NATIONAL LEAGUE vs AMERICAN LEAGUE

When we predicted with such assurance that the Angels and Dodgers would have competitive seasons, we probably forgot to mention that the season was spring.

No matter. Baseball went on without the slightest regard for clubhouse revolts on Gene Autry Way or gross insubordination in Chavez Ravine.

Indeed, local entrants aside, the game thrived. Now begin the playoffs, and reporter Tim Brown has more predictions to make.

National League

Houston Astros vs. Atlanta Braves

Braves

THE ARMS: Some trivia about the man who will win two games in the series: Greg Maddux’s favorite TV show is Get Smart. The batter he least likes to face is his brother, Mike, a pitcher for the Dodgers. If he weren’t playing baseball, he’d be: a lion tamer.

THE BATS: The Braves’ offense was supposed to take the season off along with Andres Galarraga, but instead thrived thanks to Chipper Jones’ MVP-type season. Brian Jordan had 115 RBIs. Middle infielders Jose Hernandez and Bret Boone combined for 39 homers and 125 RBIs. And the Braves scored a franchise-record 840 runs.

WHO’S HOT: Chipper Jones hit 15 of his 45 home runs from the right side, a huge improvement from at-the bats past, when teams beat the Braves by bringing in left-handers to pitch to him. Also, Tom Glavine beat the Mets twice in six days last week for his first back-to-back wins since the end of June, then beat the Florida Marlins on Sunday.

WHO’S NOT: Brian Jordan, who has a sore wrist and supposedly feels sorry for himself as a result, recently has been traveling with trainer Bobby Kersee, Jackie’s husband. Apparently, it helps.

HOUSTON ASTROS

THE ARMS: It got a little hairy at the end for Larry Dierker--a condition wholly unrelated to the seizure, incidentally--who watched in horror a September road trip in which Mike Hampton, Jose Lima and Shane Reynolds had six starts and won none of them. On top of that, Billy Wagner has a twinge in his left elbow, the one that helped get him 38 saves in 41 tries. Dierker went to his bullpen 339 times, fewest in the majors.

THE BATS: The Bs, again. With the Astros, it’s always the Bs. Jeff Bagwell is the second player with two 40-homer, 30-steal seasons. After all these years, Craig Biggio still has some catcher in him. He had 56 doubles and no triples.

WHO’S HOT: Reynolds, who will oppose Randy Johnson in Game 1, has never won a playoff start, but has a 2.77 ERA in the postseason. Hampton, whose 22 wins were a franchise record, batted .311 during the regular season.

WHO’S NOT: Jose Lima made 200 T-shirts with his picture and “It’s Lima Time” on them. Then he issued one to each teammate. Next week, wallet-sized portraits.

The Series Summary:

The hero: Andruw Jones, so good no one ever hears about the bone-headed stuff anymore, catches everything, throws everybody out and hits line drives.

The goat: In the pivotal Game 4, Astro players discover the material Jose Lima used to make his signature T-shirts has inadvertently sapped them of their motor skills.

The X-factor: The Eighth Wonder of the World is no longer good enough for baseball, but it’s fine for rodeo. That can’t be a good sign.

The result: Braves in five.

New York Mets vs. Arizona Diamondbacks

Diamondbacks

THE ARMS: When the D’backs traded for closer Matt Mantei on July 9, their record was 47-41 and their bullpen was a mess. They won 53 of their last 74. Despite 12 complete games and 364 strikeouts, Randy Johnson won 17 games. Of 76 starters who have won Cy Young Awards, only 12 won with fewer than 20 victories.

THE BATS: Jay Bell hit 37 home runs, which is pretty unbelievable from a guy who only twice before hit as many as 20. Well, count manager Buck Showalter among the non-believers: Bell became the first player with 30 home runs and 30 sacrifice bunts in a season.

WHO’S HOT: Left-hander Brian Anderson is 5-1 with a 2.76 ERA since the All-Star break, a run that might have earned him a postseason start.

WHO’S NOT: Catcher Damian Miller, who has a hairline fracture in his lower right thumb, perhaps forcing the Diamondbacks to open the playoffs with Kelly Stinnett, Rod Barajas and, in an emergency, Greg Colbrunn as catchers.

Mets

THE ARMS: Orel Hershiser and Al Leiter led the Mets, each with 13 victories. Hershiser pitched into the sixth inning Sunday in the biggest game the Mets have played since 1988, when he beat them as a member of the Dodgers in Game 7 of the NLCS. Leiter won only five times after the All-Star break, and the Mets had to burn him Monday night in Cincinnati. That’s a lot of pressure to put on Rick Reed, Masato Yoshii and Kenny Rogers.

THE BATS: Mike Piazza is widely recognized as not only the best hitter the Mets have ever had, but the best player they’ve ever had. In 140 games, Piazza batted .305 with 40 home runs and 124 RBIs. Not only that, but the gossip pages had him “canoodling”--their word--with every starlet that went through New York. Think he really misses L.A.?

