Here I sit out in left field among about 200 media seats. It's really very cool. the credentials demand for MLB playoff games is huge. They place the regular beat writers in the normal press box and send the rest of the credentialed folks out to right and left field. I chose left field for no particular reason. To my surprise, people from every major outlet are located out here as well. Way cool.

Even though the gates haven't opened, it's an electric feel. When I went upstairs to the dining room, even that has changed from the regular season. Usually they have some mundane entree with all the mundane trimmings. Tonight, it will be a sandwich box that we can take back to our station. I'm looking forward to picking mine up in an hour or so.

Media is not permitted in the clubhouses. Instead, they bring the players to a media room. It's very similar to the post game media set-up we are all used to.

The folks around the Dbacks are very confident this series is coming back to Arizona over the weekend. I'm not so sure. The pitching match ups tonight feature Randy Wolf for the Brewers vs. Joe Saunders in a battle of lefties. Saunders has been very good at the end of the season, so the Dbacks do have a chance. I've always thought Wolf was a pesky nibbler that could be beaten with patience. We'll see tonight.

Hart, Hairston, Braun, Fielder, Weeks, Betancourt, Gomez, Kotatras and Wolf for the Brewers in the early line up.

Interesting that Jerry Hairston is starting at 3rd. McGehee has some big pop in his bat, but he's been so bad this season that manager Ron Roenicke just can't trust him.

Bloomquist, Hill, Upton, Montero, Goldschmidt, Roberts, Young, Para and Saunders in the early line up for Arizona.

I think I would want the sure handed superior defensive SS in John McDonald instead of Bloomquist. I know that Bloomquist hits much better, but defense will be critical in this particular game.

The other playoff series have been outstanding. The Yankees are in a battle royal with the Tigers. There can be no doubt that TV is hoping for a Yankees victory. With the Red Sox not playing, they have to hope for a Yankees=Phillies series to pull in any ratings. It could be a disaster if its Arizona-Texas. Regardless, it's pretty evident that football is king on Sunday in October. Depending on the college schedule, it could be on Saturday's as well.

Hats off to Tony and his St. Louis Cardinals. It's amazing. Every year we think they'll fold. Every year they turn it on and find a way to end up picking up post-season pay checks. They usually have a totally burned out bullpen, punch and judy hitters sprinkling the lineup and an injury or two that gives the bench an opportunity to shine. It's like a script. If the post-season is worth
$ 20-40 MM as most experts claim, the Cards may enough money to pay Albert. I don't think they can afford to let him go.

The Brewers have built their franchise around the mega power of Prince and Braun. Can they afford to let Prince take a hike? I hope not. I think they'll do everything humanly possible to come up with the money to pay him. Those two in the middle of the order make it very, very tough to beat the Brewers. That's if you pitch to Fielder and Braun. I think I'd throw junk unless the bases were juiced. Add Gallardo, Greinke and Marcum and they're set in the rotation for a 7 game series. If Rickie Weeks is healthy he should be hitting at the top of the order setting the table for the big guns. He's hitting behind Fielder and doing well. I still like him better hitting at the top.

Tampa Bay probably played a bit over their heads while knocking out Boston. But-how about that rotation for next year with Moore now established? I think they need to go get another bat or two, but remember that the pitching will be another year older and wiser. Watch out for Tampa and Toronto. The AL East is no longer a two-team division.

Tim Belcher, 2011 pitching coach for Cleveland left the Indians. In a positive move, Sandy Alomar, Jr. has been named the Tribe's bench coach.

What took so long for the Angels to realize they needed a new front-office staff?

Who gets the Cubs general manager's job? Could that be Theo?

The future of Rangers P Alexi Ogando is a real question? Do we have another Naftali Feliz situation where they can't decide if he starts or relieves? The same thing could happen again with Feliz. Ogando has to add at least one more pitch if he wants to stay in the rotation. The same for Feliz.

Mike Napoli had one great, great year. I'm so glad he showed Mike Scioscia that he can, indeed, catch.

I won my American League only league. I made some deals that many wondered about. I gave up Jon Lester for Paul Konerko and it worked out fine for me. It's tough to get hitting for pitching and I pounced on it at mid-season. It was a tough, tough league and I'm glad I brought it home.

I'll be on twitter all night from here at the ballpark. Hope you'll follow me. Starting tomorrow I'll be at the Arizona Fall League games every day. Look for my first column at the end of this week.

Gotta go get my sandwich.