How about those Devil Rays?

Just as a baseball fan, I think I have to pull for them after that comeback.

Get the gun out of your mouth, SC. There's always next year (but maybe not for Terry Francona).

I have to say, it'd be a real shame if Francona gets fired because his players layed down. The guy won two World Series for God's sake!

Francona and his two rings aint getting fired for this epic collapse. That whole team just absolutely jobbed on the national stage, not just him.

Same with the Braves.

(Hell the Yanks losing that last game like that was horrible for them. Up by 7 in the 8th, only to lose 8-7? You don't want that strench left on your uniforms when the playoffs begin.)

Two World Series wins in 4 yrs after nearly 100 years without one? Francona should have that job for as long as he wants it.

Anyone see the Buckner/Bartman ESPN special the other night? It was very well done from a network which has really lost a lot of credibility in my eyes in recent years.

I saw it, Goom. I thought it was great.

But in general, ESPN is still a f'n joke.

My initial thought was why were they airing this now? All the commotion finally quieted down for Bartman, whose life was forever changed that night in 2003 Game 6 of the NLCS.

God forbid, what if some nut hurt Bartman after seeing this show? I think ESPN would most likely be sued - rightfully so.

Most amazing last day of the season I can remember - but that was 2011, not sure about 2012 yet

Oops .

I did. I wasn't too impressed by it. My first round picks are as follows:

-New York over Detroit
-Tampa Bay over Texas
-Philadelphia over St. Louis
-Milwaukee over Arizona

new york over detroit? i hope its the opposite.

Yeah, beware the Tigers.

Obviously I'm rooting for Detroit.

Detroit vs. New York: It's Big Apple season
Francis X. Donnelly/ The Detroit News
New York has Broadway, Times Square, Central Park, the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building.

Detroit has humbler landmarks.

As the baseball teams from each city begin a playoff series tonight, Tigers fans said they weren't intimidated by the mighty Yankees from mighty New York.
"New York is a tough place to play, but we'll be OK," said Carl Royal, 48, an attorney from Grosse Pointe Shores. "We're playing well right now."

It's the Midwest against the East Coast, a car-crazy region against the only city in America where most residents don't own an auto.
New York is celebrated as the cultural capital of the world. It influences everything from business to media, from fashion to art.

If you don't believe it, ask a New Yorker.

Detroit is often portrayed in news reports in more modest terms.
"We need it," Dave Curbela of Wyandotte said about the skirmish against the Yankees. "It's important to the city."
New York is known for finance, retailing, tourism, real estate and insurance. Detroit is known for cars, cars and cars.
They have the Museum of Modern Art. We have the Booty Lounge, a strip club on wheels.

They have the Bronx Zoo. We have the former Kilpatrick administration.
They have five boroughs. We have two sides: east and west.
They claim we have an accent, but they're the ones who talk funny, as one would know from hanging out at Toidy-Toid and Toid Streets.
To promote peaceful relations, it should be noted that some common ground exists.
New York has Coney Island. We have Coney Islands.
They like to poke fun at their neighbor New Jersey. We have Ohio for that.
They were the birthplace of punk, hip hop and salsa. We sprouted techno and Motown.
They also gave the world disco. We had nothing to do with that.
fdonnelly@detnews.com

I hope your political predictions are better than your baseball predictions because Francona was just fired .

I can't believe they're blaming the guy who turned the Red Sox into two time champions, when it was the PLAYERS who layed down like dogs.

Pure bullshit!

I just read Francona got fired. I really can't believe that. I wasn't 100% sure he'd come back, but for them to let him go, I find that hard to believe.

The Devil Rays are looking like Cinderella right now. The kid that started last night threw 7 innings of shutout ball in only his second major league start. Very impressive.

I heard a quick news update on this, but don't know much more that. How does a kid making his second ever major league start, pitch the first game of a playoff series? Is Joe Maddon some kind of Baseball Mad Scientist or what?

I know, it's crazy. The guy is some kind of savant .

I'm a big Mets fan, who will usually pull for the Yanks as long as we're not playing each other. But this Rays team has me rooting hard for them this year. I hope they win it all.

