GolfHos

Here's a breakdown of how the "experts" at these various sports sites picked the winners of the NL Division Series:

ESPN:
16 of 20 picked the Cubs
13 of 20 picked the Phillies

CBS Sportsline:
3 of 4 picked the Cubs
2 of 4 picked the Phillies

CNNSI:
5 of 11 picked the Cubs
8 of 11 picked the Phillies

The Rox and Phillies were pretty evenly matched on paper, so the picks could have gone either way with a slight advantage to the Phillies who had the home field advantage. But WTF is with all the picks for the Cubs? The Cubs had the worst record out of the 4 playoff teams and the Diamondbacks had the best record (as well as home field). What were these morans thinking?

I don't get it...The Phillies squeaked in only after the Mets collapse, and subtracting the Giants from the equation, the NL West was easily the toughest division.

I can see being suspicious of Colorado's late season run, and the Phillies having the home field, but other than sentimental reasons, I cannot fathom anyone taking the Cubs even with the thoughts that anything can happen in a 5 game series. 

now, I agree with the premise (the EC bias) but I don't get calling the cubs over the dbacks as proof.  maybe i missed something (i dont follow baseball much anymore) but a quick scan over the standings sheet shows

overall 162 game season Wins   90-85 dbacs-cubs  draw no real advantage
reg season dbacks vs nc central 22-20
reg season dbacks vs nc west 36-36

reg season cubs vs. nc central 45-34
reg season cubs vs nl west 17-18

nl central .472 winning
nl west  .519 winning

so the west was a stronger paper division that both teams played basically equal
the central was a much weaker paper division that the cubs played much better than




looks like a tossup to me (no idea how the teams explicitly match up against each other this year) ... and ariz so home field which might make some minor difference but this isn't football either....  of course, its already 3-0 sweep so maybe the stats didn't mean anything  [sm_devil]