Puffing in the 2011 Playoffs—Where to Smoke A Cigar in Baseball’s Postseason

Cigar Aficionado's guide to where you can smoke in MLB’s playoff cities.

Alejandro Benes
Posted: September 29, 2011

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The Texas Rangers begin at home against the charging Rays. Tampa probably has the best starting pitching of the four teams in the AL playoffs, but the arms are a little worn. Texas just crushes the ball against anyone. The Rangers want to get back to the World Series and avenge last year’s defeat to the Giants. I see the Rangers moving on, deflating the Rays in four. After that, I have the Rangers moving on to the championship.

NATIONAL LEAGUE PREDICTIONS

The Phillies. That’s about all you need to say. Unless you also want to say the Brewers. Philadelphia has all that pitching and all that hitting and played like the “cheese” they put on cheese steaks down the stretch. You know? Like crap. The hitting that did not show up against the Giants last year was again not showing up in the last 10 games of the year. The Phils starters are pretty much healthy and they’ve added right fielder Hunter Pence, who has apparently brought some fire to the team.  

Philadelphia will play the surprising wild-Cardinals. Philly will throw Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels and, maybe, Roy Oswalt at the redbirds. Phenom Vance Worley goes to the bullpen as the long-reliever. Then there’s still Joe Blanton and closer Ryan Madson. They’ll be facing Pujols, Lance Berkman and Matt Holliday, always fearsome bats, with the addition of Rafael Furcal at short and leadoff adding a dimension the Cards had missed most of the year. Still, the Fightins move on.

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The Arizona Diamondbacks, who won the relatively weak west in Kirk Gibson’s rookie year as manager, get the misfortune of facing the Milwaukee Brewers. Arizona also saw the emergence of Justin Upton as a star and benefitted from a solid enough year from centerfielder Chris Young. Aaron Hill was a late season acquisition from Toronto and is helping fill holes in the lineup. Ian Kennedy, a former Yankees pitcher, won 21 games as a starter.

Milwaukee has surprisingly good pitching this year, with Yovani Gallardo, Zack Greinke, Shaun Marcum and Randy Wolf. Milwaukee has John Axford closing games, being set up by Frankie “K-Rod” Rodriguez, who seems to find ways to say or do the wrong thing at the worst time every year.  Milwaukee, whose hitting has been inconsistent beyond Braun and Fielder most of the year, will score enough against a Snakes pitching staff with a combined 3.78 ERA. That’s not much worse than Milwaukee’s at 3.64, but it’s enough of a difference.

I think the Crew win this round easily over Arizona, then falls to Philadelphia in the NLDS.

THE WORLD SERIES

In a Texas-Philadelphia matchup, I’m picking the Rangers. The much-improved bullpen guides me to that selection. Also, the Rangers hit. I mean, they really hit. Philly can hit, but doesn’t always do so. Of course, the Phillies have the best pitching in baseball and that was the same challenge the Rangers faced last year. Still, Texas crushes the ball. Did I mention that?

Where to Smoke a Cigar in the Playoff Cities

While I will be watching the games at home and enjoying fine cigars and beverages, here’s where to catch a puff if you go to the games.

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