talented player taking a pay cut to stay with a certain team. Though I assume some have taken cuts to stay with the team they love, it surely doesn’t seem like it happens more than a player who leaves for the team who pays more.

I understand that what Pujols did was completely justifiable in business terms. A lot of people, if given the choice, would take a higher paying job than they already have, but that doesn’t make it right.

For some reason I still believed there was morals and loyalty in today’s athletes. It doesn’t seem like that’s the case. Call me naive, or call me an idealist. I don’t care.

This kind of betrayal and acts of hypocrisy is not right and should not be defended by anyone.

And crusty manager Tony LaRussa wisely decided to take the first exit ramp out of the airport.

Many thought TLR’s ‘sudden’ retirement earlier this week was as equally stunning as the Cards winding up as World Series Champions – you know, the team that was supposed to be watching the postseason on TV.

I’m only stunned that so many other people were ‘stunned’.

As the Cardinals appeared to be an afterthought in the National League playoff race in late-July, La Russa had the look of a man who appeared to be growing tired of his profession. That could possibly be the result of some of his health problems during the season. We do know someone behind the visitors dugout at Milwaukee’s Miller Park touched a nerve making reference to it.

That would be the same dugout in which the Cards would celebrate winning the National League pennant 2+ months later.

And maybe it was that testy Cards-Brewers game on July 31 that wound up as the first turning point of St. Louis’s season, what ended up eventually lighting a fuse. When La Russa went on his now famous ‘DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY BONES ARE IN THAT HAND??’ rant, he basically laid down the gauntlet, and the team eventually rallied around it.

No, La Russa has never been popular in Milwaukee, or the North Side of Chicago, or many other National League ports for that matter. (But the question has to be asked: what if La Russa was the Brewers or the Cubs manager? Would you rather have TLR filling out the lineup card…or Mr. Spock (Ron Roenicke), or even worse Mike Quade?)

This wasn’t La Russa’s first impressive run under trying circumstances, a campaign that began with staff ace Adam Wainwright undergoing season-ending elbow surgery. In the middle of the 2002 season, La Russa and the Cardinals had to rally around the physical loss and emotional grief from the sudden death of pitcher Darryl Kile, and they wound up taking the team to that year’s NLCS.

And then there was the ’06 season, a Cardinals team that honestly did not deserve to be in the playoffs winning a weak NL Central with a 83-78 record. But the Cards had a seat at the table and La Russa helped turned that into a World Series Championship.

Boo him. Jeer him. Insult him all you want. Tony La Russa was baseball’s Bobby the Brain Heenan. There may be a lot of fans out there that didn’t like him, but he wasn’t running a popularity contest.

And Tony was also one of the all-time great innovators, not afraid of new ideas such as the pitcher hitting eighth in the batting order or his extreme early hooks on starting pitchers late into the 2011 season and especially in the playoffs.

It’s no surprise that coach Bob Knight was also one of LaRussa’s frequent visitors over the years, another equally controversial but successful icon.

Then there is the loyalty, from his long-time relationships with coaches Dave McKay and Dave Duncan, to even allowing disgraced slugger Mark McGwire to re-invent himself as a highly respected hitting coach. Again, it wasn’t about what public perception might think.

I do have my faults with LaRussa as well, the start of the BALCO era was when he had the Bash Brothers in Oakland in the late 1980′s, and obviously knew McGwire was on the juice when he assaulted the single-season record books a year later. I say TLR at least shares the blame in condoning that culture, along with the players themselves as well as Bud Selig for turning a blind eye during that period.

2011 ended up the crown-jewel of a 33-year career that began by turning the Chicago White Sox into unlikely contenders. Along with general manager John Mozeliak (complete with dorky eyeglasses smack straight out from 1968), the Cardinals built an eventual champion on the fly – from acquiring role players such as Rafael Furcal and Mark Rzepczynski, to allowing Jon Jay and Allen Craig to step in as vital cogs, to letting David Freese grow himself into becoming legendary in October.

This edition of the Redbirds was truly about 25 separate parts finding chemistry at the right time, with the timely help of an Atlanta Braves collapse.

Meanwhile, the ‘division champion’ Brewers countered with Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun, and…..

(Well, GM Doug Melvin will tell you about getting a half-year out of Francisco Rodriguez (bold acquistion, eh…) and trading a prize prospect (Brett Lawrie) for a #3 starter (Shaun Marcum) who morphed into a post-St. Louis Jeff Suppan by the time fall rolled around. And in all fairness I’ll also give Milwaukee Gallardo and John Axford and a few others…)

Where does St. Louis go from here?

Now on top of trying to re-sign that Pujols guy, the organization has to suddenly look to somehow fill the shoes of TLR. Not surprisingly it took about two seconds for Terry Francona’s name to come up in speculation, who does have the resume to fill the daunting job description. The Cards would also be replacing one manager who may have possibly been slightly over-medicated at times during the ’11 season with another.

Or maybe Pujols moves on, and there is that period of transition. Still, from the front office down to the farm system I don’t see the Cards falling too far from the top of the NL Central in the foreseeable future.

Again, hate La Russa’s guts if you must, but it was his heart that made him a winner for 3+ decades.

1. If you play a historically great 7-game series, they will come.

Through 5 games this year’s World Series was on pace to be the lowest rated Fall Classic ever. Last Monday’s Game 5 did a historically dismal 8.8 rating. (The low rating was especially surprising considering that Monday Night Football’s number was even worse.)

But by Thursday, American sports fans and television owners realized that they were missing out on one of the great World Series of their lifetimes. Thursday night’s 11-inning classic did a 13.7. Game 7 did even better. Its 14.7 was the best rating for a World Series game since 2004.

2. Oklahoma State is as good as any college football team in the country.

After Saturday’s 59-24 beatdown of Baylor, the Cowboys are #3 in the BCS for the second consecutive week and are #1 in 6 of the 7 BCS computer polls.

While OSU’s much celebrated offense is averaging 50 points per game behind Brandon Weeden and Justin Blackmon, the Cowboys’ defense is statistically one of the nation’s worst. But SI’s Stewart Mandel argues that Oklahoma State’s defense is much better than the numbers suggest:

Oklahoma State reminds me a lot of last year’s Oregon team, and not because of the array of uniforms. The Cowboys and Ducks both had an electrifying offense that overshadowed an unsung and frankly misunderstood defense. In fact, Brandon Weeden and Co.’s quick-strike attack contributes to the Cowboys’ unflattering defensive numbers. For one thing, the defense is constantly on the field, having played 660 snaps, including 105 on Saturday. By comparison, Alabama’s defense has seen 458 plays. Oklahoma State’s defense has essentially played two extra games.

