There probably won’t be a final ALDS roster until later in the afternoon tomorrow, but here’s some things to chew on on that front while we count down the hours to 8:37 tomorrow night.

• Alex Rodriguez was a late scratch in last night’s game, as he’s still feeling that thumb injury he’s been dealing with. Joe Girardi expects him to be in the lineup everyday in the postseason, however. Hopefully the thumb doesn’t limit his effectiveness too much.
• Also in last night’s game, Jesus Montero took a pitch off of his hand, forcing him to leave the game early. X-rays were negative, and I haven’t seen anything else about Montero today, so I assume he’s fine.
• Girardi also confirmed that Chris Dickerson will be on the ALDS roster.
• Raul Valdes will not.
• A.J. Burnett is “good about” the decision to go with three starters who are not him in the ALDS. I have no idea what else he’s supposed to say, but there you go.
• And finally, Jorge Posada is slated to be the Yankees’ DH for the series. Nothing surprising there, as Posada has hit .269/.348/.466 against RHP this year, and Detroit will be throwing all right-handed starters at the Yankees in the series.

(This post was originally published at ESPN’s Sweetspot blog)

Here’s five reasons the Yankees could emerge from the 2011 postseason as World Series champions for the 28th time:

1. Their offense is really good. In terms of wRC+, they’re second among playoff teams to only the Rangers, and they’re the best in baseball against lefties. That could prove to be a big in potential matchups with Texas and Philadelphia.

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I’ve emerged from yesterday’s Greatest Day of Baseball Ever with a sense of fear and shock. Baseball is a great game, in the same sense that a god of wrath and retribution can be a great god.

How do we understand the Baseball Prospectus calculation that when we entered September, the Red Sox had a 99.6% chance of making the playoffs? That the Red Sox’s failure to make the playoffs is an event we’d expect to see once every 250 years? Combine this with FanGraphs calculation that at one point in last night’s Yankees game, the Rays had only a 0.3% chance of winning – does that mean that the Rays’ comeback was of a magnitude you’d expect to see once every 333 games?

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I’m pretty sure that there’s a rule somewhere mandating that I make baseless predictions about the playoffs, and who am I to go against the rules, right? These things are basically just like putting money down on the roulette wheel (I think I said the Giants were the worst team in the playoffs last year, and maybe they were!), but it’s fun nonetheless, so here goes:

ALDS: Yankees vs. Tigers

I’m supposed to be intimidated by Justin Verlander, but I’m really not. I am a little bit worried that C.C. Sabathia has had such a long layoff between the first game of the series and his last appearance, but he did the same thing in 2009 and 2010. Verlander is better than either of his opponents those seasons, but the Yankees are at home and the Tigers just look like a team that feasted on a weak division to me. Even if the Yankees do lose the first game I won’t be panicking, especially if Jim Leyland really won’t start Verlander in Game 4. (Yankees in 3)

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The votes have been cast and counted, and now it’s my pleasure to announce the winners of the 2011 IIATMS MLB awards. So without gilding the lily, let’s open the proverbial envelope!

The Barry Bonds Award: For the most outstanding player in each league.

N.L.: Matt Kemp
A.L.: Jose Bautista

The Greg Maddux Award: For the most outstanding pitcher in each league.

N.L.: Clayton Kershaw: I expected a much closer race for this one, but Kershaw really ran away with it, all things considered.
A.L.: Justin Verlander

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