THE FINAL FOUR SPONSORED BY SKIN BRACER BY MENNEN

 It's getting down and dirty now, as only four teams remain in the running for the Salt City Strat 1982 Championship.

Moment of silence for the recently departed teams, who also happen to be the last two managers to hoist the "trophy".

Well, we all mourn in our own way, I suppose.

Anywho, let's get down to brass tacks, we got some LCS serieses to preview!

Today's previews sponsored by Skin Bracer by Mennen

#6 Zach Phillies vs #2 Randy Dodgers

The Phightins are the lowest remaining seed and Dodgers fans feel the Phils are running out of time in their Cinderella story, which doesn't please the Phils skipper, one bit! 

Okay, let's look at the head-to-head numbers from the regular season:

So, yeah, the Phils had a rough go of it vs the Dodger Blue. Reggie Jackson and Ray Knight were basically the main producers against L.A. in the regular season, but what the Dodgers did to Diamond King Dale "The Murph" Murphy and "The Ripper" Jack Clark was, well, tough to look at for the Philly fanbase, but we're gonna look at here, anyways...

 

Yeah, Jack will have to just look away at the signs in Dodger Stadium for this one.

  

The bright side is Murphy, Clark and Jackson, turned Philly into the city of Brotherly Clubs in the LDS. See for yourself! Here are the numbers from that series with Pittsburgh:

 

Definitely good momentum, but the Dodgers pitching? Well, the Pirates pitching it ain't and Chavez Ravine is no Three Rivers.

The Dodgers were first in runs allowed and WHIP on the season and Chavez Ravine is not much of a friend to opposing hitters, ranking 7th in both park OPS and Park runs. "Cakes" Palmer and Game three starter, Vincente "Oh No" Romo combined to allow one run to the Phillies over 19 innings. 

On offense, there were several guys who knocked the Phils around, but George Hendrick did the most damage, slashing .323/.405/.806, with five homers and ten RBIs in eight games vs the Phillies. 

Have the Phils turned a corner? Can they flip the script on the Dodgers or will the boys in blue continue their dominance of Philly? 

Prediction: Phillies in seven

#4 Sammer Orioles vs #1 Jitter Indians

Look, we're not gonna sugarcoat things, while the Indians didn't mathematically clinch the one seed until late in the season, it really wasn't in doubt for quite some time. But it hasn't gone to their skipper's head one bit.

Nevertheless, the O's have a spring in their steps and the wind beneath their wings, right now and, well, let's peep the head-to-head numbers.

Would ya look at that, the Orioles have matched up pretty darned well against the Tribe! Offensively Steady Eddie, Sweet Lou, and the Big O doing most of the damage versus Cleveland on the season:

Yep, they accounted for 10 of the  12 homers, scored 21 of the 43 runs against and drove in 28 of the 43 runs against Cleveland. No word on how these fellas were able to hit so well against the team that had the 2nd lowest OPS against, but we can speculate.

All three were key in getting past Oakland, so the Tribe will have to tread lightly against these big bats.

On the pitching side, the O's did pretty well against the Indians, but Fernandomania not so much. Over 14 innings, the Mexican was kind of a Mexi-can't allowing 13 runs, 11 earned. We haven't seen the rotation for the series yet, but Fernando would be next up in the playoff rotation, and if he is going to get 2-3 starts in this series, he'll have to step it up.

Over on the Cleveland side, the numbers against Baltimore are down from their season numbers in the major hitting and pitching categories, but their Diamond Kid, er King, has led the way with some help from "Cobra" Driessen and Fred "Freddie" Lynn.

The OBPs are not all great, but when they are connecting, they are connecting big. 

As for pitching, the Indians were one of the best in the business on the season, so the numbers against the O's? Yeah, a bit surprising. The brunt of the damage being done against "Jelly Jar" Welch and Bruce "The Reason" Kison as they both hold ERAs over seven against the O's. 

So, does the O's offense have Balti-more in the tank? Will the Indians layoff fall to the O-mentum their opponent will bring into Cleveland?

Prediction: Indians in six