Meanwhile, [defensive coordinator Bill] Young usually empties the bench by the fourth quarter, so the other team piles up meaningless yards and points against second- and third-stringers.

Regardless of what you think of their defense, the Cowboys control their BCS Championship Game destiny. And Bedlam is in Stillwater this year. I’m just hoping we get to see more of this:

3. Case Keenum is setting records that won’t be broken for a long time.

Thursday night, while you were watching Game 6 of the World Series, Houston quarterback Case Keenum was throwing for 534 yards and 9 touchdowns against Rice. The 6th-year senior now has a record 139 touchdown passes in his college career, 5 better than previous Division I-FBS record holder Graham Harrell. Keenum already holds the FBS record for total offense and likely will break Timmy Chang’s record for passing yards next week against 1-7 UAB.

The ubiquity of the spread offense in recent years has changed the way we look at college football passing records. Chang set his record for total passing yards in 2004, and 9 of the top 10 passers in FBS history have played their entire careers since 2000. Harrell set his touchdown record in 2008, breaking a record set by Colt Brennan the year before.

Given this recent assault on the record books, it may seem naive to expect Keenum’s records to last. But Keenum has 6 more games (assuming that the 8-0 Cougars qualify for the C-USA championship game) in which he can pad his statistics. He is on pace to finish his career with more than 19,000 passing yards and 150 touchdowns. Even by spread offense standards, those numbers may be untouchable.

4. North Dakota State is the class of Division I-FCS.

Drew Lange’s North Dakota State Bison went into Saturday’s game against #2 Northern Iowa ranked 3rd in the Football Championship Subdivision. NDSU beat their Missouri Valley Football Conference rivals 27-19 in the Fargodome.

Image credit: Tina Haines Photography via GoBison.com

Meanwhile, top-ranked Georgia Southern lost to Appalachian State.

The 8-0 Bison, who likely will be #1 when the new FCS polls come out, are now one of two undefeated teams remaining in the Championship Subdivision. (Sam Houston State is the other.)

5. The Cardinals’ winningness rubbed off on their city’s football team.

On August 24 the St. Louis Cardinals were 10.5 games behind the Braves in the National League Wild Card race. You know the rest.

The Cardinals made an appearance with the World Series trophy before Sunday afternoon’s game between the previously winless St. Louis Rams and the New Orleans Saints. The Saints were favored by 13.5 points; they lost by 10. The Rams took control early in the game, leading 17-0 at the half and 24-0 in the third quarter. New Orleans scored 21 second-half points, but never managed to cut the lead to single digits.

The Cardinals didn’t rub off on the St. Louis Blues, who lost two games in western Canada this weekend.

6. Curtis Painter has wheels.

He may not be Peyton Manning, and he may not win games, but Colts quarterback Curtis Painter can run. Painter was the leading rusher in the Colts’ 27-10 loss to the Titans on Sunday, rushing for 79 yards on 7 carries (mostly in the 4th quarter after the game had been decided). He ran for more than twice as many yards on half as many attempts as the Titans’ Chris Johnson. (Maybe Tennessee should sign Curtis Painter, and his hair, to a $53.5 million deal.)

7. The worst team in the NFL will win the right to draft Stanley Spadowski.

Every time I see Andrew Luck, I ask myself, “Who does he remind me of?” Saturday night, while Luck was talking to reporters following Stanford’s triple-overtime win over USC, it hit me. He looks like Stanley Spadowski, Michael Richards’s character from Weird Al Yankovic’s 1989 cult comedy UHF:

What? You don't see it?

If you think that’s anything but a compliment, you need to see UHF.

8. Women’s Professional Soccer won’t leave its most marketable players in the hands of a negligent owner.

Late last week WPS eliminated its magicJack franchise. The Boca Raton team’s roster boasted some of the nation’s most recognizable women’s soccer players, including Hope Solo, Abby Wambach, and Meghan Rapinoe.

The magicJack’s owner, Dan Borislow, bought the team when it was the Washington Freedom, moved it to south Florida (where he lives), named it after his company (which makes a device that enables you to plug a standard phone into your computer’s USB port), then grossly mismanaged it. Apparently, Borislow did nothing to market the team; he didn’t even bother to set up an official team website. He neglected to submit game footage to the league and said that he was not interested in selling tickets.

Borislow also wore cleats to the practice facility so that he could scrimmage with the team. He fired magicJack coach Mike Lyons early in the season then made players double as coaches. Sometimes he coached the team himself.

WPS decided it would have no more of this nonsense. Unfortunately, cutting the magicJack leaves the league with only 5 teams, 4 of which are in the northeast.

Did you expect to see Albert Pujols jack three home runs in a single game? He did.

Did you expect the signature pitching performance of the 2011 playoffs to come from the mustachioed Derek Holland? It did.

Did you expect a team to win by driving in the tying and winning runs on consecutive sacrifice flies? It happened.

So I present this World Series Game 5 preview to you with absolutely no certainty that anything I say (except for one thing at the end) will come true or even seem reasonable once the 54th out of the night is recorded.

I’ve said all along that I expect the Rangers to win the series in 6 games. With the series currently knotted at two games a piece, that prediction still has a chance to come through, but the Rangers must win the next two games. When I made my prediction initially, I did so expecting the Cardinals to win Chris Carpenter’s two starts, both of which would be against the Rangers’ supposed ace C.J. Wilson. Now Wilson must come up big for Texas, otherwise the Cardinals head home needing to win just one of two in the friendly confines of both their own ballpark and their own league’s rules.

Is there any reason to be hopeful that Wilson can turn in a good start? The best I can say is…maybe.

Wilson’s playoff struggles are now well-known. He’s been terrific over the last two regular seasons for Texas, but his playoff ERA this season is 7.17. Rangers fans should be encouraged by the fact that Wilson did have a respectable 3.70 ERA over four playoff starts last year, including a solid 6 inning, 2 ER performance in his only start of the World Series. So it’s not like he in incapable of performing under the pressure of baseball’s brightest lights. But the fact remains that Texas doesn’t win enough of the games Wilson starts come October. They are now 2-6 in his eight playoff starts the last two seasons.

