Pitching Reigns in Division Round

If you watched any of the regular season at all, the outstanding pitching early in this year's playoffs should come as no surprise.

Through 13 games, there have been two sweeps, four shutouts and a no-hitter.

National League pitchers have given up 21 earned runs in 122 innings, which yields an ERA of 1.54.

Starting pitchers from the Giants have only been credited with one earned run, while the Phillies' starters have given up zero.  That's right, between two teams and six games, starters have only given up one run.  Add the Rangers' starters into that and you get four total earned runs between the three teams.

In a year that churned out five no-hitters, including two perfect games, it was only appropriate that the playoffs open with a no-hitter by arguably the best pitcher in the league, Roy Halladay.  The only baserunner was Jay Bruce, who was walked on a full count, and all of baseball will be watching Halladay when he takes the mound for his second career postseason start in the first game of the NLCS.

The only teams that haven't had great pitching are the Twins and the Rays, giving up 17 and 14 earned runs, respectively.  But the Twins had to endure a sweep by the Bronx Bombers and the Rays have played one more game than everyone else in their series against the Rangers.

So what's the point of this post?  There isn't one, really - this was just a dump of impressive stats designed to make teams' pitchers look good (or at least better that they already do).  Expect this trend to continue and be essential during the Championship Series and World Series.  Assuming the Giants put away the Braves, the NLCS will have a plethora of great starters between Lincecum, Cain, Halladay, Oswalt, and Hamels.  The ALCS should take different form, however with the potent offenses of either the Rays or Rangers facing the Yankees.

My bold predictions for the rest of the playoffs:
1) Halladay and Lincecum both throw 9-inning shutouts and have to let the bullpen decide it in extra innings.  This happens twice - during games one and four.

2) The Rays finish off an impressive comeback at home and go on to beat the Yankees in seven.

3) The Phillies and Rays square off in a rematch of the '08 World Series, and Roy Halladay pitches the second perfect game in World Series history.  (This isn't as far fetched as it might seem - the Rays are prone to going hitless, and in the escalated importance of the Series, we can almost expect Halladay to throw 27 pitches.)

Yes, two of my predictions revolve around Roy Halladay, but by the end of this, we might as well rename the month "Doctober."