PB, I hope you remain a Mets fan and don't be putting any negative mojo on the Yanks. The Rays are the anti-baseball team. They are vile. I say this mostly because I work with a guy who is a Rays fan and he always refers to the team as "we", like he's the general manager or something. It's a psycho-thing.

Hahah, so the Rays are evil because of your coworker?

Personally I'm rooting for the Brewers. I'm not sure why to be honest, but I've always had a soft spot for them in my heart since I was a kid. It had something to do with having a lot of Brewers baseball cards I think. I don't expect them to win a world series this year, but I'll be cheering them on as long as they are in the postseason.

Edit: now that I'm thinking of it and it's coming back to me, Paul Molitor had a lot to do with it. I kept getting his baseball card, and I remember he was pretty good. Hehe, funny reason to root for the Brewers, I know.

i'm rooting against the brewers, cardinals, and yankees. but, i am rooting for the cubs in hiring epstein (and francona).

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/2011/10/epstein_to_the.html

Good win for the Yankees last night. Cano was just on fire! Hopefully, if Garcia's pitching tonight, he can pitch decently, put the Yankees up 2-0 heading to Detroit.

And Blibbleblabble, I agree with you. I wouldn't mind seeing the Brewers win it all this year. I really respect them. I think everyone in Milwaukee knows Prince Fielder's not coming back. But did they panic? No. Did they try to get something for him and trade him? No. They went all in this year. You don't see that very often anymore and I really respect that about Milwaukee this year.

Why would they go work for the Cubs when they know the Cubs will never win a world series no matter how good the team is they put together?

well i guess i can add the giants to my list of teams to hate

Why would Francona and Epstein work together after their falling out?

(and really, the Cubs?)

Nostradamus has nothing on Pizzaboy! El oh el, Larry.

Thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Yankees WIN.

What could be better than a fifth game at the house that Ruth...scratch that, they torn that one down......Steinbrenner and the City built.

Still sticking by my prediction. The Yankees have Nova starting and CC available for relief if needed

BY MITCH ALBOM
DETROIT FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

NEW YORK -- October ain't over.

It takes a lot to stare down Yankee Stadium, but the Tigers just did it. It takes a lot to knock out CC Sabathia twice in a week, but the Tigers just did it. Doug Fister -- not even with the team in late July -- just did it. Delmon Young, who arrived even later than Fister, just did it. Don Kelly, who has seen more baseball stops than a Louisville Slugger shipping container, just did it.

From top to bottom, on a dry, cool New York night, the guys from Detroit just did it -- without their certain Cy Young winner Justin Verlander ever taking off his jacket. They are moving on to Texas to play for the American League pennant, leaving behind the bewildered New York Yankees, the team with the league's best record, the team that racked up 10 runs the previous game, the team that this morning is looking at its game plan, scratching its head and saying, "Why didn't that work?"

It didn't work because you can't plan a baseball game; you just have to play it. While the Yankees had a strategy of "hold 'em down until we get to our best relief pitchers," the Tigers came out and, well, pitched and hit and ran and fielded. That's not easy to do on an elimination night -- not overthink things. But with the calm, easy confidence of their white-haired manager, Jim Leyland, who picked up a new suit earlier in the day -- he called it "a humdinger" -- they just did it...

Complete Column

I was hoping that Leyland would pull in Verlander but as it turned out the Old Man knew what he was doing.

Congrats to the Tigers. A-Rod was embarrassingly bad this series. I think Girardi pressed the panic button too early last night bailing on his starter after just 2 innings and giving up 2 runs. Looking forward to the pitching matchups in the ALCS and the two Game 5s tonight in the NL.

Congrats to the Tigers, Lilo. THIS series, goombah? ARod is always awful in the postseason. This may have been worse than other appearances, but I'm sure he's home crying in his piles of money.

As they said on the local news this morning, the Yankees stranded a small village on base. While ARod was shamefully bad, nobody else was able to score that tying run, even though they should have.

Best of luck to the remaining teams!