The (un)likely heroes of the day

For this postseason in MLB, the National League without a doubt is chock full of surprises.

First of all, it doesn't have the usual suspects: that is to say, the New York Mets & the St. Louis Cardinals. As we should all know by now, the Mets croaked in their last regular season game, allowing the Phillies to win the NL East & in the process win a trip into postseason play. Then of course the Cards have had it rough all season, just struggling to play catchup with Milwaukee & the Cubbies among so many other ballclubs vying to make the postseason.

Secondly, it has teams who have paid their dues & kept their faith just to make it this far. The aforementioned Phillies are living proof of that: They could have folded up their tents midway through this season but they kept believing, they had the confidence that they could do some good things like winning their division. If that doesn't suffice, they've had to endure 14 years of waiting just to get back into postseason play; no doubt this wait was overdue & they deserved to be here.

How about the Chicago Cubs? They deserve to be in postseason play as well; it's been awhile since they were even in the playoffs. If the Cubbies found a perfect time to break out with an awesome season, this year could very well be the one but first things first with...

the Arizona Diamondbacks. With the typical NL West rivals (the Dodgers, Padres, Giants & Rockies) all over their radar, determined to make a statement on who's best in the West division, the D-Backs came through with great hitting, solid pitching...& persevered with the best record in the league.

Then we've got Colorado. No one was expecting the Rockies to make it this far; I had my eyes set on San Diego grabbing a wild-card spot. But if there's definitely one surprise team to take note of, it's the Rockies; they may not get all the accolades as the above ballclubs but in a word, I'd tell a lot of folks to look out because they're for real...ironically enough they played their hearts out last night against the Padres to prove that very point.

Wow, what more can I say? Just seeing the roster of teams in NL postseason play, I can't help but wonder how far we've come in so little time. Yes, I'm definitely surprised on a majority of the teams who got in with the exception of Chicago...this year could be where they win it all.

Then again, you never know; anything can happen.