But, again on the bright side, Wilson’s best start of the 2011 playoffs came in Game 1 against Carpenter. It wasn’t great (5.2 innings, 3 ER, 6 BB), but it was something resembling progress. He’ll likely need to progress much more though tonight considering Chris Carpenter’s 8-2 record and 3.10 ERA in 13 career postseason starts. With the Rangers’ prowess in The Ballpark, I’d say Carpenter would do well to repeat the 6 inning, 2-run performance he had in Game 1. Wilson will get some run support. He just has to make sure he keeps his team in the game so the now rested bullpen can carry the Rangers home should they get a lead, or hold the Cardinals bats in check should the Rangers need to come back.

Yesterday in the early afternoon, I texted a friend of mine who is a Rangers fan and said “I think the Dutch Oven steps it up tonight.” Derek Holland proved me right with his performance. I just had a weird gut feeling that the guy who tossed four shutouts during the regular season would come alive. It was a gut feeling induced by law of averages. I figured at some point the dominant Derek Holland had to show himself. Such has been his career track record. And since it had been a while, Game 4 seemed like the perfect opportunity. I have no such gut feelings about tonight’s game.

I think Texas will win, because I think whoever wins this game will win the World Series, and I still believe Texas will win the World Series (even in six games); b.ut I have no real confidence that CJ Wilson can outduel or even evenduel Chris Carpenter, which means I think the Rangers’ bullpen will outduel the Cardinals bullpen and Texas will win in a comeback. That’s not an outlandish prediction, and certainly the Rangers’ bullpen has proven capable, but predicting a team to win when I think they lose the starting pitching battle is always worrisome.

But, alas, that’s what I’ve decided I think will happen. I think Carpenter will give Tony La Russa six pretty strong innings and then Dr. Tinker will start mixing and matching his bullpen, at which time the Rangers will start cutting into whatever lead St. Louis can jump out to off of Wilson.

We’ll see. I’ll be the first to tell you that I place zero confidence points on this prediction. It’s baseball. Anything can and will happen. But I’ll stay committed to my prediction of the series: Rangers in 6. And for that to happen, Texas has to win tonight. Either because of or despite their “ace” C.J. Wilson, they will.

Now it’s your turn:

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Here is one prediction I do feel good about making: whoever wins tonight is winning this series. Such a statement is not earth-shattering and should surprise no one. When a series is tied at 2-2, the winner of Game 5 wins the series far more often than they do not.

With Colby Lewis pitching in Game 6 (an expected win for the Rangers in my book) and a potential Game 7 being in St. Louis under NL rules (an expected win for the Cardinals in my book) this is the game most up in the air. So though one team will be crowned champion after either Game 6 or 7, the series will more than likely be won or lost tonight. Considering those stakes, and how boring the Monday night game should be, you have no excuse for not tuning in.

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But who cares about all that? I just stumbled upon (hat tip to Deadspin) a video of a decades-old appearance that Tony La Russa made on the game show “To Tell The Truth”. So quit second-guessing the tinkering, feline-loving La Russa and take a few moments to watch this video, shot way back in the days when La Russa was mixing up his mad baseball chemistry on the South Side.

Okay, now feel free to return to regularly scheduled second-guessing of La Russa.

The St. Louis Cardinals and LA Galaxy both took a 1-0 lead in their respective contests, but the teams went separate ways soon after their scores. The Cardinals lost their slim lead, and the game, 2-1 in the ninth and now have their series even at one game a piece. The Galaxy held on to their tight margin and made it a victory to advance to the quarterfinals in the CONCACAF Champions League.

The Cardinals, playing at home, built their lead against the Texas Rangers in game 2 of the World Series a little bit before the LA Galaxy did the same to their Honduran counterpart in Tegucigalpa. What made flipping the channels fun is what always makes it fun for the sports fan: the drama, the not knowing what will happen next factor, and the delight in watching athletes perform under big-time pressure.

For the Cardinals, it was a major lost opportunity that pundits will not let them forget for quite some time. Albert Pujols will have a hard time making up for a crucial error he made in that fatal 9th. This game might have cost the Cardinals their chance at winning the World Series.

For the Galaxy, the eked-out, pressurized, thriller-of-a win solidifies their franchise’s reputation and gives the biggest U.S. Soccer stars, David Beckham and Landon Donovan, another shot at FIFA’s Club World Cup. They have a long way to go, but the possibility remains. Of course, signing Beckham must take place first, as the remaining games for Champions League don’t get started back up until spring of next year.

The playoff atmosphere and do or die nature of the games made for fun television. Many sports fans may have missed this golden opportunity to flip channels. It’s too bad, and what’s worse is that they don’t even know what they missed.

Probably, many sports bars around the country missed out too. For all of the moments in between pitches on the diamonds, eyes could have been diverted to the Galaxy’s quest, no remote necessary.

Soccer and its most popular U.S. club team don’t get the respect they so rightfully deserve.

Jerod takes a stab at Ari’s most challenging slate of questions yet, and then they discuss what has made the 2011 MLB playoffs so memorable before previewing the World Series matchup between Texas and St. Louis.

Click play on the player below to listen to this week’s episode:

Click here to take MLB Trivia Challenge Podcast Quiz #14

The link above skips you to the bottom of this page where quiz is embedded. Podcast will continue playing.

Quick Standings Update (as of October 19th, 2:22 PM CT):

1. Craig Davey, Dan Greenham, Tony Nelson – 81
2. Chuck Dombrock, Jeff Wallack, Kevin Luljak – 80
3. John Krampf – 78
4. Louie Tartaglia – 75

This is everyone with 70 or more points. A few of the usual suspects haven’t turned in the last few quizzes, so I expect they will soon. If you think there is some error in your score, let us know and we can review.

Take note: ALL QUIZZES MUST BE TURNED IN BY THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27TH at 11:59 PM CT. No exceptions. We’ll announce the winner of the grand prize on Friday.

A few quick notes:

• The MLB Trivia Challenge is available on iTunes. Listen and subscribe here.
• Be sure to follow the MSF Trivia Challenge Podcast on Twitter: @MLBTriviaMSF.
• If you like the intro and outro music, and I know you will, it was provided to us by the Twin Cats out of Indianapolis. We encourage you to like them on Facebook or check out their music here.

