Series 1:

Joey Creighton (4) and Matt Holmberg (5)

Scott and Mark:

Many will predict that this will be the team to beat. Why? Because Scott is on the team and during the season, Scott proved to be nearly unbeatable. His 20-4 record is a record in winning proficiency, and this is due to Scott's amazing ability to both hit with unmatched power and to pitch with unmatched speed and accuracy. The great thing about the playoffs is though, that all players are proven winners, and if Scott is going to be tested, it will be here. He and Mark prove to have a great deal of experience behind them and together they will hope that factor will help.

Scott is a great hitter who does well against all pitchers, bad or good. Specifically, Scott is 3-8 this season with 2 HR's while facing Matt. For Scott, these numbers aren't good, but they can be enough to win games. Against Joey this year, Scott has simply dominated. He's 8-16 with 5 HR's. Problem is, of the eight outs he's garnered, seven have been by strikeout. If Joey can hit his spots, Scott may be striking out more often than usual. On the mound, Scott has struggled (for him) against both Joey and Matt. Joey and Matt combine to hit .320 off Scott this year (8-25) with three homeruns. But, like usual, Scott's offense will most likely more than make up for any lapses from the mound.

Mark on the other hand is the wild card. His play in this series will determine whether or not he and Scott move on to the finals. Mark hit .283 on the year with 15 homeruns. He has dangerous pop, especially to the opposite way, but in the last few game days, Mark struggled to hit the ball in the air with any sort of power behind it. But he is a very streaky player who could come alive during the playoffs. It won't be easy though. Mark is a combined 11-60 against Matt and Joey (.183). But, like I said, Mark can come alive at any given moment. From the mound, Mark will give up most of his team's runs. His 4.30 ERA is pretty high and he's facing two legitimate power hitters. However, Mark seems to show flashes of brilliance when pitching to strong hitters while making key mistakes when pitching to lower-level hitters. Again, his performance here can make or break he and Scott's playoff hopes.

BATTING STATS:

PITCHING STATS:

Joey and Matt:

This could be a very high-scoring series with these two guys batting on the same team. As I said before, they hit a combined .320 against Scott, which is about as high as you can get. The thing is, they MURDER Mark. While batting against Mark this year, Matt and Joey have combined to hit .466 (27-58) with 11 homeruns. They've proven they can hit, what they need to do is shut down the bats of Mark and Scott.

Behind only Scott in terms of ability for nearly his entire career, Joey is wanting to step out of a shadow, so to speak. While Scott always hits more homeruns than him, and always has a better ERA, Joey has proven to be a threat as well. What he may be best known for is his ability to put the bat on the ball like no other. His 8.67 Kratio is amazing considering the next best is Scott's 3.78. He can hit opposite way at will and will have to have faith in this ability when batting against Scott. From the mound, Joey was tied for third in the league in ERA and struck batters out at a much better rate than in 1998. The problem is, he makes occasional mistakes, and pays for them when pitching to Scott and Mark. He loves the outside corner, and will have to stay away when Mark is batting, since Mark has and will hit balls no more than two inches off the ground 120 feet to right-center. Against Scott he will just have to be creative and try to keep the ball DOWN.

Matt is, offensively, the hottest player in the league right now. For his first 74 AB's, Matt hit only 9 HR's. Then he hit double digits, and never looked back. Since then, he's hit .351 with 19 HR's in only 71 AB's, and has driven in 33 runs. Only Scott has better looking numbers than that, and even his aren't that much better.

From the mound, Matt can be dominant, or he can be rocked, depending on what mood he's in. His 2.79 ERA could have been better had he just not thrown his lob pitch that fools batters like Jeff Kragel, but is simply meat on a stick to Carmichael. He has over-powering speed and a nasty curveball that rivals Nate Stuempfig's. But as I said before, he's fared relatively well against both Mark and Scott.

BATTING STATS:

PITCHING STATS:

THE BOTTOM LINE:

Here is the bottom line, according to me, Omar Gooding. Basically, the truth is, whoever wins this series will most likely go on to win the whole enchillada. These are, by far, the two best teams in the tourney and it will take one sorry performance in the finals to lose it to either James/Terry or Jeff M/Greg. That possibility isn't ruled out, but it is very unlikely. And although Matt and Joey's numbers look much better on paper, one must take into account the Scott-factor. Folks, Scott doesn't lose very often, and I believe that he and Mark will advance into the finals, where they will sweep the unfortunate souls who have to play them. Not only will they sweep the finals, but they will embarrass whatever team is against them. That's the bottom line, 'cause Omar-Cold said so!!

• 1999 Playoff Preview, Round 1 (8-24-99)