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The baseball season wrapped itself up and sent itself packing for the postseason. Unfortunately for most players, the postseason means booking reservations on fishing trips, going home to the family, pondering what went wrong, and getting back to the business of preparing for next season.

Other players, who would like to forget the season, retire to the world of breaking the law, creating lower standards in morality, buying increasingly shiny earrings and necklaces, and supporting their local car dealerships.

However, for that special group of teams and players who make the playoffs, the postseason illuminates their dreams of world titles and all-time glory. For the Cubs, the Giants, the Braves, the Marlins, the Yankees, the Red Sox, the Twins, and the A's, the postseason means the beginning of the season.

Rather than studying matchups, statistics, and other numerical aspects and prognosticating outcomes, I would like to speculate on the emotional and psychological states of the teams in order to determine this year's division series outcomes.

Let's start in the NL. The Giants meet up with the Marlins in the NLDS. Barry Bonds and crew have pushed themselves out from behind the eight-ball of being last year's runner-up for prom queen. One of the most often-used cliches in sports is how difficult it is to repeat.

The Giants are back, but do they have the intestinal fortitude to make it all the way back to last year's status while adding a little more ingredients to the mix to win? The Giants are a tough group of resilient veterans who have the best player in the league guiding them home.

The Marlins, on the other hand, are partying all the way into the postseason. The players endured a tough wildcard race, but came out loose and smiling after their donnybrook with the other wildcard contenders. They duked it out with the Phillies, but did the fight to make it to late September take too much out of them? Do they really think that they can beat the Giants, and possibly, the Braves, let alone win the World Series?

As an amateur psychologist, I'm picking the Giants because of one fact -- Barry Bonds. The Marlins might have won a little fight with Pat Burrell and Jim Thome, but stepping up against the biggest bully on the diamond is a whole new game.

In the other NLDS, Atlanta prepares to battle Chicago. Because Atlanta has won 83 consecutive Al East championships, they simply assume that making the playoffs is their birthright. The perennial goal for the Braves is the World Series. They don't fool around with the NLDS. The NLDS is the warmup for the challenge of the NLCS and the World Series.

The Cubs are the antithesis of the Braves. Historical pressure weighs on them like Sissyphus' stone. Sure, the Cubs have made the playoffs before, but did anyone pick them to win it all? No. Prognosticators bet against the Cubs. I can't fathom what it would be like to have almost a century of pressure on my back as I step to the plate and try to bat against Cy Young, oops, I mean, Greg Maddux.

No living member of the Cubs organization can tell a story about how the Cubbies won it back in 1908. At least the Red Sox have parlayed the "Curse of the Bambino" into a feasible paranormal excuse. What's Chicago's excuse?

With all of that being said, I believe that Atlanta will win because they have a priori knowledge of the concept of victory. Any psychologist will vouch for the fact that envisioning success is a crucial step toward realizing success.

The Cubs can bring in Tony Robbins, Jesse Jackson, and Mike Ditka to fire themselves up, but it won't help. What the Cubs should do is wait until they haven't won the World Series for a century, then everyone will be on their side. See you in a few years, Chicago.

Moving on to the ALDS, we have the Yankees taking on the Twins. I just woke up from a three-month nap and someone asked me if I could name the teams in the AL Central. I struggled and was able to come up with the Detroit Tigers. The person told me that the Twins won the division. I said, "man, how did Frank Viola and Kent Hrbek do this year?" My ignorance is exactly the Twins' advantage in the ALDS. Who are these guys? Is there actually film on the Twins?

I know the Twins won something like 52 games in a row, but I still can't remember one SportsCenter highlight. They are the no-name bunch of this year's playoffs. They have no pressure on them and they can walk down the street in anonymity in the event they get swept by the guys in pinstripes.

I think that the Twins, Royals, and Tigers are the only teams whose players still have to get offseason jobs. I heard Eddie Guardado is a baker in the offseason. Get out there and play, Twins, and just have fun.

On the other hand, there is no fun in New York unless there is a ticker-tape parade in October. The Yankees have a positive historical legacy of success on their side, a confident swagger, and tenacious front-office leadership to steamroll their way to the World Series. The Yankee players are collectively focused on the goal, and this year they have added incentive.

We can never underestimate the "let's win one for Roger" mantra that must be circulating through the clubhouse. Roger Clemens, who managed his first game on Sunday, still has the intestinal fire and the fire in his right arm to spark something in his teammates.

I feel bad for the no-name bunch because an underdog is always tops in my book. However, a juggernaut is rarely toppled by a supreme underdog. When I think of the Yankees, I think of monstrous guys with ripped forearms, swinging bats the size of Sequoias. Conversely, when I think of the Twins, I think of a bunch of Paul Molitors, whose uniforms are dirty with pine tar, running around trying to win a game on bunts. Sorry for the prejudice, but I have to go with the Yankees.

Lastly, and most intriguingly, is the ALDS series pitting the A's against the Red Sox. Each year of the past two years the A's have been on of the best teams in the league ... in August. It is a crying shame that the World Series is played in October. The A's are talented. They have great pitching. They play defense. They should be great.

However, the A's approach to the season like a young runner in a marathon. The A's sprint through the season, and then when it's go time, they realize that they spent their tank getting there. I don't think this year's version of the A's is as good as last year's, but they are an exciting bunch.

The Cubs have history working against them, and it would seem to follow that the Red Sox are in a similar position. However, the Red Sox don't seem to be fazed by the "curse." The source of the Red Sox curse has traditionally been the Yankees. This year, the Red Sox haven't looked intimidated by the Yankees, which bodes well for their chances in the playoffs. On top of that, the Red Sox have the most potent offense in the playoffs, and they have Pedro Martinez.

Pedro is a genius. He chills out during August, catches a pharynx disease, rests his arm, and then he will come out firing on the A's. Rather than sprinting through the season, Pedro saunters through the season. The Red Sox are relaxed. They don't seem bothered with the curse and they seem poised enough to move forward on the quest.

The A's/Red Sox series reminds me of an old joke. But because this is a family site, I'll clean it up a bit. There are two bulls standing on a hill overlooking a pasture filled with beautiful cows. The young bull says, "let's run down there and mate with one of those cows!" The old bull responds, "no, let's walk down and mate with them all." I'll go with this season's old bull -- the Red Sox.

That sums up the division series, it should be exciting. The game is played on the field, but a team's mental state gets them in the right position on the field. Breathe in deep and focus on the division series. Let's play ball!

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