2012 NL Playoff Predictions

By Marc Jenkins
Adam LaRoche and the Nationals Appeared to be Poised for a Deep Postseason Run
Joy R. Absalon-US Presswire

The 2012 MLB postseason is officially upon us and now it is time to take at a look at the National League side of the tournament and see which teams can advance to the NLCS and then ultimately which one can go all the way to the World Series.

Wild Card Game:

The new postseason format will force the two Wild Card teams, the Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals to square off in a one game playoff to see who earns the right to face the National League’s top team the Washington Nationals in the NLDS. That playoff game should be a good one down in Atlanta; it could possibly be Chipper Jones final MLB game but it definitely will be one of the two teams final game and I don’t think the Braves are going to let Chipper go out like that. I’ll take Atlanta in this one (7-5) and advancing to square of versus their NL East rivals in Washington.

NLDS:

In the NLDS match up that is already set up the San Francisco Giants will face off versus the Cincinnati Reds in what should be a series dominated by pitching. Both the Reds and Giants have excellent starting rotations and solid bullpens so in the end it could come down to which ever team is able to outlast the other. Joey Votto finally looks 100% healthy and I think he’ll be the difference in this one; I like the Reds to win the series in four games 3-1.

In the second NLDS match up between the Nationals and Braves (I predict) it will be a battle between two teams that know each other well (played against each other 18 times this season) and are equally put together with their pitching rotation and lineup a like. This series should without question go the five games and even the Nats are inexperienced I think they’ll win 3-2 with Ryan Zimmerman doing a lot of the heavy lifting in his first postseason.

NLCS:

So with those predictions from the Wild Card Game and the NLDS that means I have the Nationals facing off with the Reds for chance to go to the World Series. These two teams have been the best two in the National League all season long so it would truly be fitting that they square off in the League’s Championship Series to represent the Senior Circuit in the Fall Classic. This would be a tremendous series with two even matched teams but in the end I think the Reds would be a bit too much for the Nats and Cincinnati would advance to the World Series in six games, 4-2.

Maybe I’ll be correct, maybe I’ll get each and every prediction wrong but only time will tell so let’s getting ready for the Umpire’s to say those three magic words on Friday “Let’s Play Ball”!

 

Here are my AL Playoff Predictions.

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