Last year, the Phillies rolled through September and in to the playoffs on a huge wave of momentum. Everyone expected them to smash the young Rockies on their way to the NLCS and maybe even beyond. They were quickly swept by Colorado and back home before they really even knew what hit them. This year they rolled through September again to win the NL East, and again were facing a team that surged late to take the wild card. After last year's sweep, people were much more reserved about their chances.

Apparently, they learned their lesson. Today they soundly crushed the Brewers 6-2 behind two homers from Pat Burrell and advanced to their first NLCS since 1993. Just as in Games 1 and 2 in the series, the Phillies offense overwhelmed the Brewers' pitching staff. They launched four homers (Jimmy Rollins in the first,Pat Burrell and Jayson Werth in the fourth, and Burrell again in the eighth) that accounted for all six runs, with three of the homers coming off of Jeff Suppan.

Brewer fans likely have a lot of questions after this series (What if Ben Sheets was healthy? What if Dale Sveum started Yovani Gallardo in Game 4 instead of Suppan? What happened to Corey Hart?), but this Phillie team is clicking on all cylinders right now. Who would've thought they could roll to three decisive wins with Ryan Howard only racking up two hits? As with the other NLDS matchup, the team that won was simply better in the series.

Now that the White Sox have punched their ticket to the dance, let the playoffs begin. And there will be no dipping of toes to test the water ... we're diving right in with three playoff openers in succession. Yovani Gallardo matches up with Cole Hamels as the Brewers face the Phillies at 3:00 ET, Derek Lowe and Ryan Dempster send their Dodgers and Cubs into battle at 6:30, and for you insomniacs, Californians, and Red Sox Nation citizens, it's Jon Lester vs. John Lackey to kick off the third playoff battle in five seasons between the Bosox and Halos.

FanHouse celebrates the arrival of the playoffs the only way we know how: We're live blogging it all! That's right ... join Andrew Johnson, myself, and perhaps some cameos from our team of baseball bloggers for a live blog marathon. It's baseball heaven, so with apologies to T.O., getcha popcorn ready!

When Mullet and I debated the Brewers-Phillies series yesterday, I thought that two of the points that I raised were very important to the Phillies' chances in their first round series against the Brewers: the Brewers' proclivity to mash left-handed pitching and how Cole Hamels, who's seen a big inning increase this year, would hold up against against that lineup in a year when he's thrown a ton of innings. I wasn't terribly positive about either front for the Phillies, but apparently I should have been.

Hamels dominated the Brewers over eight shutout innings today, striking out nine and holding them to only three baserunners. He kept Milwaukee's big bats off balance all afternoon with a nasty changeup that had almost everyone in the Brewers' lineup flailing like a little leaguer. In fact, he was so good that it seemed like Charlie Manuel made a mistake by bringing in Brad Lidge to pitch the ninth when Lidge gave up a run and stranded two more runners before finally striking out Corey Hart to end the game.

After being swept last year, Hamels set a great tone for the Phillies today. The Brewers were thoroughly dominated and tonight they're going to realize that they have to face him again in this series if they want to win it. If he's as good in his next start as he was today, that means the Brewers can't lose to anyone else. The first game of the series is always important to set the tone, but it's even more important in a short series and Cole Hamels gave the Phillies a stranglehold today.

At last, the playoffs are upon us. After a grueling 162-game regular season, it's time to finish with a flurry. There's a tripleheader on tap starting this afternoon, but until the games get underway, how about we here at FanHouse whet your appetite with some prediction-flavored hors d'oeuvres.

Our crack blogging team made their picks last night all the way through the World Series. After the jump you can see all the predictions, but before you check them all out, a few demographic notes:

--Despite the American League's clear dominance right now, an overwhelming majority picked a National League team to walk away with the title.

--The biggest underdog? The Phillies according to our guys. Only two people picked the Fightin's to beat the Brewers in the first round.

--No one picked the Red Sox to repeat. I guess everyone is spooked by Josh Beckett's injury.

--Both of our resident Cubs fans picked them to win the Fall Classic. They're either going to be very happy at the end of the month or are being set up for another tremendous letdown.

With that out of the way, enjoy, and feel free to make your picks in the comments. (And if you want a good laugh, check out our preseason picks).

Every four years, Major League Baseball's postseason intersects with a presidential election. This is one of those years. In the spirit of the season, we here at MLB FanHouse have divided the playoff teams up for a series of debates. Here Pat Lackey and Mullet discuss the NLDS between the Brewers and Phillies.

