This year’s MLB playoff has been everything but expected. The overall favorite New York Yankees were eliminated in four games by the young up and coming Detroit Tigers. Three out of the four series saw the visiting team sweep the home teams. There were two clean sweeps, one by the biggest surprise Oakland Athletics, and the other by the New York Mets, which boasts the best record in the Majors. Rounding out the final four were the St. Louis Cardinals who won a very one sided series against the Padres in four games.

            The final four teams battled their way to the League Championship after a grueling Division Series. A number of our Team One and Baseball Factory players excelled in these Divisional Series. The Oakland Athletics and Detroit Tigers will be facing off against one another, while the New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals will also be battling it out for a chance to make it to the 2006 World Series. Eric Chavez of the Athletics and David Wright of the Mets have both been huge contributors to the success of their teams throughout the Division playoffs. 

Eric Chavez, a 1995 Team One National, finished the Division Series with a .200 batting average with one double, one homerun, one RBI and one run scored.  Chavez shined during game three of the A’s sweep over the Twins when he belted a solo homerun in the 2^nd inning, Eric added a double and two walks.  This will be the first time since 1992 that the Athletics will have made it to the American League Championships.

A two time PUMA All-American and Team One National player, David Wright has also continued his exceptional performance from the regular season, in which he ended with a .311 batting average with 26 homeruns and 116 RBI’s going into the Divisional Series.  He dominated the series with a .333 batting average including two doubles, four RBI’s and one run.  During game one of the series against the LA Dodgers, Wright batted in three of the six runs for the Mets and continued his hitting streak going one for four in each of the other two series games. 

1998 Team One National player Chris Duncan of the St. Louis Cardinals, 1999 Team One players Zach Miner and Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers, and 2000 Team One West player Huston Street of the A’s will also be contending for the World Series Championship.

This is just another example of the caliber of players that we work with at the Baseball Factory and Team One. No matter what two teams make it into the 2006 World Series, we will be proud to say that at least one or two of our Baseball Factory and Team One alumni will have a World Series Championship ring of their own.  We congratulate those players who have made it to the playoffs and hope to deliver more outstanding talent to future World Series Championships.

* Other Team One and Baseball Factory players that competed in this year’s playoffs before their teams were eliminated were Josh Barfield and Khalil Green of the San Diego Padres. Boof Bonser who was the game two started for the Twins in their series against the Athletics and Michael Cuddyer also played well for the Twins.