Here are links to all the old quizzes, in case you missed one:

• Episode 1 with Ken Rosenthal
• Episode 2 with Will Carroll
• Episode 3 with Big League Stew
• Episode 4 with Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors
• Episode 5 with Derek Schultz of XL950 in Indianapolis
• Episode 6 with Deadspin founder Will Leitch
• Episode 7 with Gregg Doyel of CBS Sports
• Episode 8 with Scott Sargent of Waiting For Next Year
• Episode 9 with Jonah Keri of Grantland
• Episode 10 with Jim Margalus of South Side Sox
• Episode 11 with Al Beaton of Bless You Boys
• Episode 12 with Trenni Kusnierek
• Episode 13 with Amanda Rykoff
  

Your Turn to Compete and Win Prizes

Now onto the fun stuff: your chance to match wits with the “experts” and win prizes.

As explained on the rules and information page, we will be rewarding one winner each time a new MLB Trivia Challenge Podcast and quiz are posted. This winner will be awarded as follows:

• Each correct answer nets you one point. Most points wins.
• In the event of a tie, we will choose from the top group at random.
• The winner receives a $20 gift certificate to Chili’s*, which is perfect for a Chili’s Lunch Break.

• Weekly winners can go bold with the new six-dollar lunch break combo at Chili’s. Choose a house made soup or salad and then pick a half Texas Toast sandwich like the Southwestern BLT smothered in cilantro lime mayo.
• See all the great Lunch Break combos at Chilis.com.
• Note: You have ONE WEEK from today to submit yours answers and be eligible for the weekly prize. Next Thursday at 11:59 pm CT, entries are closed and we award a winner.

In addition to the weekly prizes, a grand prize winner will be chosen at the end of the season. Simply put, the grand prize winner will be the person who tallies up the most points throughout the season, regardless of when the quiz is taken.

A few final notes you need to know before we let you have at it:

• LISTEN to the podcast; each week we will be including one bonus question taken directly from our discussion.
• ONLY your first entry counts, for the weekly prize and grand prize.
• MAKE SURE you use the same UserID throughout the season. This is how we will keep track of your scores.
• PAY CLOSE ATTENTION to the instructions after each question. Due to the parameters of the quiz program we are using, and our inability to hand-grade thousands of quizzes each week, we must request that you very specific and particular in how you answer the questions. Thus, you MUST spell names correctly. Think of it this way: attention to detail is paramount in baseball, so shouldn’t it be part of the challenge? Absolutely.

And now, drumroll the please, we give you your chance to answer. Have fun!

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Obviously we cannot post the answers because this is an ongoing trivia challenge.

Check back next Friday when we post the final results of the MLB Trivia Challenge sponsored by Generational Equity. It very could include an announcement of a tie-breaker challenge, unless someone can separate themselves from the pack this week.

Remember: someone is winning an iPad and a subscription to MLB.tv when this is all said and done…it might as well be you.

* – Chili’s gift certificate good in U.S. only.

You will hear us discuss the following, and more:

• Several reasons why the 2011 playoffs are one of the most exciting ever
• Examples of the few recent playoff years that compare to this year (most notably 2003 and 2004)
• Why Texas’ bullpen will be the key to the Rangers winning (or not winning) the World Series
• Overall analysis of how Texas and St. Louis stack up
• Official picks for who will win

Click play on the player below to listen. No intro/outro music, sorry. Wanted to get up as quickly as possible:

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If I were to write a World Series preview from a Cardinals perspective, it would be full of bias and spite, so I’ll instead focus my efforts on my new (temporary) favorite team, the Texas Rangers, as I preview the 2011 World Series, which starts tomorrow night (TV schedule and pitching probables here).

Image source: ESPN.com

I found myself shopping for a Nelson Cruz t-shirt on Sunday night after the Cardinals eliminated Milwaukee, because he is my one tie to the Brewers’ organization. He had a small cup of coffee with the Brewers in 2005 after spending two seasons at AA and AAA, before being traded in the deal that brought Carlos Lee and Francisco Cordero to Milwaukee. I’d like to say I saw this potential for Cruz back then. I didn’t, but I have pictured Cruz back in a Brewers jersey on more than one occasion.

I’ve seen the Cardinals play at least 20 times this season, and I think they are quite good. I thought they would win the division, and they have postseason experience. But from what I’ve seen from the Rangers, they are very similar to the Cardinals and better in a few key areas.

Starting Pitching

The starting pitching staffs are relatively similar, with each team having one ace and then a number of supporting pitchers. CJ Wilson had better regular season statistics (2.94 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP) than Chris Carpenter (3.45 ERA and 1.26 WHIP), but in the playoffs it’s hard to pick Wilson (8.04 ERA in three starts) or against Carpenter. He wasn’t great against Milwaukee, but his start in Game 5 against the Phillies was one of the best pitching performances in recent postseason history.

Image source: Huffington Post

The rest of the rotations for both teams are by no means dominant, and each game should come down to which offense is better in those matchups. Outside of Pujols at first base, I think I’d take the Rangers player at just about every other position.

Outfield

Starting in the outfield, I would pick Josh Hamilton, Nelson Cruz and whatever third outfielder you want to put out there against just about any other outfield in baseball. Having Lance Berkman, Matt Holliday and Jon Jay certainly isn’t a bad thing, but it’s hard to argue against what Cruz did in the ALCS.

Infield

Around the horn in the infield, the closest matchup is at third base. Pujols holds the edge at first over Michael Young, the Rangers are better up the middle with Ian Kinsler and Elvis Andrus, but Adrian Beltre versus David Freese is close. Beltre has been the better player for a longer period of time, but Freese crushed the ball on his way to NLCS MVP honors. In this case, I’ll take the veteran Beltre, who shouldn’t be fazed by the bright World Series lights.

I’m not totally sure what is going to come of the catcher/designated hitter positions during the Series, but for argument’s sake, I’ll simply say that I’d rather have Mike Napoli in the lineup than Yadier Molina. Molina can come through with a big hit and he’s better defensively, but I like Napoli’s big bat in Texas’s lineup.

