And then there were eight. The most exciting postseason in professional sports began… And then there were eight. The most exciting postseason in professional sports began yesterday with Cy Young candidate Johan Santana and the Minnesota Twins battling breaking ball mastermind Barry Zito and the Oakland Athletics.

Another October is upon us, jam-packed with a handful of MVP candidates, Cy Young shoo-ins and big names galore. Add breathtaking miracles, suffocating intensity and heroes transforming into legends, and we’ve got myriad reasons for excitement.

Throughout the second half of the regular season, the Yankees and Mets were touted as the main contenders for the coveted World Series championship. A strong desire for a rematch of the 2000 “Subway Series” met reality, as both teams coasted to 97-65 records for the top seeds in both the National and American League brackets.

But in the American League, three formidable opponents pose as potential threats to the Yankees’ supremacy. Starting pitching for both Oakland and Minnesota make them awfully stubborn obstacles.

Minnesota rides into the postseason with the majestic nature of a playoff favorite. The Twins seem to play with the same chemistry, excitement and sheer energy that spurred the last few World Series champions to victory.

The AL Central champions possess a solid lineup top to bottom, one capable of scoring runs against anyone. Minnesota is 6-4 against the Athletics this year, but eight of the 10 games were decided by four runs or fewer.

How can one decipher who will win the series? Santana will pitch twice, and when Santana pitches, the Twins win, plain and simple.

The Athletics’ biggest disadvantage is having to play three games at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Twins fans will be hopping and crazy when the playoff train makes its stop in Minnesota.

I expect the Twins to take the AL Divisional Series in five games over the Athletics, setting up an AL Championship Series with the Yankees, who should handle the Detroit Tigers in four games.

The Yankees should beat the Tigers, who will carry the “We’re-just-happy-to-be-here” mentality into the first round. New York has some major question marks in its rotation beyond Mike Mussina – Chien-Ming Wang needs the Bronx Bombers to bail him out in rough innings and score boatloads of runs to win him games.

But the Tigers backed into the playoffs, playing their best ball before the All-Star Break. The Yankees lineup will be too much for the Tigers staff, in spite of Alex Rodriguez’s absence from the playoffs.

Not to get sidetracked, but doesn’t it seem like A-Rod could easily be a huge fan of Dick Cheney? I mean, he disappears for lengthy periods with everyone wondering where he goes and then he pops up again in big fashion.

So with the Twins and Yankees exchanging colossal blows in the ALCS, the National League Championship Series will feature the Mets and San Diego Padres.

You can count on the Mets to beat the Dodgers as long as their lineup produces at Shea Stadium. The Mets need their big bats to come through, as their pitching leaves more than a few concerns heading into a short series with a very good Dodgers starting rotation.

It won’t be easy, but I like the Mets in five. The real worrying should surface in the NLCS, where the Padres pose an even tougher threat to the Mets’ National League dominance.

What beats good hitting? Great pitching. What do the Padres have that the Mets don’t? Great pitching. Get the point?

The St. Louis Cardinals are this year’s “joke of the playoffs.” Last year, the Padres joined the festivities after an 82-80 season. This year, the Cardinals jump in at 83-78, not exactly a record-breaking tally.

The Cardinals only hope to win is when Chris Carpenter is on the mound, and he can’t pitch every game. And against a rotation featuring Jake Peavy, Chris Young, Woody Williams and David Wells, Carpenter will have trouble delivering results.

When the Padres meet the Mets in the NLCS, one statistic sticks out – the Padres finished better on the road than at home. In a series where four games will be played in New York, the Mets might have trouble putting away San Diego.

Riding pitching to the World Series is easy, and that’s what Minnesota and San Diego will do. So put me down for the Minnesota Twins in six to take the Fall Classic.

I’ll take my chances with Johan Santana and the boys any day of the week.

Jeff Greer realizes that he just jinxed the Twins. Send him your playoff predictions at [email protected].