WHO’S HOT: Bobby Valentine, who announced 10 days ago that if the Mets didn’t make the playoffs, he ought to be fired. Well, they’re here.

WHO’S NOT: Mike Francesa, a radio personality in New York, who received this thrashing from Ralph Branca, Valentine’s father-in-law: “He gets called a loser by an absolute loser; a fat slob of a loser. How does he have the audacity to call anyone a loser?” The shot heard ‘round New York.

Series:

The hero: A year ago, the unofficial over-under on organizations Rey Ordonez would play for in his career was five. His defense was flashy but not particularly solid. His offense was abysmal. For every run he saved, he gave two back because he couldn’t handle the bat. He’s made a remarkable recovery, and perhaps only Alex Rodriguez--the Mets would deal Ordonez in a deal for A-Rod--can unseat him now. Ordonez batted .259, drove in 60 runs and committed four errors.

The goat: Diamondback Manager Buck Showalter, to micro-managing what Jack McKeon is to Cohibas, will try to wow us with his genius, only to manage himself out of pitchers by the eighth inning of Game 4.

The X-factor: Shea Stadium in October. New York baseball in October. Showalter might have an inkling, but the place gets too edgy for many to perform. The Diamondbacks, in their pretty purples and blues, won’t survive it.

The result: Mets in five.

National League Championship Series

Atlanta Braves vs. New York Mets

The hero: Chipper Jones. He killed the Mets in the final weeks of September and he’ll get them again in October, on the brink of a subway series. In six late-season games, three in Atlanta and three in New York, Jones was seven for 20 with four home runs and nine RBIs.

The goat: Sad, but true, it’s John Franco, who waited his whole adult life to pitch in the playoffs. His ERA in five appearances against the Braves was 8.10. Braves hitters batted .333 against him.

The X-factor: While Tom Glavine’s ERA ballooned to 4.21, while John Smoltz’s elbow swelled every month or so, and while the Braves were so desperate for innings they grabbed Terry Mulholland, Kevin Millwood won 18 games and had a 2.68 ERA--nearly a run lower than Maddux’s.

Some say Millwood will be to the ‘00s what Maddux was to the ‘90s. For now, the Braves will take three or four wins in the next three weeks.

The result: Braves in six.

American League

New York Yankees vs. Texas Rangers

Yankees

THE ARMS: Given the ball and a chance to clinch the AL East on Thursday, Roger Clemens walked five, hit three and lost, miserably. David Cone can’t keep the baseball out of the bleachers. Andy Pettitte allowed 16 hits and 10 runs in his final two regular-season starts. The Yankees will have to bang their way to the World Series.

THE BATS: These aren’t bombers--not one player hit 30 home runs. But Derek Jeter drove in 102 runs, Bernie Williams--despite a painful shoulder--drove in 115 runs, and Paul O’Neill drove in 110 runs.

WHO’S HOT: Darryl Strawberry hit a homer in Tampa Bay on Friday night that, had it not been stopped by a post that supports a catwalk in the no-frills dome, might have reached the stadium’s back wall. The shot was announced at 425 feet. Cone said, “They were off by at least 100 feet.” A Sept. 1 call-up, Strawberry batted .327, slugged .612 and hit three home runs.

WHO’S NOT: General Manager Brian Cashman, for one, who feels the wrath of The Boss (that would be George Steinbrenner) for spring-training salary arbitration losses to Jeter and Mariano Rivera, and for having the Indians pick up a veteran left-handed bat in Harold Baines, and, maybe, for making the Clemens deal.

Rangers

THE ARMS: They’ll go with Aaron Sele, Rick Helling, Esteban Loaiza and John Burkett. And they’ll swallow hard if they have to start Burkett, who was 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA at Yankee Stadium and 0-2 with a 14.85 ERA against the Yankees this season. He was 0-1 with a 7.71 ERA against the Yankees last season. He was 0-2 with an 11.42 ERA against them the season before.

THE BATS: Ivan Rodriguez became the fourth player to hit 30 home runs and ground into 30 double plays in the same season. Rodriguez had 199 hits, two short of Mike Piazza’s record for a catcher, and 35 homers, the league record for a catcher.

WHO’S HOT: The Rangers, but only because they’re not air-conditioned. Another summer of regular game-time temperatures around 100 degrees had them dragging again, then they were swept in three games by the Angels.

WHO’S NOT: Near the end of the regular season, third baseman Todd Zeile had a strained muscle near his chest, infielder Luis Alicea had a strained calf and left-handed reliever Mike Munoz had a broken foot, which happened--get this--when he dropped a computer terminal on it.

Series:

The hero: Last year, Strawberry missed this series when he was diagnosed for colon cancer. After the sweep of the Rangers, among the season’s poignant sights was Tim Raines sobbing, talking into television cameras as if Strawberry were on the other end, telling Strawberry to stay strong, that they’d keep winning for him. This year, Strawberry returns the favor. Raines, now with Oakland, is suffering from Lupus.

The goat: John Wetteland, the former Yankee closer, will blow two save opportunities in the series. The Yankees hit him.