Bullpen

Texas also probably holds the edge as far as bullpen performance in the playoffs, and it will come down largely to matchup play. Neither Lance Lynn of the Cardinals nor Scott Feldman of the Rangers have given up a run in at least eight innings of work for their respective teams, and both teams’ closers are 4-of-4 in save opportunities. The edge here goes to the Rangers because of Alexi Ogando’s ability to pitch in long relief if necessary.

Prediction

I think the Rangers hold too many edges in the World Series, and they will win with competent enough starting pitching backed by a whole lot of offense and a solid pen. I think Josh Hamilton has a big series and fully completes his comeback, winning World Series MVP along the way.

World Series Prediction: Rangers in five.

**********

Now it’s your turn.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Two years in a row I have attended Game 6 of the ALCS at The Ballpark in Arlington, and two years in a row I have witnessed the Rangers perform their Ginger Ale celebration in the infield after the game. Last year, it was a close win over the Yankees when Alex Rodriguez struck out. This year, it was an absolute blowout over the Tigers.

So now the Texas Rangers will go to the World Series for the second straight year, with their bats on fire and the bullpen in lockdown mode. Their opponent will the St. Louis Cardinals, who are one of the most improbable World Series contenders ever. The Cardinals were 10.5 games back of the Braves for the Wild Card with a few days left in August. Thanks to a 10-20 finish by the Braves, and their own September surge, the Cardinals stormed into the playoffs and haven’t stopped winning since.

Though MLB and FOX are surely disappointed that their ratings cows – the Yanks, Red Sox, and Phillies – didn’t sniff this year’s World Series, you’ll find zero disappointment here. In fact, I think this is one of the more fascinating World Series matchups that was possible. We’ll have plenty of coverage here at MSF in the coming days. Quickly, here is the TV schedule and pitching probables to whet your appetite:

World Series TV Schedule and Pitching Probables

World Series Game 1

• Date: Wednesday, October 19th
• Location: Texas at St. Louis
• Time: 8:05 ET
• TV: FOX
• Probable Pitchers: CJ Wilson v Chris Carpenter

World Series Game 2

• Date: Thursday, October 20th
• Location: Texas at St. Louis
• Time: 8:05 ET
• TV: FOX
• Probable Pitchers: Colby Lewis v Jaime Garcia

World Series Game 3

• Date: Saturday, October 22nd
• Location: St. Louis at Texas
• Time: 8:05 ET
• TV: FOX
• Probable Pitchers: Edwin Jackson v Derek Holland

World Series Game 4

• Date: Sunday, October 23rd
• Location: St. Louis at Texas
• Time: 8:05 ET
• TV: FOX
• Probable Pitchers: Kyle Lohse v Matt Harrison

World Series Game 5*

• Date: Monday, October 24th
• Location: St. Louis at Texas
• Time: 8:05 ET
• TV: FOX
• Probable Pitchers: TBD

World Series Game 6*

• Date: Wednesday, October 26th
• Location: Texas at St. Louis
• Time: 8:05 ET
• TV: FOX
• Probable Pitchers: TBD

World Series Game 7*

• Date: Thursday, October 27th
• Location: Texas at St. Louis
• Time: 8:05 ET
• TV: FOX
• Probable Pitchers: TBD

As per usual, Joe Buck and Tim McCarver will be handling the announcing duties, with friend of MSF Ken Rosenthal reporting from the dugouts. I’ll update this schedule as information becomes available.

* – if necessary

I made that mistake back in 1982 when the St. Louis Cardinals won Game 3 of the World Series and had bolted to an early lead in Game 4. The Milwaukee Brewers came back to win that game and eventually had a 3-2 series lead before losing the Fall Classic in seven games.

But the first three games, as well as the National League Division Series before that, have provided some telling signs. After being a decent, but not a playoff-caliber team most the season, the Cardinals now seem to have that 2006 feel.

That World Championship feel.

To coin a phrase – could it possibly be Written In the Stars???

Right now I will give you several reasons I believe the Cards will be able to ultimately close the deal on Milwaukee.

THE #2 AND #6 HITTERS (AND ELSEWHERE IN THE LINEUPS)

At this point we would be talking about John Jay/David Freese v. whatever center fielder Ron Roenicke decides to insert into the #2 hole and Jerry Hairston. For the Cardinals, John Jay has been a total pest, whether it has been perfectly executed hit-and-runs or the bunt laid down in the first inning of Game 2 that in my opinion turned the momentum for the next two games of the series. And then there is Mr. Freese, who has just been hitting lights out.

The Brewers’ center field option in the #2 hole is a platoon between Nyjer Morgan/Carlos Gomez, or as was the case in Game 3, Mark Kotsay, as Roenicke decided to stay clear of the Nyjer/Tony Plush circus v. Chris Carpenter. Perhaps Morgan won the right for never having to pay for a drink in Milwaukee again after delivering the winning hit of the Division Series, but that was one of his few offensive contributions in the post-season. Hairston has become the default third-baseman who has settled into the #6 slot (or #2 with a lefty on the mound). He is what he is: a nice, veteran journeyman player now pressed into everyday action because after two surprising years Casey McGehee’s career blew up in his face this season.

The problem also extends to the #5 slot, as Rickie Weeks is far from 100 percent after his devastating ankle sprain back in late July. The strategy for the Cardinals is to retire the first two Brewers hitters, work around Braun and Fielder, and the rest of the lineup is more than manageable. With the Cardinals it’s Rafael Furcal (not what he was, but still a great trade deadline acquisition), then Jay, then Pujols/Holliday/Berkman/Freese/Molina. The #8 slot is the only weak area in the Cards lineup right now. Comparing the two teams offensively, clearly advantage St. Louis at this point.

STARTING PITCHING

Up until Tuesday night, the Brewers’ rotation has consisted of Yovani Gallardo and hope for three days of rain. That strategy does not work well with the retractable roof at home. And then Gallardo came up with a dud in Game 3.

Where does that leave Milwaukee now?? Randy Wolf and his 21.00 ERA from the first round goes in Game 4, with Zack Greinke in a possible elimination Game 5.

The goal starting yesterday was for the Crew to just win one game in St. Louis and get the series back to Miller Park. Game 6 would be a question mark as Shaun Marcum (as mentioned by Trenni Kusnierek) has regressed to the point of being pulled from that assignment in favor of Chris Narveson. But I would worry about getting to Game 6 before crossing that bridge. If all else fails I know someone named Johnny Wholestaff. He comes in handy in desperate times.

