Roy Halladay led the Major Leagues in several statistical categories including wins with 22, innings pitched with 266, and ground-outs with 408.  His nine complete games and 36 games started were good enough for a tie for the Major League lead.  Halladay won 19 games the previous season and at the age of 26, established himself as one of the best young starting pitchers in baseball.

Last year Halladay was awarded with the National League Cy Young Award, as he led the league in several statistical categories to go along with a perfect game he threw in May 2010.

Here is the final out of Roy Halladay’s perfect game.

Notable Birthdays

Steve Young, NFL – Born November 11th 1961 (age 49) in Salt Lake City, Utah

Steve Konowalchuk, NHL – Born November 11th 1972 (age 38) in Salt Lake City, Utah

Willie Parker, NFL – Born November 11th 1980 (age 30) in Clinton, North Carolina

The 2011 MLB playoffs kick off tonight, with the Texas Rangers hosting the Tampa Bay Rays followed by the New York Yankees hosting the Detroit Tigers. This year, however, the biggest question going into October isn’t so much, “who will win the World Series,” but instead, “is there any way the playoffs can be half as exciting as Wednesday, September 28, 2011?”

Yes, it’s pretty clear that Wednesday will go down as the greatest night in the history of American pro sports. (If you can think of a single day that was more incredible, I’m all ears.) If you’ve been living under a rock, that’s when the Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves both completed epic late-season collapses by coughing up 9th inning leads. Oh, and for good measure, the baseball gods threw in a legendary comeback by the Rays, capped off by a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 12th inning. No big deal.

It was just an insanely thrilling, almost impossible night of baseball. But far from overshadowing the post-season, I think this incredible finish to the regular season will only make October that much better. Skeptical? Well, you might as well hear me out. So here are my reasons for why this may be the best post-season in baseball history.

9. The Yankees Aren’t Really the Favorites

For once, the Yankees are not the team everyone assumes will win the World Series. Yes, they are very, very good. You would have to be crazy not to give them pretty good odds. Still, ever since spring training, all anyone could talk about was the Philadelphia pitching rotation, and that has not changed. What this means is that you might be able to watch 10 or 15 minutes of a game without hearing about Derek Jeter’s “intangibles” or the Yankees’ “tradition.” I don’t know about you, but for me, that’s a serious upside.

8. Davids and Goliaths

This year, the giants and the minnows are a lot closer together. Not one single team stumbled into October, and not one single team had fewer than 90 wins. Best yet, the two least-known teams—the Diamondbacks and Brewers—are facing each other in the NLDS, which means at least one of them will get a crack at making the World Series. And when they get that shot, no one will be able to look back and say, “oh, well, they just got hot at the right time.”

What this means is that, this October, there’s a good chance we could see some giant slaying.

7. Superstar Sluggers

This year, for the first time ever, some of the biggest sluggers in the game today will be playing in the same post-season. Just check out this list: Pujols, Holliday, Berkman, Braun, Fielder, Hamilton, Longoria, Teixeira, Granderson, Cabrera, Martinez, Howard.

And that’s just the “first tier.” There’s a whole boatload of guys I left out—just from the Rangers! (For example: Nelson Cruz, Adrian Beltre, Ian Kinsler, Michael Young, Mike Napoli.)

So buckle your seats and put your trays in the upright position, folks. This could get crazy.

6. Awesome Players You’ve Never Heard Of

In addition to the superstar sluggers everyone knows, there are a ton of awesome players you may never have even heard of. This post-season could be their coming out party.

For example, on offense, there is Detroit’s Alex Avila, who batted .295 this year with an OPS of .895. Then there is the afore-mentioned Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler—not exactly a household name, but he hit more home runs (32) than home run derby champ Robinson Cano (28).

There are even more fantastic “unknown” pitchers. In the NL, the Diamondbacks Ian Kennedy had a phenomenal year, posting a 2.88 ERA in a solid 222 innings pitched for a 21-4 (!) record. That puts him in the top 10 in all of baseball. But have you even heard of him? The Milwaukee Brewers meanwhile have a closer who’s so good that, when they traded for save-machine Francisco “K-Rod” Rodriguez, they made him their set-up man. Do you know what this closer’s name is? It’s John Axford. He was second in all of baseball with 46 saves this year, and there were only 2 closer’s with ERAs lower than his 1.95. One of them is named Mariano Rivera…pretty good company.

5. Verlander-Sabathia

How is this for a game 1 pitching matchup? Soon-to-be AL Cy Young winner Justin Verlander and his 100-mph fastball versus 8 ft. 475 lb. former Cy Young winner CC Sabathia. And if we’re lucky, we’ll get to see them square off again before one of their teams is eliminated.

4. Sweet Mascots

On the NL side, if the Phillies and Brewers come out on top in their division series, not only would we have some great baseball in the NLCS, but also an all-time great matchup of two classic mascots. I’m talking the Phillie Phanatic versus Bernie Brewer in a re-match of 2008. Pretty awesome. And if Milwaukee brings out those human sausages for a sausage race? Well, it doesn’t get any better than that, my friends. (Dear Milwaukee Brewers: please bring out the sausages.)

3. No Boston

I feel sorry for Boston Red Sox fans. Kind of. It would be hard on any fan to cope with such an ignominious failure. That being said, ever since Boston sports teams actually starting winning things in the early 2000s—first it was the Pats, then the Red Sox, then the Celtics, and now the damn Bruins, too—Boston fans have become kind of insufferable. Before, all the moaning and complaining and trash talk was cute because we thought it helped them cope. Then they won, and yet kept moaning and complaining and trash talking. So it’s not so cute anymore. Plus, we’re all just sick of Boston winning everything, so it’ll be great to know they can’t win this.

