Each of our writers gives their picks for the baseball playoffs, after the jump.

Ink Jet Sean

I’d just like to point out I’ve picked the last 22 World Series winners and every NLCS and ALCS champ correctly the last 18 years, and the winners of each ALDS and NLDS series since its inception in 1995; in fact, the last decade, I’ve predicted every series score. So this is truly the gospel.

NLDS:

Phillies 3, Brewers 2: CC Sabathia says screw it: I’ll pitch every game. He throws shutouts in games one and two, as the Brewers take both by 1-0 scores. He throws no hitters in all five games, but infield errors blow games 3, 4 and 5. The Phillies score a total of three runs in the series, and move on.

Cubs 3, Dodgers 1: Joe Torre sacrifices a goat in pre-game to continue the Cubs curse. He wins game one, but when Carlos Zambrano buys goat meat for the pre-game 2 meal, it’s all over for the Dodgers.

ALDS:

Angels 3, Red Sox 1: Before game one Mike Scioscia sees a grossly obese man in row three and asks “Didn’t you use to be Mo Vaughn?”. Big Mo gives a speech to the team on how to unsuccessfully avoid KFC. Flabbergasted, the Angels take turns vomitting, but take turns battering the Red Sox.

White Sox 3, Rays 0: Despite selling every ticket, only 15 Rays fans show up. “What, we were supposed to come? I thought this was one of them donation thingies. Like the March of Nickels or something,” says Joe Six Pack fan.

NLCS:

Cubs 4, Phillies 3: Cubs win the first three games, then blow 6-run leads in the 9th inning of gams 4, 5, 6 and 7. Leadings 4-3 in the 9th of game 7, Brad Lidge enters, and is shocked to see Albert Pujols batting. In Ryder Cup style, Lidge concedes the game, a baseball first.

White Sox 4, Angels 2: Ozzie Guillen tells Jim Thome and Ken Griffey four wins and the Metemucil is on him. Thome slams nine homers in the series, Griffey six.

WORLD SERIES:

White Sox 4, Cubs 3: Cubs lead the series 3-0 again, then find a way to blow games 4, 5 and 6. Tied at 8 in game seven, out walks a shadowy figure. Is it Steve Bartman? No, it’s Moises Alou … and he’s got urine all over his hands (again). Team vomits, Griffey knocks in the series winner, and the Sox claim a second world title in four years.

Zim

Dodgers/Cubs:

Cubs in two games. After the Dodgers’ only scoring in the first two games at Wrigley consists of a pair of Manny Ramirez solo shots in Game One, and one in Game Two, MLB realizes that LA can’t win a playoff game and cancels the series. This puts Dodger fans and their wallets out of their misery, and they celebrate by going to the beach.

Brewers/Phillies:

Phillies in four. Ben Sheets’ arm is hanging by a thread, Sabathia wins Game One then is brought back on short rest for Game Four, where he gets shelled.

NLCS:

Cubs/Phillies:

Cubs in six. As if their fanbase and media coverage could become any more insufferable. The bright side is we’ll be looking at a backlash similar to what happened to Red Sox fans when they finally won it all.

AMERICAN LEAGUE:

Minnesooooooota-WhiteSox/Devil Rays:

Devil Rays in four. Evan Longoria leads the way. National columnists continue a tradition begun when he was at Long Beach State, the “nudge, nudge, wink wink, Desperate Housewives; look, I’m clever and well-versed in culture!” stupidity.

Angels/Red Sox:

The Angels don’t like seeing the Red Sox in the playoffs. But they’ll beat them this time, behind superior pitching and managing. “Look what a good manager Mike Scioscia is!” features will run rampant, and Dodgers fans will bang their heads against the wall while Bill Simmons throws up in his mouth.

ALCS:

Angels/Devil Rays:

Devil Rays in six. Destiny calls, and their hellhole of a ballpark will host a World Series, leaving announcers to struggle with how to compliment it.

WORLD SERIES:

Cubs/Devil Rays.

The world implodes. This series never happens. Christ comes again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. All religions and religious people - including McCain and Obama - find out they were all wrong, and it is actually the Scientologists who will inherit the earth. Damn you, Dark Lord Xenu!

Love Without Nagel

Cubs win in 4.

IUAndrea

1)  Phillies/Brewers - I give it to the Phillies in five games.  It’s going to be like the sumo series with big boys Prince Fielder and Ryan Howard facing off against each other in the batter’s box.  A great in-between-innings promotion would be to have the two race to first base…winner gets a Sheboygan Dog.  Oh wait, Prince Fielder decided to be a vegetarian this year…I guess that won’t work!  No seriously, the Phillies have Utley, Howard, and Hamels, and I just think they are going to be too much for the Brew Crew, especially with Ben Sheets on the DL.  The Phillies also have Brad Lidge, the MLB “Comeback Player of the Year”.  This is the guy who once hand-delivered a game ball to me at Wrigley Field, therefore I am partial to him and choose to believe he won’t screw it up in the postseason this year!