RELIEVERS

With the Brewers’ bullpen I have not had many complaints, especially with the last 3-4 innings. John Axford proved this year he was more than a one-year flash (see Derrick Turnbow), Francisco Rodriguez provides his usual ’15 Minutes of Terror’ but usually escapes, and even Takashi Saito and LaTroy Hawkins, although both long in the tooth, provide experience and have both closed earlier in their careers. This is where the Cards have had problems most of the year, even as recently as the final week of the regular season, giving up six ninth inning runs to the Mets in a game that appeared to be a back-breaker to their playoff chances.

But the St. Louis pen has suddenly jelled. Jason Motte throws upper-90′s and seems suddenly comfortable in the ninth, Lance Lynn also brings heat and has returned from an oblique injury earlier in the season for this round of the playoffs, and Mark Rzepczynski is the lefty specialist the Brewers lack and works for keeping Prince Fielder in check late in games. For five+ months the Cards pen was a definite sore spot, but Lynn/Scrabble/Motte suddenly look good, and October is not a bad time for that to come together rather than the other way around (see Atlanta Braves).

MANAGER/FRONT OFFICE

Doug Melvin made his move acquiring Frankie Rodriguez during the All-Star break, but the Cardinals came up just as huge filling up multiple gaps at the deadline, acquiring Furcal as a leadoff hitter, and also getting starter Edwin Jackson and Scrabble from the Blue Jays while unloading some dead weight in Colby Rasmus. All three have been as advertised in their respective roles.

And then there’s Tony LaRussa v. Ron Roenicke, or as a loyal Trekkie acquaintance of mine likes to call him, Dr. Spock – or in the opinion of one of my Twitter followers, someone who should actually be fired if the Brewers lose this series. Well, Spock won’t be getting fired anytime soon, but some of his decisions lately sure seem to be straight from out of space.

Continuing to pitch to Albert Pujols? The ‘gut’ decision to throw Kotsay into center field? I get the theory of deciding against intentional walks and giving the opposition free base-runners, but doesn’t common sense have to prevail at some point?

And as I’ve said before: hate, hate, hate TLR all you want, but you also have to respect him, and he definitely knows when it’s time to crack the whip, managing out of sheer desperation the final six weeks of the regular season and into the playoffs. Roenicke meanwhile is a different cat, who does not sway much in emotion one way or another and doesn’t let anyone see him panic. But sometimes panic is good, and so is intensity – it helped Kirk Gibson and the Diamondbacks get to extra innings of Game 5 of the NLDS.

I’d like to see Roenicke beam something up at one point. If he felt compelled to play the Kotsay card in Game 3, how about throwing Taylor Green in at third base for a spark??

JUST PLAIN MOMENTUM

Last time the Brewers won a playoff game on the road was Game 1 of the 1982 World Series. At this point I would just take getting out of the first inning of a road playoff game not being down four runs. Chris Carpenter did not have his ‘A’ game, and those four runs were obviously the difference after Milwaukee’s bats went silent after the third inning, with the final 13 batters of the game being retired in order.

Nyjer was right, the Cardinals did end up watching the Brewers in the playoffs; there just wasn’t many who thought it would be from the other dugout.

Even usually loyal Cardinal Nation gave up some faith in early September as attendance actually started to dwindle. But after being 10 ½ games out of the Wild Card in late August, the Cards swept the Braves and won five of their final six against the Brewers just to get back into the race, then made the playoffs and un-seated the supposedly invincible Phillies (remember, their NL pennant was supposed to be ‘inevitable’). That was the hard part. Taking a best-of-seven from the Brewers and then whoever the American League representative may be should be a piece of cake in comparison.

As for the Brewers, there is still time to prove this analysis wrong. They still just need to win one game in St. Louis and then would earn the opportunity for Game 6 and Game 7 at home, the reward for having a better record than the Cards in the regular year. Except for Weeks being somewhat hobbled, the team is healthy and no one is on the DL, a true rarity for this time of season.

But they have just two games to match the championship polish of the Cardinals. The A.J. Pierzynski rally beer can come in handy right about now.

1. The Midwest owns baseball.

All 3 Midwestern Playoff teams—the Brewers, Cardinals, and Tigers—advanced to their respective League Championship Series, and at least one team will represent the region in the World Series. If the fifth inning of yesterday’s NLCS Game 1 is any indication, the Playoffs will not suffer from the elimination of the Red Sox, Yankees, and Phillies.

Dominance, with puppy.

2. Alex Smith dominates Jay Cutler style.

It may be too soon to remove Alex Smith’s name from the list of top draft picks that didn’t pan out (a list that includes Tim Couch, David Carr, and Jamarcus Russell). At the moment Smith is third in the league in quarterback rating (104.1), and he’s only thrown a single interception. (Prior to this year, Smith averaged one interception per start.) The 49ers, after a 48-3 drubbing of the Bucs, are 4-1 and maintain a 2-game lead in the NFC West.

3. Wisconsin and Michigan are still doing well.

In addition to the Brewers and Tigers advancing to their respective League Championship Series and the Brewers winning Game 1, the Packers, Badgers, Lions, and Wolverines all remain perfect. (The Badgers were off this week and the Lions play tonight, but still.)

4. Luke Fickell won’t be Ohio State’s head football coach next year.

And Jim Bollman won’t be the offensive coordinator. The Buckeyes blew a 21-point second-half lead on Saturday, losing 34-27 to Nebraska. Bucknuts, the Ohio State fan site, is calling the loss “arguably the biggest collapse in school history.” For Nebraska, the win was the biggest comeback in the history of the program. Ohio State is now 3-3, with consecutive losses for the first time in 7 years, and has 4 games remaining against ranked opponents.

Ohio State didn’t want Fickell to spend the year wearing the “interim” tag (the proverbial scarlet “I”), but functionally, he’s an interim head coach. Unless the Buckeyes win every remaining game (except, maybe, the Wisconsin game but including the bowl game), Fickell and Bollman won’t be back next year. And I get the impression that Ohio State fans won’t be sad to see embattled senior quarterback Joe Bauserman follow them out of Columbus.

