Don't Crown the New York Yankees...Yet

Conventional wisdom says that when the dust settles after the 2009 baseball playoffs, the New York Yankees will be crowned champion.

But let's hold on just a minute. There's still an awful lot of baseball left to be played. Anything can happen.

Now I don't want to suggest that the Yankees are not the best team. They most certainly are by any measuring stick. They recorded 103 wins, the most in the majors. They batted .283 as a team, good enough for second best in baseball. They drove in more runs than any other team and launched twenty more homers than the second best team, the Phillies.

Of course, the batter-friendly ballpark can take credit for some of those stats, but it's not as if other teams imposed their will on the Yankees in New York, since the Yanks still finished the regular season with the best home record.

As mind-numbing as their offensive prowess has been, it is not the bats, but the pitching staff that has experts raving about New York.

The recent struggles of Yankee pitching, especially in the postseason, have been well documented. They developed a reputation as a team that could only win if they could put nine runs up on the board.

Not anymore.

While it might be a stretch to call the Yankees dominant on the mound, they have one of the best aces in the game, CC Sabathia. Backing him up is A.J. Burnett who, though erratic at times, is fantastic when he gets into a groove. And Andy Pettite is reliable in the number three spot in the rotation.

Those two guys have propelled New York to the 11th best ERA, which is good enough with the offense they put on the field. Maybe more importantly, Mariano Rivera keeps defying critics and age. The greatest closer of all time notched 44 saves and a 1.76 ERA in his 15th MLB season. With Rivera leading the way, the Yankees recorded the most saves in baseball.

So in the face of such greatness, why would anybody in their right mind doubt New York?

Simply put, because they have to face the Angels.

The Angels flew under the radar for most of the year. Part of that was due to a slow start that saw them go 9-12 in the first month of the season. Many saw LA start to turn things around, but they still sat at 25-24 when June rolled around.

Then, the Angels caught fire and never looked back. The majority of the credit for that goes to the lineup. I mentioned earlier that the Yankees had the second best batting average in MLB. Well, the Angels ranked number one. And they were second in runs scored. All while playing in a better pitching division (no, I didn't say better division, better pitching division. Don't believe me, look it up.)

Now it is true, the Angels' pitching stats are not anything to brag about. However, most of their pitching woes were due to key early season injuries and the tragic death of Nick Adenhart. While the Angels don't have as talented a rotation as the Yankees, they are certainly better now than they were in April and May. Whether that is because of or in spite of the addition of Scott Kazmir is a matter that is up for debate.

So why would I be shocked to see the Angels win?

They have played the Yankees just about as tough as anybody else, having split the season series 6-6.

The point is that these teams are fairly evenly matched. Yes, the Yankees are still the team to beat, but I have a feeling that the Angels won't roll over and play dead like the Twins.

This has all the makings of an extremely exciting series that could (and hopefully will) come down to a Game Seven.

And the World Series could be equally as exciting, as both NL teams have statistically better pitching staffs than either the Yankees or Angels.

So please don't tune out the playoffs because you have already given New York a World Series ring. There is a lot of potentially exciting baseball left.

I hope.