2)  Red Sox/Angels - I’m picking the Red Sox to win in three.  The Sox players are gelling right now and after losing 8 of their 9 games against the Angels this year, I feel like they’re due.  The first game should be interesting though…Angels pitcher John Lackey’s last postseason appearance was against the Red Sox and he lost.  He’s going to be out for some revenge, though with a postseason ERA of 6.00, I somewhat doubt he will get it. Even with K-Rod, I think the Angels’ pitching staff is still behind that of the Red Sox.  I also just saw K-Rod blow it in a game against the A’s a few weeks ago, so the guy’s not THAT unhittable.

3)  White Sox/Tampa Bay - Tampa Bay in five.  This one is partly for pure personal reasons in that I have a great dislike for the White Sox, but the bottom line is that I just think the Rays are that much better.  Who would’ve thought going into the season that the Rays would win the AL East?  Every semester I have my students read an article about the Rays’ organization and then conduct a SWOT Analysis, which usually leads to the conclusion that the entire organization is hopelessly doomed.  Not so this year!  It would be great to see the Rays win for the simple fact that this is a team that had never won more than 70 games in a season until this year.  On the other hand, even though I dislike the White Sox (hey, I’m a Cubs fan…you can’t be a Cubs fan and like the Sox!) I have to admit that I’d like to see veteran players like KGJ (that’s Ken Griffey, Jr. to the lay person), Jim Thome, and Jermaine Dye do well.  I also really like Nick Swisher…on second thought, maybe I don’t hate the Sox as much as I thought…  No doubt about it though, the scrappy Sox will put up a good fight but ultimately lose to the better team.

4)  Cubs/Dodgers - I’ve saved the best prediction for last.  Cubs in three!  While the last prediction might have been made based PARTLY on personal reasons, this one is made ENTIRELY on personal reasons.  I’m a die-hard Cubs fan and like everyone else, I think this is finally the year for them to “reverse the curse”, no matter which curse we’re talking about.  This is the Cubs’ year…the Dodgers might have Manny, Russell Martin, and Derek Lowe, but the Cubs have Soriano, D Lee, Aramis Ramirez, and a supremely superior pitching staff in Dempster, Harden, Zambrano, Marmol, Wood, etc.  I just don’t see how the Cubs could NOT win this series.  They’ve got so much depth.  Keep your goats at home, folks, and someone be sure to put Steve Bartman in lockdown and I think we’re going to be okay.

In case you care…my further predictions would be:

-Cubs over Phillies
-Rays over Red Sox
-CUBS OVER RAYS TO BECOME WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS!!!!

Jeff

Phillies Over Brewers in 4: “Yovani Gallardo? Hi, I’d like you to start game one of the NLDS. I don’t really know who you are, but here’s the ball son. C.C., how’s your arm holding up? I’d like you to pitch game 2 and maybe game 4 if you feel well enough rested. Come on, the season is almost over and you won’t have really severe arm troubles until the start of your first season in Pinstripes. We’ll call it Carl Pavano II: Pavano Harder.”

A no name in game 1, a Torborged C.C. Sabathia, and no Ben Sheets for the NLDS … yeah, I like this picture. Was it really worth it, Milwaukee? Congratulations — you made the playoffs for the first time in 26 years. See you in another 26 …

One game given to Milwaukee on account of Brett Myers, a gift wrapped blow-up — and I do so reluctantly.

Dodgers over Cubs in 5: This one has classic written all over it. I love hearing Cub fans describe all the ways the outcome could have been different and this will provide yet another opportunity.

I like Derek Lowe vs. Dempster in game 1 … he’s been great down the stretch — since August 11, he has a 1.27 ERA … only 9 earned runs in his last 64 innings of work. And I like Billingsley vs. Zambrano in game 2; don’t forget that Zambrano’s health is iffy and the Dodgers have some guys who can hit him. And that was even before they added Manny Ramirez to the lineup. I expect the Cubs to counterpunch with Harden and Lilly … all leading up to a decisive game 5 — which the Cubs will lose … just because it would be more fun that way.

Red Sox over Angels in 5 - This is a tough one. If the Red Sox were healthy, there’s no doubt they would continue their playoff dominance against the Angels — potentially with a sweep. But the lineup takes a significant hit when Lowell and Drew are not at 100% (or unavailable), and don’t forget that Josh Beckett, last year’s playoff savior, has been pushed back to game 3. I can’t feel that confident about a Red Sox team with Alex Cora, Lowrie and Mark Kotsay in the lineup. And I can see Dice-K imploding: in his lone start against the Angels this season, he suffered one of his three losses and it wasn’t pretty. Granted, his inability to throw strikes will not matter much against an Angel team that doesn’t really work counts and draw walks.

