Today really sucks. Everywhere else, the playoffs begin. The Red Sox face the Angels; the Rockies and Phillies square off; and the Diamondbacks and Cubs begin their battle. But the Yankees - the only playoff team in 2006 to make it in 2007 - have to wait another 24 hours before they begin a thrilling set against the Indians.

I’m going to do a two-part playoff preview post. The first post - today’s installment - focuses around why the Yankees won’t beat the Indians. The next part - tomorrow’s bit - will discuss why the Yankees will beat the Indians. I can make compelling cases for both, and that, folks, is what makes October grand.

So powered by a pretentious sentence right here, on to the predictions:

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Yesterday evening, I received an e-mail from an assistant account executive working on a Nike campaign. In an attempt to drum free advertising - it worked here and here and, of course, right here - Brandon wrote to me about the 80-foot-tall billboard of Alex Rodriguez going up today at the corner of 34th St. and 7th Ave.

Now, that billboard, shown above, is pretty huge. And it’s pretty much Alex Rodriguez in your face just in case New York needed a reminder that A-Rod is playing in October again. The billboard exhorts the Yankees “Just Do It” this October. But is that encouragement for the team or a disgusted plea of a fed-up fan base? Really, just do it already, A-Rod.

Meanwhile, in The Times, Tyler Kepner looks at the expectations resting on A-Rod’s shoulders this postseason. A-Rod, we all know, hit .314 this year with 54 home runs and 156 RBI (or one every 9.1 innings this season).

Kepner’s piece runs over familiar ground. The rest of the team has to put A-Rod in a position to succeed; he’s working harder this year and ignoring the criticism; he’s laughing off mistakes and not letting every little thing get under his skin; he’s not going to change his hitting approach in October; etc., etc., etc. It’s something we’ve heard ad nauseum this year.

If that’s not enough for you, then scoot on over to ESPN.com where the Worldwide Leader has just unveiled a Howard Bryant-penned missive on Alex Rodriguez. Entitled The King of Gotham? the piece is a challenge to Alex Rodriguez. Rise to the occasion, Bryant says, and bring home the gold to New York. The world will be yours.

So here are again in October, and the attention is squarely on A-Rod. Like or not, A-Rod has to follow up his 54-home run season with a stellar October. The Yanks could lose in the first round, but if A-Rod hits, he will bear no weight for another early exit from the postseason.

Is this fair to A-Rod? Of course not, but that’s the price he has to pay for a $25-million annual salary. You can bet this year that A-Rod won’t get dropped from the four-hole. It’s been his slot all year, and Joe Torre isn’t about to mess with success.

But that whole opt-out business will come into play too. The Yankees need A-Rod. They need him this week; they need him next week; they need him next year. In the current state of baseball in New York, anything short of a stellar postseason against some of the best pitchers in the game will be a disappointment for A-Rod and the Yanks. Let’s hope it doesn’t happen.

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Once a highly-touted Yankee prospect, Bronson Sardinha has seen his stock fall over recent years. An influx of better prospects and some poor numbers by Sardinha at higher levels contributed to this fall.

But this year, the Yanks sent Sardinha back to AA for a few games, and he excelled. He hit .429/.484/.732 and earned himself a September call-up. Now, he’s joining the big league team in October, according to The Honolulu Advertiser.

Because Andy Phillips went down with an injury, the Yanks have the option to replace him on the postseason with someone on their 40-man. Sardinha wins that honor. He will be, in effect, the 25th man off the bench in the playoffs. The Yanks will go with a bench of Shelley Duncan (more on him later), Jose Molina, Wilson Betemit, some mix of Jason Giambi and Doug Mientkiewicz and now Bronson Sardinha.

It will be interesting to see how, if at all, Sardinha is used in games. I could see him coming in as a late-inning replacement, and with Matsui’s knees barking a bit, Sardinha becomes outfield insurance as well. In 11 plate appearances this month in the Bronx, he was 3 for 9 with 2 walks and 6 runs scored. All in all, having him on the roster isn’t a bad move.

Hat tip to Steve.

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The Yanks drew the short straw on this one:

Thursday: At Cleveland, 6:30 p.m.
Friday: At Cleveland, 5 p.m.
Sunday: At New York, 6:30 p.m.
Monday: At New York, 6 p.m.
Wednesday: At Cleveland, 5 p.m.

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How far did Brian Bruney fall?

A year ago, he pitched in three of the four ALDS games. Yesterday, the Yankees told him to go home, opting to not include the right-handed reliever around like they did with Ross Ohlendorf, Chris Britton and Jose Veras. (sic)

“I was shocked,” Bruney said.

Never mind the sentence in that quote that isn’t English. That’s The New York Post for ya.

Instead let’s focus on the good news: After six months of trying, we finally got the Yankees to recognize that Chris Britton is better than Brian Bruney!

Inexplicably, Brian Bruney threw 50.0 innings for the Yanks this year. His 4.68 ERA isn’t terrible unti you consider the 10.61 ERA he’s sported since the beginning of August. He was sent down to the minors to work on his command and still managed to sport a K:BB ratio of nearly 1:1 this season. He didn’t show a willingness to work on his pitching but did sport a nifty bad attitude.

Meanwhile, while Jose Veras (5.79, 1:1 K:BB, 9.1 IP) didn’t show much, he seems to be one of Joe Torre’s Guys. Britton threw 12.2 innings with a 3.55 ERA, and Ohlendorf, very impressive in 6.1 innings, struck out 9 and threw strikes.

