S1 Playoff Picture

Round 1 - AL
The #4 seed Oakland Golden Bears (90-72) will face off against the #5 seed Boston College Eagles (97-65).  Oakland took the AL West division title by a comfortable 8 games to earn a trip to the postseason while the Eagles finished 18 games back in the AL North but managed to grab the top wildcard spot by 7 games.  These two teams match up pretty evenly in the stats category.  Oakland batted .262 as a team (14th) while the Eages were right behind them batting .261 (18th); the Bears pitching staff threw for a 3.30 era, best in the majors while the Eagles ended with a 3.83 era (6th); fielding percentage saw both teams tied for 6th in the majors with a .988.  The big difference was the offense, where the Eagles homered 219 times (9th) and scored 1,021 runs (1st).  Oakland won their games with pitching as the offense hit 147 home runs (30th) and scored 684 runs (26th).  Playoffs seem to favor pitching and the Bears, who only allowed 164 home runs to be hit off them all year (2nd) but if the Eagles keep their bats hot they'll be tough to stop. 

The #3 seed Wichita Jayhawks (91-71) will be up against the #6 seed Cincinnati Bearcats (90-72).  This is another matchup where both teams match up pretty similar to each other as their records would indicate.  The Jayhawks earned their trip by winning the AL South by 7 games while the Bearcats finished 2nd in the AL North by 2 games but managed to grab the 2nd wildcard spot by 6 games.  The Jayhawks hit .266 as a team (12th), 187 home runs (19th) and scored 800 runs (12th). while the Bearcats hit .269 (10th), 234 home runs (5th) and scored 865 runs (6th).  The Jayhawk pitchers threw a 4.23 era (11th) and the Bearcats a 4.45 (16th).  For fielding percentage the Bearcats finished tied for 6th with a .988 and the Jayhawks finished down towards to bottom (27th) with a .983. 

My prediction to advance to the next round:
Oakland over Boston College
Cincinnati over Wichita