Dissecting the National League Playoff Bracket

Four teams with one dream and four teams with four different stories. That's what fans are looking at in the National League playoff bracket today as the postseason really gets underway. The Wild Card games are in the books and the final four NL teams are set. St. Louis and Pittsburgh will meet in a divisional showdown while Atlanta and Los Angeles will square off in a highly-anticipated series filled with young stars.

You want history? You got it. The four National League teams left have all been in existence since the 1880s. There is a combined 25 World Series victories among the four and plenty of Hall of Fame legends. More recently, the NL has belonged to the Braves and the Cardinals. St. Louis won a dramatic World Series in 2011 and also was victorious in 2006. Atlanta dominated the 90s and has remained the beast of the NL East with a fresh crop of talent.

Los Angeles enters the playoffs as the hottest team over the second half. At the beginning of the season, fans and analysts were discussing Don Mattingly's job, but LA turned it around and finished with 92 wins and ran away with the West Division. Yasiel Puig took the nation by storm with his you-gotta-see-this theatrics on the field and on the base paths, but it was Hanley Ramirez who really acted as the catalyst for LA's run.

LA's matchup with Atlanta is intriguing for multiple reasons. While the Dodgers were the focal point of the second half, Atlanta flew under the radar for much of the season. If it's possible, the Braves somehow won 96 games quietly. To make it even more impressive, Atlanta got nothing out of B.J. Upton and Dan Uggla during the regular season. Uggla batted .179 and was left off the playoff roster.

Still, the Braves lineup is potent with Justin Upton, Jason Heyward, Freddie Freeman and Chris Johnson. However, they are going to be facing a pitching staff headlined by Clayton Kershaw. Runs won't come easy for the Braves in this series. Kershaw finished the season with a miniscule 1.83 ERA and is one of the most decorated pitchers in the game today.

In the other series, the Cardinals and Pirates face off in a familiar matchup. The two teams played 19 times with Pittsburgh winning 10 games. While the matchup is familiar, the setting is not for one team. Pittsburgh hasn't been in the playoffs since 1992 when the lost in the NLCS. Still, there are players on the roster that do have playoff experience. A.J. Burnett and Justin Morneau are no strangers to postseason baseball, but for a star like Andrew McCutchen this is all new.

St. Louis finished with the best record in baseball behind little-known stars such as Matt Carpenter and Allen Craig and a pitching staff led by Adam Wainwright. The Cardinals are better than any team in baseball with runners in scoring position and that will come in handy during the playoffs when every run matters.

So who moves on? Count on the Cardinals to defeat the Pirates due to their experience and timely hitting. It's a toss up in the Braves-Dodgers series, but I'll take LA.

Legends are made in October and the team that gets that timely hit, run-saving catch or shutdown pitching performance is the team that wins. Let the games begin...

Battle L.A.: Dodgers or Angels Bigger Disappointment?

2013 has not been kind to Los Angeles sports teams. No, not one bit. The Lakers failures this season were well-chronicled and even the Clippers took a disappointing first round exit in the playoffs. Now the future of the team is uncertain with Chris Paul potentially departing. In the college ranks, UCLA capped a less-than-stellar season by losing in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and then firing coach Ben Howland. And now, maybe worst of them all, the Dodgers and Angels are struggling mightily as the MLB season nears the 50-game mark. Thank God for the Los Angeles Kings. That's all L.A. has going for them right now.

They say money can't buy happiness, but that doesn't mean it can't buy a few championships. Just ask the Yankees. However, that's not the case for the Dodgers and Angels. Both clubs haven't been shy about spending big and several superstars have made the trek west. For the Angels, the signings of Albert Pujols, C.J. Wilson and Josh Hamilton has translated over to a 20-27 record this season. The Dodgers are 19-26 despite signing Zack Grienke and Hyun-Jin Ryu and having the services of Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford for the entire season.

So what's the problem? Let's start with the Angels. Don't point the finger at Mike Trout because the young phenom has been nothing short of superhuman. Last year's AL Rookie of the Year is batting .302 with 10 home runs and 35 RBI. All of those home runs have come in the month of May and Trout leads the team in batting average, RBI, on-base percentage and hits, slugging percentage and stolen bases. No, Mike Trout is not the problem at all.

Pujols, while his average is low for his standards, isn't playing poorly. His .253 batting average is uncharacteristically low, but he does have eight home runs and 29 RBI. He's also batting .317 in his last 10 games and it appears he might be turning it around. Hamilton is a different story. The big summer signing is batting just .220 with six home runs and 16 RBI. He has struck out 53 times already and even his on-base percentage is low at .279. Hamilton is not even reaching base, however he does have a hit in eight of his last 10 games.

As a team, the Angels are middle of the pack in nearly every statistical category offensively and the pitching staff isn't any better. The staff ERA of 4.57 ranks 12th in the American League and, even worse, they rank 10th in strikeouts yet third in walks. It would appear that the pitching has held this team back from reaching expectations. Offense can only cover up so much.

For the Dodgers it's a similar issue. L.A. is in the top five of the National League in batting average and on-base percentage while ranking 14th and third in strikeouts and walks, respectively. As a whole, the Dodger offense has been producing. However, that doesn't mean their biggest stars have carried the load.

Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier are off to rough starts and Kemp has struck out 17 more times than the next closest teammate, who happens to be Ethier. Together the two combine for just six home runs and 32 RBI while both batting below .270. Gonzalez, usually a home run threat, has hit just four, but he does have a .309 batting average with 30 RBI. Crawford has also produced after the debacle that was his brief career in Boston. He is batting .302 with team-highs in home runs (5) and stolen bases (9).

On the pitching staff, Clayton Kershaw and Ryu have been magnificent, but the others on staff have been less than impressive. Both Kershaw and Ryu are 5-2. Kershaw's ERA is a league-low 1.35 and Ryu's is a respectable 3.30. After that things get hazy. Josh Beckett is currently on the disabled list and he couldn't be the ace of staff on the Bad News Bears. His 0-5 record and 5.19 ERA is a far cry from the guy we've seen lead teams to World Series victories. Outside of Kershaw and Ryu the Dodgers pitchers are a combined 9-19. The return of Grienke can't come soon enough.

Both clubs are missing pitching and their offense can only cover up so much. The stars also must perform to the level they are expected to. A lot of money has been spent in SoCal, but that hasn't meant wins. If the Dodgers are to compete for the playoffs they need Kemp and Ethier to start producing more and they need a healthy Grienke. For the Angels, Hamilton must get going and the pitching staff has to pick it up.

If not, the two clubs will cap off a disastrous 2013 for the city of Los Angeles.