Phillies Playoff Prediction

For the fifth consecutive year, the Phillies will be playing October baseball. Barring a catastrophic collapse, the Phillies will begin their post season journey at home and the only question is who they will play in the NLDS, NLCS, and World Series. While we still have over a month to go and things could change drastically during that time, here are my playoff predictions based on the current MLB standings.



I expect the Phillies to win the NL East, the Giants (even thought they are currently in second behind the D-backs) to win the West, the Brewers to win the Central, and the Braves will most likely pick up the Wild Card. Since the Phillies can’t face the Braves in the opening round because they are in the same division, the Phils will most likely play the Giants in the opening round.



This year I think things will be different. The Phillies will come into this year’s matchup against the Giants with a revamped starting rotation and an upgraded offense thanks to the addition of Hunter Pence. While I expect another close series I think the Phillies will win this series in 4 games. It will be a series similar to last year with a lot of low scoring close games but the difference will be Cliff Lee. Lee will come up big in the series as he has been successful against the Giants this season.



After defeating the Giants the Phils will face the Brew Crew in the NLCS. The Brewers are a good team namely because of their offense powered by Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder. But aside from that they have none of their other offensive threats scare me and they don’t have the greatest pitching in the world. I think the Phils will beat the Brewers in five games powered by their pitching staff and veteran offense.



As much as I hate to admit it, in the World Series I think the Phillies will be facing the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox are a great team and this will definitely be a tough series. But in the end the Phillies will prevail because of their pitching and win the World Series in 6 games. The fact that they will win it in 6 is completely biased because my family and I have tickets to that game and I would love to be there when they win it.



Overall I don’t know how the playoff picture will shake out but I expect the Phillies to prevail. Whether they have to face the Brewers, Diamondbacks, Braves, Giants, Yankees or Red Sox, 2011 is the Phillies year to bring another parade down Broad Street.