The X-factor: The Yankees Division Series sweep last year. The Rangers scored a total of one run in three excruciating games, and they haven’t forgotten.

Result: Yankees in five.

Cleveland Indians vs. Boston Red Sox

Indians

THE ARMS: Bartolo Colon and Charles Nagy must carry the day. Dave Burba is too hittable and Jaret Wright is too combustible. The Indians can win with two pitchers, just as long as they slug on the other days.

THE BATS: They were the seventh team to score 1,000 runs in a season and the first in 49 years. Their Nos.1-3 hitters--Kenny Lofton, Omar Vizquel and Roberto Alomar--combined to score 360 runs. Manny Ramirez drove in 165 runs and scored 131. They scored 10 or more runs 28 times. They’re so good, they’ll even beat Pedro Martinez once.

WHO’S HOT: The Indians--against the non-contending teams in the American League. Against the Yankees, Rangers and Red Sox, they were 10-22.

WHO’S NOT: Indians intelligence. During the regular season, the Red Sox and Yankees made the Indians cover an unmanned camera above the wall in center field, and a television monitor was removed from a room near Cleveland’s dugout. Indian officials said the camera was there to scout themselves. Yeah, and they have Bob Feller hang around because he’s a delightful, charming personality.

Red Sox

THE ARMS: Make that arm. Singular. Who’s better than Pedro Martinez? His ERA was 2.07, giving him a record 1.37-run lead over his nearest competitor. His 37 walks were the fewest ever by a pitcher with at least 300 strikeouts. He had 313.

THE BATS: Nomar Garciaparra, the AL batting champion, took the occasion of Boston’s wild-card championship to fly home to have his bruised right wrist re-examined. That’s a big concern. Despite missing a month and hitting in the middle of the lineup with almost no protection after Troy O’Leary, he still finished with 27 home runs and 104 RBI.

WHO’S HOT: Dan Duquette, the general manager. He once was accused of putting this team together between shots of Jagermeister, but the Red Sox thrived this season behind Martinez and Garciaparra--despite the loss of Mo Vaughn. Then again, there is the matter of Tom Gordon’s activation from the disabled list last week. Manager Jimy Williams summoned Gordon from the bullpen, only to discover three warm-up pitches in--because Duquette called frantically from his box--that Gordon was still on the DL. Later, in the clubhouse, Bret Saberhagen suggested a daily to-do list: “Bring in the mail, drop off the dry cleaning, activate Flash.”

WHO’S NOT: Conventional wisdom. The Red Sox won eight of 12 games against the Indians, including five of six in Cleveland. Garciaparra batted .451 against them, with five home runs and 17 RBI. Well, in the division series last year, the Red Sox outscored the Indians, 20-18, and outhit them, .252-.206, and lost in four games.

Series

The hero:

Jim Thome, whose massive swings from the left side produced a club-record for strikeouts. He also set a team record for walks. He’ll beat the Red Sox--and all of their right-handed pitching--when Ramirez and Travis Fryman can’t.

The goat: Everyone who pitches after Martinez. Said Kent Mercker of Pedro Martinez’s Game 1 start: “Who knows, if he keeps his pitch count down, maybe he can pitch Game 2, too.”

The X-factor: It is called The Curse of the Bambino. It is called Bill Buckner. It is called Bucky Dent. It is called heartbreak. Again.

Result: Indians in four.

American League Championship Series

Indians vs. Yankees

Series

The hero: Joe Torre. The pitching sags. The defense lags. The offense drags. The Yankees win.

The goat: Brooklyn-born Ramirez will be trying to hard. Those who know him say he desperately wants to replace O’Neill in right field for the Yankees when both of their contracts expire after next season.

The X-factor: Ramirez’s bat. After the first game in an early-season series, the Yankees leaked it all over the Bronx that Ramirez’s bat was corked. They also claimed that Ramirez rarely made his bed and sometimes failed to signal before a right turn. It was the bat, however, that made every back page and Ramirez who had two lousy singles the rest of the series.

Given the bat theories, better make this category, “The X [-ray] factor.”

The result: Yankees in seven.

THE WORLD SERIES

Atlanta Braves vs. New York Yankees

The hero: Chipper Jones, who will play out his MVP season to the end. The question is, what then for Met fans?

As Jones pointed out when the Braves appeared to knock the Mets from the postseason: “Now all the Mets fans can go home and put thier Yankees stuff on.”

Ouch.

The goat: The statistic of the season in New York was errors--made by Yankee second baseman Chuck Knoblauch, avoided by Met infielders John Olerud, Edgardo Alfonzo, Rey Ordonez and Robin Ventura.

The final tally: Knoblauch: 26. The four guys from Queens: 27.

Even without great pitching, even with Chili Davis and Paul O’Neill on the decline, the Yankees will be in it untill Knoblauch throws one into the photo well.

The X-factor: There is 1996 to avenge. The Braves turned a two-games-to-none lead into the biggest party New Yorks has seen since Straw and Doc were running every night.

The Result: Braves in Seve, (Call the Decade a Tie)