Mullet: This series may turn out to be the least competitive of all the four first-round matchups out there. There are a lot of reasons the Phillies should take care of the Brewers in three or four games, so I'll start with this one: Brad Lidge is 41-for-41 in save opportunites this season. The Brewers bullpen, meanwhile, has Eric Gagne and Guillermo Mota. You've seen it as much as I have, bullpens win in the playoffs.

Pat Lackey: It makes me vaguely sick to my stomach to point this out, but since mid-July Eric Gagne has a 3.52 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP. He's not the Gagne of old, as his strikeouts are way down (17 in 23 innings over that span), but he's at least done a good job of keeping guys off of the bases for the home runs he inevitably gives up. The Brewers will likely turn to Salomon Torres in a pinch before either of the guys you named and until a couple hiccups down the stretch, he was very good this year.

The Cubs haven't won the World Series in 100 years. You may have heard this a few times already in 2008. And if you haven't yet, you will probably grow tired of hearing about it three innings into their first playoff game against the Dodgers.

The Cubs haven't even been to the Fall Classic since 1945, but there is a growing feeling on the North Side that at least one of those droughts will end this year.

Now we know who stands in their way. The aforementioned Dodgers, the Brewers and the Phillies represent major obstacles to Chicago. The funny thing about all three of those clubs is that, to varying degrees, they can all be characterized as losers too.

Oh, they aren't "lovable" like the ones in Wrigleyville. Now that the Red Sox and White Sox have won titles recently, the Cubs linger as the final franchise that's been seeking the promised land since before World War II. They'll most certainly be a sentimental favorite nationwide.

But don't let the Cubs' quest for baseball's Holy Grail blind you. They aren't the only team in the Senior Circuit with a chance to erase some frustrating history this October.

With the playoff chase coming down to the wire, our MLB editor rounds up the five biggest pennant race stories in Eye Toward October.

- One Final Gamble: For the better part of two months, the Brewers have been rolling the dice. They went out and got reigning AL Cy Young winner CC Sabathia in July. Once they got Sabathia and once it became clear the bullpen couldn't be trusted in tight spots, they rode Sabathia and Ben Sheets hard -- pushing them past the 110-pitch and even 120-pitch mark with regularity.

And then with the team scuffling through September, they made a move that was just as dramatic as the Sabathia trade -- they fired manager Ned Yost, an almost unprecedented move for a contender. Some of the gambles have worked and some of them haven't.

The effect of four 120-plus pitch starts probably took their toll on the fragile Sheets. But on the flip side, the Brewers would probably be out of contention if the Sabathia deal wasn't made.

Milwaukee will roll the dice one last time Sunday, hoping that one last roll will result in a spot in the postseason after 25 long years. Fittingly, they'll have their biggest gamble -- Sabathia -- on the mound for that last roll. And he'll be starting on short rest for the second consecutive turn. Things might not go the Brewers' way in their last stand of 2008, but at least they'll be in familiar territory with their season on the line.

Good news, Philly fans: You are the 2008 National League East Champions. Even after Johan Santana dealt a masterful complete game shutout to put the Mets in a Wild Card tie with the Brewers, there was too much Jamie Moyer in CBP and the Phils clinched the division. Via the 700Level, we have video.



And the Eagles jokes are just that -- clearly the Phillies haven't reached the "poor man's Bills" level yet (or a poor man's Braves team, if you want to keep it in the same sport) and with as much offense as they have, nothing says they can't come out of the NL to rep the Senior Circuit in the World Series.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups.

Florida Marlins (83-76) at New York Mets (88-72) - 1:10 PM ET

They couldn't possibly do this again, could they?

Of course they could. You know they could. And your New York Mets know gosh darn well they could choke away another season ... especially after another lifeless late season loss to the Florida Marlins (who are now basing the success of their season on knocking the Mets out of the playoffs ... mature) and a Brewers victory which puts the Mets one game behind the wild card lead, and one game closer to another disastrous ending. So in response, the Mets are bringing back Johan Santana on three days rest to try to extend the season to Sunday. Of course, if they get to Sunday still alive, who will pitch then? Jon Niese? Brandon Knight? Frank Viola? Jesus?

That's silly. Everyone knows that Jesus would be in the bullpen because the Mets pen is so horrible. (And, you know ... Jesus saves.)