With all the drawbacks the Sox carry, I still can’t see them losing this series. The Angels are the classic paper tiger — yes, their top three starters are decent, but they’re not unhittable. The Sox have always hit against John Lackey and they’re not going to cower in fear when Ervin Santana and Joe Saunders hit the mound. The problems will mainly start when the Sox hit the basepaths — the Angels only threw out 22% of base runners this year, allowing 109 stolen bases. You can bet that Jacoby Ellsbury, Coco Crisp and Dustin Pedroia will test the Angels. Slight nod to the Sox in this one, which should be closer than past series between the teams.

Rays over White Sox in 4 - I’m not going to bore you with what you already know. Ok, nix that — I will bore you. The White Sox rely on the long ball too much. Javier Vasquez’s own manager concedes that he’s not a big game pitcher (speaking as a follower of the 2004 Yankees, I’ll second that). The White Sox will not have Carlos Quentin or Joe Crede. Their top four starters all pitched on short rest heading into the playoffs and this entire team should feel a bit wiped out right now. As for the Rays, Carl Crawford returns … and they were fully capable of winning without him. A more important question than who will win this series: what’s Jay Mariotti doing right now? My guess: absolutely nothing.

Wes

AL
Angels over Red Sox in 5

A combination of Beckett’s injury, variouos nicks throughout the Sox lineup and the Teixeira pickup gives Anaheim a slight edge in this series.  Also, it’s not like Beckett was particularly good against the Angels during the regular season (0-2).  His questionable status - I’m taking a ‘wait and see’ approach on claims he’ll play in Game 3 - are going to put a lot of pressure on the rest of Boston’s rotation.  Unlike last year, Anaheim will have the guns to squeak by.

Rays over Chicago in 4

How the Rays deal with expectations for the first time will determine how close this series is.  They should win, they’re better across the board than the White Sox, but they’re a young team who haven’t been to the playoffs yet.  Still, I think experience is overrated when you consider their brutal division (minus the throwaway games vs. New York).  They will also have better/fresher pitching, which is significant.  I don’t think the jitters strike until next series, they’ll blow through Chicago.

NL

Dodgers over Cubs in 5

I don’t trust Carlos Zambrano in big spots.  I also think Lowe will beat Dempster in Game 1.  Harden will either throw a gem, or throw his arm to home plate.  These Cubs are good, but for some reason I can’t see them winning this series, which sucks, because we’ll get a steady stream of Manny being whatever he is these days.  Plus, the Dodgers’ pen might just be deep enough to offset Torre’s classic tendency to overuse pitchers.

Phillies over Brewers in 4

Great job getting here, boys, now go home.  The two big losers in the NY Mets 2008 September Collapse-a-Thon square off in what should be a fairly anti-climactic matchup.  The Brewers put everything they had into making the playoffs.  It worked, but now they’re without Ben Sheets (shock and surprise!) and won’t have Sabbathia (he of the 8+ 2007 post-season ERA) ready to roll until Game 2.  The Phillies, meanwhile, are largely rested with questions surrounding only Pat Burrell.  Ryan Howard might strike out 20 times before the dust settles, or he might hit 20 home runs.

Next Round:

Angels over Rays
Dodgers over Phillies

World Series Winner: Dodgers

Thermocaster

AL

White Sox over Rays in 4

Everyone loves a great story, and the Rays definitely qualify. But you have to keep in mind that this franchise is completely new at this whole “post-season” thing. The home field advantage that this team earned isn’t going to help them much in terms of atmosphere. Meanwhile, as fashionable as it has been to bash the White Sox, they do have a decent amount of playoff experience on that roster, as well as some decent pitching. All in all, this is a “decent” series. I wouldn’t be shocked to see it go either way, but I’ll tip my cap to the more experienced squad this time around.

Red Sox over Angels in 4

If the playoffs had started in late August, I would’ve picked the Angels to sweep every series en route to the title. But they haven’t played a meaningful game in ages, and they’re matched up against their worst possible opponent in a short series. I’m by no means enamored with this Red Sox team, don’t get me wrong — injuries to their pitching staff may be the biggest problem for them to overcome. They also will be experiencing their first October in a while without the locked-in bat of Manny Ramirez. Say what you will about the guy, but he always seemed to show up in playoff games. Regardless, the Red Sox have enough to get by this Angels team in 4.

NL

Cubs over Dodgers in 4

Dodgers got swept in the friendly confines this year. Cubs split a 4-game series in L.A. This may not be the Cubs’ year, but I sure as hell can’t see them dropping three games to this Dodgers team in the first round.

Phillies over Brewers in 3

The Brewers remind me of the guy who spends his entire life savings on buying a house, only to discover that you still have to pay property tax on it afterwards. The Phillies have to be slapping themselves silly over this sort of luck.

LCS:

Red Sox over White Sox in 7

Cubs over Phillies in 6

World Series:

Cubs over Red Sox in 6