By Tim Cohn

What just happened? One month ago, the Red Sox seemed like a true contender for the World Series, and the Tampa Bay Rays were being left in their dust. But something strange happened, something unfathomable, unforeseeable. The bad-boys of Bean Town choked. They fell from the AL East standings faster than a ton of bricks, and now us baseball fans are left in shocked disbelief. This is the only solace for the Atlanta Braves; the Red Sox collapse totally overshadowed their own late season meltdown. Now, as we enter the playoffs we see the Rays and the Cardinals representing their divisions in the wild card spot. Meanwhile other teams shone in September, namely the Detroit Tigers, who won the AL East for the first time since the dawn of man. This is bound to be a good playoffs with many expecting the League’s best, Phillies to win it, but considering this past month’s surprising turn of events I, for one, am not counting on anything.

The American League is kicking things off with the stunners from the Sunshine State taking on the 2010 AL Pennant winners, Texas Rangers. I expect this series to be a real slug-fest, considering how dominant these teams have been offensively. Tampa Bay should be energized by this miracle comeback, but they will have a difficult time hitting the talented Texas pitching crew. The perennial nonentity Detroit Tigers will face the New York Yankees starting October 1st in what should be an intriguing series. Tigers ace, and Cy Young Award hopeful Justin Verlander appears ready to continue his stretch of dominance against the heavy hitters on the Yankees squad.

The National League is featuring four high-octane teams in this year’s playoffs. The Diamondbacks will go up against the Brewers of Milwaukee on October 1st, along with the MLB’s best Philadelphia Phillies up against comeback Cardinals from St. Louis. The NL surprise team Arizona Diamondbacks will face some of the most dominant hitters in baseball today namely, Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun. Meanwhile Philadelphia has to face their own share of big hitters on the Cardinals team with Albert Pujols, and Lance Berkman.

For the next month, the MLB’s elite will duke it out for the ultimate goal, a World Series, and even though this is not the postseason that we expected a month ago, there is still plenty to look forward to. Unless, of course, you are a Sox or Braves fan.