The White Sox capped off their Cinderella season by sweeping their footwear counterparts in Boston’s Red Sox out of the MLB playoffs. It wasn’t something people guessed would happen, but a White Sox series win can’t seem that far-fectched in retrospect. Boston trotted out 3 pitchers in Matt Clement, David Wells, and Tim Wakefield who are hardly ace caliber arms. Wells did his job, but Clement went down in flames. He’s just been absolutely awful since starting the season on that 7-1, 3.33 ERA run. Chicago trotted out Mark Buehrle, Freddy Garcia, and Jose Contreras. Those, my friends, are three superior arms.

How did the White Sox manage to make the playoffs? Was it hitting? No. Was it fielding? No. Was it managing? No. The Sox are here because Ken Williams, one of the most cutthroat GMs in the history of baseball, managed to put together a staff with a combined 3.63 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, and .250 OBA.

Their team OPS was only .708. But their pitching was, and is, excellent.

So why do I think the dream’s over? Well, the Yankees should win it all. But they’re down 2-1 to the Angels after Randy Johnson’s awful outing Saturday night. If the Yankees manage to take the series they’ll beat Chicago.

But if Anaheim wins I’m guessing Chicago takes the AL pennant. That seems like an odd thing to say, considering the Angels beating the Yanks would seem to indicate they’re the better team. But that’s not true. Randy Johnson’s lost a ton off his stuff, but he won’t give up 7 every time out. I think the Angels are a good team with a great bullpen. But Bengie Molina was hitting cleanup last night. I’m not sure how he has 3 post-season HRs, but that might indicate he’s playing a little over his head.

I call the Yanks’ pitching problems the Jeff Suppan-scenario. Jeff always seems to end the year with a sub-4 ERA, but he throws a lot of 5 inning, 6 run games in there along the way. If the Yanks can just get decent outings from their starters they can win it all.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens. The Angels and the Sox are pretty evently matched. Lackey, Santana, Colon, are pretty much the equivalent of what the Sox can throw at you. Anaheim does seem to be the better offensive team.

This is playoff baseball, and pitching is all that matters. If you give up 5 runs/game you’re probably going to lose. And that doesn’t bode well for a team with Al Leiter in the bullpen. It’s really a shame that offense dies once October rolls around. Suddenly Steve Shields is the most important player on the roster.

There will always be next year for the Yanks. They’ll sign AJ Burnett and whoever else is on the FA market.

You can take this to the bank: The AL takes the World Series. Whether it’s Yanks, Angels, or Sox, the NL doesn’t have a chance.