So as information about the postseason roster trickles out, at least we won’t be subjected to Brian Bruney in the postseason. No word yet on Ron “I let all my inherited runners score” Villone yet.

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Sean Henn drew the short straw for today’s game, and as Yankee fans, who cares? Sure, it would be nice for Robinson Cano to drive in 3 runs on Sunday and for Bobby Abreu to get that elusive 100th RBI, but in the grand scheme of baseball, the Yanks’ next meaningful game isn’t until Thursday.

That day, the Yanks will play their first postseason game in Cleveland since the 1998 ALCS. From those two teams, only Kenny Lofton, Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera remain (or have returned to) the same teams they were on then. Unbeknownst to me, Ron Villone threw a few innings on the 1998 Indians but wasn’t on the playoff roster. (Hear that, Joe? He was not on the playoff roster. Take a lesson.)

The Yanks got a bit lucky with the playoff schedule as Boston picked the long series. While this may limit Joba Chamberlain’s availability and otherwise tax a weak Yankee bullpen, by playing the short series, they won’t have to face C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona twice each. Sabathia would go twice only if the series runs to five games.

The schedule and pitching match-ups follow with game times to be determined:

Thursday: Cleveland - Wang vs. Sabathia
Friday: Cleveland - Pettitte vs. Carmona
Sunday: New York - Clemens vs. Westbrook
Monday: New York (if necessary) - Mussina/Hughes vs. Byrd
Tuesday: Cleveland (if necessary) - Wang vs. Sabathia

Let the fun begin, and feel free to discuss today’s game here once 1:35 p.m. rolls around.

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Yesterday afternoon, I received an interesting e-mail from a reader that I wanted to share with the group:

I was online Tuesday morning with all my account numbers and Ticketmaster accounts with credit card info saved and in place. In short I was ready to pull the trigger as soon as the tickets went on sale and I was able to get 2 games.

What i wanted to mention though is that when i clicked on “best available” at like 1 second after 10 a.m. I was able to get Tier Res. 34. I thought those were kind of weak tickets for such an early response. You think if I took the time to chose Main Reserve or something I could have done better? Just curious … it seemed like the system was set up to give you worst available than best?

This is an interesting question, and one I get asked a few times every season. TR 34 doesn’t quite seem like the “best” available at any point during the season. Yet, many people who try to get the playoff tickets get shafted. Why?

In short, the answer lies in the season ticket holders. All of the Yanks’ season ticket plans come with playoff preferences. Since a vast majority of season ticket holders hold seats for flex plans, they can’t all get what they would consider their own seats for the playoffs, but they do get early access to seats in the Stadium.

By the time the team releases the tickets to the general public, most of the seats - and all of the good seats - are already sold. That’s why people logging in at 10 a.m. get stuck with TR 34.

Had our reader opted for Main Reserve instead, he would have received equally as bad seats but would have been charged more for them. So pick your poison.

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Today is going to be the longest day off of the season. When all we want is more baseball, when all we want is for the Yanks to keep on going with this miraculous run, the schedule throws an off-day our way.

The Yanks, sitting pretty just 1.5 games behind the Red Sox for the East and 5.5 games up in the Wild Card race, have a date with the dance in October all but sewn up. Yet, we have to wait today. We have to wait for a team that we shouldn’t underestimate, a team that just swept Boston and throws some seriously good pitchers at us this weekend, to come to town.

So as we while away the time with a caption contest that will return later this morning, let’s reset our favorite picture: The race for the AL East title. The Yanks are just one out game out in that ever-important loss column. What do they need to go to tie for the division lead which would technically hand them the division crown?

And this is what I call a pennant race.

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Let’s reset yesterday’s look at what it will take to win the division. With a Yankee win yesterday and a Boston loss, as Joe discussed this morning, the Yankees find themselves just 2.5 games out of first place (2 on the loss side).

As Cool Standings tells me that the Yanks win the division 22.8 percent of the time - the highest its been since the start of May - let’s take a look at what it will take for the Yanks to win the division. Remember: All they have to do is tie the Red Sox, and the AL East crown is theirs.

It’s possible, if a bit improbable right now, for the Yanks to capture that crown. They just have to keep winning. And I’m trying not to think too hard about the Devil Rays’ blowing those two games against Boston last week. Oh, the “What If’s” of baseball.

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When the Yanks take the field tonight, they will be just 3.5 games behind Boston and 3 out on the loss side. They haven’t been this close to the division lead since April, but it won’t be easy to catch that crown (and those games Tampa Bay blew last week loom large).

But the Yankees do hold something of a trump card if the improbable happens. With their victory on Sunday, the Yanks clinched the season series against the Red Sox. A tie atop the AL East hands the division title - and home field advantage should those teams meet again - to the Yankees.

Now, with two weeks left in the season, the Red Sox have 11 games left: 2 @ Toronto; 3 @ Tampa Bay; 2 vs. Oakland; 4 vs. Minnesota. The Yankees have 12 games left: 2 vs. Baltimore; 4 vs. Toronto; 3 @ Tampa Bay; 3 @ Baltimore. What needs to happen for the Yanks to tie?

Right now, on paper, it’s not impossible. The Red Sox face better teams than the Yanks do. But these better teams have struggled lately, and the Yanks aren’t the greatest against their three division opponents.

But things are looking up for the Yanks. Yesterday, CoolStandings had the Yanks winning the division 6.5 percent of the time. Today, it shot up to 12 percent. As we all know, in baseball, anything can happen. It sure would be great to catch the Red Sox even if it would take a minor miracle. Or at least a major slump.

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