5. Air Force refused an invitation from the Big 12 and will be joining the Missouri Valley Conference?!

A couple weeks ago a rumor surfaced that the Big East was interested in adding Air Force and Navy as football-only members. Saturday, Air Force athletic director Hans Mueh told the Denver Post that the interest was mutual. Mueh floated a plan that “would have the Falcons joining the Big East only in football, while moving teams in other sports to the Missouri Valley Conference.” (Of course, as we learned from Oklahoma, just because a school wants to join a conference doesn’t mean that the presidents of the schools in that conference will give the school an invitation.)

Mueh added:

We were approached by the Big 12, and I told them we’re not a good fit for that conference. In the Big 12, geography makes sense, the economics make sense, but recruiting makes no sense for us. I can’t recruit against Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State.

What does that say about the Big East?

At any rate, I look forward to many Falcons-Purple Aces basketball games to come.

Jimmie Johnson, and his beard, led 197 of 267 laps Sunday in Kansas. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)

6. Don’t be surprised if Jimmie Johnson wins his sixth consecutive Sprint Cup Championship.

Johnson followed up a second-place finish last week in Dover with a win this week in Kansas. Two weeks ago, Johnson was 10th in the Sprint Cup Standings and on a 20-race winless streak. Now, he’s in third place, only four points behind leader Carl Edwards, with a good chance of winning yet another Sprint Cup Championship. Six races remain, including the Tums Fast Relief 500 in Martinsville, which Johnson has won 4 times, and the Kobalt Tools 500 in Phoenix, which Johnson has won thrice.

7. Craig Smith is an early candidate for NHL Rookie of the Year.

I know that October is way to early to start talking about NHL, but Nashville Predators rookie Craig Smith is off to an impressive start. The Preds decided that Smith, a Wisconsin native and University of Wisconsin product, would not spend any more time in his home state. Instead of starting their first-round draft pick with the Milwaukee Admirals, Nashville’s farm team, the Preds put Smith in the opening day lineup. The move paid off. In two games, both Predators wins, Smith already has two goals and two assists.

8. We’re going to spend the week talking about Tim Tebow, aren’t we?

The Broncos are 1-4, and the quarterbacks on their roster have been selected to a total of zero Pro Bowls, but I get the feeling that we’re going to be talking about Orton and Tebow this week like they’re Montana and Young.

The usually serviceable Kyle Orton Sunday went 6-for-13 for 34 yards and an interception. Tim Tebow, who replaced Orton in the second half, more than doubled Orton’s passing output, added another 38 yards rushing, and scored two touchdowns (one on the ground and one through the air). The Broncos still lost to the Chargers, but they made a game of it.

I have no idea what Tebow’s future in the NFL looks like, but maybe he could be this year’s version of 2006 Vince Young. That year Young led a Titans team that started 0-5 to within a game of the Playoffs running the just-do-your-thing-Vince offense. Were it not for attitude problems, which have never plagued Tebow, Young likely would still be a starting quarterback in the NFL. Maybe Timmy has a future in this league after all. Then again, Broncos’ coach John Fox has given no indication that Tebow will replace Orton, so this may be a one-week conversation.

Things have been pretty good in Wisconsin in 2011. Outside of all that political crap, the sports scene has been unreal. From the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day, to the Packers’ run through the playoffs and their Super Bowl XLV win, and even Marquette and Wisconsin making it to the Sweet Sixteen, it has been a dream season for everyone in America’s Dairyland.

And then there are the Brewers.

The acquisitions of Zack Greinke and Shaun Marcum in the off-season were overshadowed by the Packers somehow overcoming Jay Cutler’s dominance. There was definite hype early in the season, but that was tempered somewhat by Greinke’s hoop dreams and Ramon Hernandez’s walk-off grand slam on Opening Day. Milwaukee started off 0-4, and then lost eight straight to fall to 13-19. Then the Brewers finally got back to full strength.

Greinke got shelled in is first outing, losing to Atlanta 8-0, but then the Brewers rattled off 25 victories in their next 34 games, culminating with a three game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals in early June during a weekend series at Miller Park. Greinke out-pitched Carpenter in the second game of that series, and by that Sunday evening, Milwaukee had gained control of the NL Central and didn’t look back.

That series brings us to this October weekend. If you would have told me after the Brewers swept St. Louis that weekend, that they would be facing the Cardinals with home-field advantage for the right to go to the World Series, I would have shotgunned a celebratory Old Milwaukee right there on the spot. It took a hell of a collapse by the Atlanta Braves and a hell of a September by the Cardinals, but here we are in that very situation today.

Brewers-Cardinals NLCS TV Schedule

• TV: TBS
• Game 1: Sunday, Oct. 9 at 4:05 p.m. ET @ Milwaukee
• Game 2: Monday, Oct. 10 at 8:05 p.m. ET @ Milwaukee
• Game 3: Wednesday, Oct. 12 at 8:05 p.m. ET @ St. Louis
• Game 4: Thursday, Oct. 13 at 8:05 p.m. ET @ St. Louis
• *Game 5: Friday, Oct. 14 at 8:05 p.m. ET @ St. Louis
• *Game 6: Sunday, Oct. 16 at 4:05 p.m. ET @ Milwaukee
• *Game 7: Monday, Oct. 17 at 8:05 p.m. ET @ Milwaukee

Brewers-Cardinals NLCS Probable Pitching Matchups

As of Saturday morning, pitching probables had not been set, outside of Greinke starting Game 1 on Sunday. Carpenter pitched a gem Friday night, and I don’t think that Tony La Russa will let him pitch again until Game 3 on Wednesday, setting up a match-up between he and Yovani Gallardo. Based on that logic, here is what I expect the pitching match-ups for the first four games to look like.

• Game 1: Greinke  (16-6, 3.83) vs. Jaime Garcia (13-7, 3.56)
• Game 2: Marcum (13-7, 3.54) vs. Kyle Lohse (14-8, 3.39)
• Game 3: Gallardo (17-10, 3.52) vs. Carpenter (11-9, 3.45)
• Game 4: Randy Wolf (13-10, 3.69) vs. Jake Westbrook (12-9, 4.66)

The edge here has to go to the Brewers. Greinke has been dominant at Miller Park this season, with an 11-0 record during the regular season and an ERA just a tick over 3. Marcum got rocked in his last outing, Game 3 of the NLDS against Arizona, but that game was inevitable based on where the series was at.

