Well baseball fans, it’s that time of the year again… the playoffs!

And despite watching my Mets fall to injury after injury, I’m still a huge baseball fan and I’m excited about the 2009 postseason.

Watching the Dodgers clinch was amazing this year and seeing the Yankees win 103 times just boggles my mind. Who can stop the Phillies from repeating (with Pedro Martinez onboard this time around) and are the Cardinals really unstoppable with slugger Albert Pujols on fire? The Angels looked good all season long and the Red Sox never stopped fighting. Do the Twins or the Rockies even stand a chance? Its gonna be exciting!

Not to mention that this is my first baseball postseason following along on Twitter (and tweeting at @citycynic, check it out!).

And like every year since running this site, I’m back with my picks. So here we go…

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Rockies vs. Phillies - Rockies in 4.

The Phillies are a very strong team, but the Rockies have the added drive to win their first ever World Series. Look for them to come on ultra strong and find a way around the Phillies’ homerun sluggers and defense. The Rockies are a younger team that always seems to dig deep to win.

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Cardinals vs. Dodgers - Dodgers in 5.

The Cardinals have been as hot as Pujols’ bat all season, but even with a slowdown at the end, the Dodgers, led by Ethier and Kemp, have always found a way, even with some shaky bullpen pitching. While the Cards’ starting pitching may make this series a bit bumpy for LA, they’ve proved they can power through any obstacle this season.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Twins vs. Yankees – Yankees in 3.

While the Twins could certainly put something together with the great talents of Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau, the Yankees have been chomping at the bit to put in a good playoff bid, after missing the playoffs last season, and will likely run right over Minnesota, who seemingly put it all out there in their AL Tiebreaker game against the Tigers.

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Red Sox vs. Angels – Red Sox in 4.

The Red Sox may have the most-feared starting pitching in the playoffs this year. The Angels’ running game is something they will have to contend with, as they haven’t thrown out so many runners on the basepaths this year. If the Red Sox can keep their bats swinging away and avoid making any costly mistakes, they will take this series from the Angels.

WHO I’M ROOTING FOR

With the absence of the Mets again this postseason (sorry, had to plug my team again), I am looking towards the most exciting team in the National League this season to win it all. That would be none other than the Los Angeles Dodgers with my buddy Joe Torre at the helm. Won’t that just burn the Yankees brass! They have looked great all season and have just been rolling along. Keep on rolling, Blue!

As for the American League, I would love to see the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim get past both Boston and the Yankees to bring a no-holds barred super Freeway Series (much like the 2000 Subway Series) to California this year. Heck, they can certainly use the tourism revenue, right Arnold? But this Angels team is certainly not the strongest team they’ve brought to the playoffs, so I’m going with the Red Sox to outlast the Yankees and bring a “We have Manny and you don’t” matchup in the Fall Classic.

And of course, the team with Manny is the team that wins. Silly, yes. But just as a matter of fact. :P

ALSO INTERESTING

Also interesting is to see that TBS’ postseason coverage includes the Mets’ SNY’s Ron Darling for color commentary. After suffering through ESPN’s and FOX’s terrible coverage this baseball season (Joe Buck, Tim McCarver, Joe Morgan, I’m looking at you!), it will be nice to enjoy a division series reprieve until we get back to FOX’s dry and boring coverage of the league championship series and World Series. Not sure how much insight David Wells will add, but I always enjoy Cal Ripken Jr. onboard as well.

Now let’s play some baseball!