The key to the whole series will come down to home field advantage. If Milwaukee can hold suit and win Game 1 and 2 at home, Game 3 will be make or break. Carpenter is 36, but has shown that age doesn’t matter in this postseason so far. Gallardo got the job done in both Game 1 and Game 5 of the NLDS against the D’backs, and he’s pitched enough in St. Louis not to get fazed. I think Milwaukee rides their passionate home crowd to a 2-0 start, and which way the rest of the series goes will come down to Game 3. If St. Louis wins, I think this series goes seven games. If the Brewers win Game 3, I think they win the series in five.

As far as the offense goes, everybody knows that Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder are capable of, and the Cardinals have an equally potent duo in Lance Berkman and Albert Pujols. I think these two duos will each single-handedly win a game or two for each club, so I think the sluggers for each series will be a wash.

What the series will come down to is the supporting players, and who can step up to make a big hit. Specifically, the series could swing on which No. 5 hitter can have the better series. Matt Holliday should be healthy by the start of the NLCS, having just nine at-bats in the NLDS. Rickie Weeks is also still feeling the effects of an ankle sprain he suffered earlier in the season and went just 1-for-18 in the series. Braun, Fielder, Pujols and Berkman will all get on plenty this series, but the onus will be on Holliday and Weeks to drive them in.

Jason Motte and Fernando Salas have been very good, if not great for St. Louis this season. K-Rod and John Axford struggled for the Brewers in Game 5 against Arizona, but both have performed excellently all season. I do think both bullpens will do their jobs when called up, so that the series depends more on how the lineups fare against the starting pitchers than relievers.

There’s bad blood between the two teams, as documented by both the Milwaukee and St. Louis media. Nyjer Morgan hates Pujols and Carpenter, and I know that La Russa is not a fan of the #BeastMode schtick. This series will be hotly contested, and will come down to Game 7, Gallardo vs. Carpenter.

But the game will be at Miller Park, and Tony Plush will prevail.

NLCS Prediction: Brewers in 7.

The other came nearly eight years ago when the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks went to sudden death overtime in the first round of the NFL playoffs. The game ended with Al Harris’s ‘Divine Interception’, with Harris crossing the end zone literally right in front of me.

The Milwaukee Brewers walk-off win against the Arizona Diamondbacks last night to move on to the National League Championship Series may have them both topped.

That Tigers/Brewers game thirty years ago was very much like the contest Friday at Miller Park. Jack Morris was the Detroit pitcher that day, and the Brewers could do absolutely nothing for seven innings and trailed 1-0, and it looked like the battle for the AL East ‘second-half’ division title would go down to the final day. Then, in the eighth, a lead-off hit, followed by two sacrifices that the Tigers defense misplayed, and finally two sac flies to put the Crew ahead 2-1. Rollie Fingers did the rest in the ninth to seal the playoff berth.

Friday’s game followed a similar script, with Ian Kennedy and Yovanni Gallardo dueling in the late afternoon into early evening, and the Brewers finally taking that same 2-1 score into the late innings. This time it was up to John Axford, the modern-day Rollie Fingers, to slam the door.

However, for the first time since April, Axford could not complete the job, as two hits and a perfectly executed squeeze drew the Diamondbacks even and on the verge of potentially blowing the game open. But Axford stepped up after that, retiring the D-Backs with those winning runs on base (Yuniesky Betancourt completely selling himself out on force play lost in the shuffle) and then pitching a perfect tenth.

That brought us to the bottom of the inning (VIDEO HERE).

Carlos Gomez singles then steals second with Nyjer Morgan at the plate. I knew a game-winning hit with Tony Plush driving in Gomez would have the potential of literally blowing the roof off of Miller Park (ordered closed by Major League Baseball despite a game-time temperature of 78 degrees).

Then it happens: seeing-eye single up the middle, ballgame. As Gomez was rounding third I never heard a decibel level louder this loud at any sports venue. The moment was even more than I imagined, and the ensuing delirium and celebration damn near brought me to tears witnessing it in person.

Yes, the legend that is Tony Plush actually grew ten-fold.

That helped complete a first-round of the playoffs that even Keith Olbermann is calling MLB’s most compelling (so far) post-season since 1986. And coupled with the St. Louis Cardinals’ stunning ouster of the Philadelphia Phillies, the Brewers suddenly hold home field advantage for the NLCS and the World Series (thanks to Prince Fielder’s MVP effort at the All-Star Game).

And at this point Ari Kaufman is guilty of beating a completely decomposed horse, but Ryan Howard’s returns continue to diminish at an alarming pace, and even the Philadelphia fan base and the national media are starting to figure that out. Enjoy the next five years/$125 million of that contract. And the Phillies have had a great run since 2007, but suddenly face a door that is starting to close fast.

That leaves a Final Four of the Brewers, Cardinals, Tigers, and Rangers. As someone tweeted last night it’s going to be a long fortnight in Bristol, Connecticut. Guess that Yankees/Phillies World Series was not so ‘inevitable’ after all. And as I read from some neutral non-Milwaukee based accounts, the Brewers have as good a chance as any to win it all, and may even now be the slight morning-line favorite.

But first comes the St. Louis Cardinals, the team Nyjer Morgan and many others had left for dead with just 3 ½ weeks left in the regular season. 18 meetings already this year, with each team winning nine. For those who actually miss the now-stale Yankees/Red Sox encounters I’ve got news: Cardinals/Brewers has quickly become THE most intense rivalry in MLB.

And a lot of the hostility has actually been in place long before Nyjer Morgan stirred the pot in the team’s final regular season meeting. I can go back to the days of Geoff Jenkins and Seth McClung to trace back the bad blood between the teams.

The perception remains (and was reading that Friday night in Twitter-land) that the Cardinals are the ‘classy’ team with the squeaky clean home white uniforms while the likes of Fielder, Braun, Gomez, and Nyjer Morgan/Tony Plush are perceived as ‘arrogant’. A post-game ritual (started by Mike Cameron) of players merely un-tucking their shirts after wins was called out a few years back, and the Brewers latest gimmick of ‘Beast Mode’ no doubt has the Cardinals fuming as well.

Not to mention the sign-stealing, the supposed dimming of the lighting, and everything else that Tony LaRussa has thought up and alleged over this season and past seasons.

Yes, it feels a lot like 1982 all over again with Cards v. Brewers, just this time with a lot more sizzle.

One of these days fans and the media will finally discover that it doesn’t take the Yankees and/or Red Sox for MLB to put on a compelling show.