2. Phillies Rotation

As I mentioned right off the bat, everyone has been talking (and talking, and talking) about Philadelphia’s pitching staff since the day they signed Cliff Lee. And rightfully so, I think. How could you not get excited about Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, and Roy Oswalt? If there was a Pitching Hall of Fame for the last ten years, these guys would be the first four inducted.

But the most amazing thing about this Phillies rotation is that it actually lived up to the hype. Halladay (2.35), Lee (2.40), and Hamels (2.79) finished the season 2, 3, and 6 in ERA. Hamels, the Phillies’ #3 starter, would be the ace on any team not located in San Francisco, Detroit, or Los Angeles.
This could be good. Real good.

1. Epic Comebacks

The Cardinals and Rays just completed historic comebacks. Yes, the Braves and Red Sox played miserable baseball in September, opening the doors. But the teams from St. Louis and Tampa Bay played their asses off to step through the doors.

Obviously, there is no guarantee that these two teams will go far. In fact, given the opponents they will face, it’s not very likely. But if they do go deep into October? That would only add to the folklore of the legendary finish to the 2011 MLB season. And it would be awesome.

Halladay went the distance for just his first complete-game shutout of the season, as he allowed only six hits and one walk while striking out seven batters.  The impressive outing lowered Halladay’s ERA to 2.34 and gave him his 18th win of the season.  It also earned him “The Stat Line of the Night” for Wednesday, September 14, 2011.

Roy entered the game with a .103 average at the dish, and while he would only record a single hit on the night, he sure did make it count.  Not only did Halladay’s one hit improve his batting average to .115, but it also came with the bases loaded, as his double in the sixth inning drove in all three base runners and gave the Phillies a 6-0 lead.  He and the Phillies bullpen would shut the door from there, securing the 9-0 victory over the Reds.  It was Halladay’s sixteenth win of the season, as his performance on the mound and at the plate have earned him “The Stat Line of the Night” for Tuesday, August 30, 2011.

I can see it already!  Philadelphia Phillies fans lining up at the concession stands inside Citizens Bank Park waiting to get their hands on a can of Four Loko with one of their team’s four aces featured on it.  And for those who are having trouble deciding which flavor to choose, why not go with the one donning an image of that night’s starting pitcher on the front?  Grape when Roy Oswalt starts, Fruit Punch for Cole Hamels, Watermelon on Cliff Lee’s days and Orange when Roy Halladay gets the nod.

Halladay is a pitcher that often intimidates batters with his pitches, but last night he was looking to strike fear into the eyes of his opponents with a tenacious looking stare down following a shaky first inning for the Phils’ ace.  After striking out Pat Burrell on a questionable third strike, Burrell had a few words for home plate umpire Jeff Nelson, while Halladay kept his eyes fixed on the Giants’ left fielder as he walked towards the dugout.

When Burrell finally realized this, he had a few words for Halladay as well, but the Phillies’ righty said nothing as he continued to stare down the disgruntled Giant. And it must have sparked a fire under his ass as he allowed only one more run over his next five innings, on route to a 4-2 victory.

Here is a look at the incident.  And with the series headed back to Philadelphia for Game 6, you can expect the hatred, trash-talking and stare downs to only grow more intense.

Speaking of game 1, that was Halladay’s first career postseason start, making an amazing event even more amazing.

“It’s surreal, it really is. I just wanted to pitch here, to pitch in the postseason. To go out and have a game like that, it’s a dream come true,” Halladay said.

Adding to the utter greatness of this game is that Halladay threw a perfect game against the Marlins in Florida on May 29. Before this year, only five pitchers have thrown two no-hitters in one calendar year or thrown a postseason no-no. Halladay just became the first pitcher to do both and it’s something that will likely never be witnessed again.

Halladay would have had a perfect game except for a Jay Bruce walk in the 5th inning. He fanned 8 Reds and needed just 104 pitches to complete his game. Roy Halladay has The Stat Line of the Night for 10/6/10.

After an outstanding regular season that saw him win 21 games, record a 2.44 ERA, and throw 219 strikeouts, many baseball fans were left to wonder how Roy Halladay would respond in his first ever playoff start.  Well the answer is in and it is just about as close to perfect as you can get.

Halladay became only the second player in MLB history to record a no-hitter in the playoffs as his Phillies defeated the Cincinnati Reds 4-0 in Game 1 of their NLDS series.  The only thing that stood between the Doc and a perfect game was a walk he issued in the 5th inning, but he was otherwise flawless in his post-season debut.

Halladay now becomes only the second pitcher to record a no-hitter in the post season (Don Larsen was the other in 1956).  He is also only the fourth pitcher in MLB history to record two no-hitters in the same season (Nolan Ryan was the last in 1973).  He pitched a perfect game on May 29 against the Florida Marlins.

Halladay simply dominated the Diamondbacks, giving up just one run on six hits with no walks and 9 strikeouts.  He went the distance as the the Phillies notched their 7th win in a row. That makes it 8 complete games on the season for Halladay, and his third complete game in his last five starts. He also has 3 shutouts on the year. He almost had his 4th last night but allowed one run to Arizona in the 9th.

Halladay got his 12th win of the year and lowered his ERA to 2.21. He is second in the NL in both of those categories. He  leads the NL in innings pitched, complete games, shutouts and strikeouts. He also might be on his way to winning his second Cy Young award. Roy Halladay has The Stat Line of the Night for 7/28/10.

Sabathia had faced Halladay on Tuesday and came away victorious over the Phillies.  Now on Sunday he faced his second Cy Young winner of the week and proved totally dominant once again.  Sure he has the help of a potent Yankees offense anytime he takes the mound, but he hardly needed it yesterday.  C.C. pitched 8 innings of shut out ball giving up no runs, earned or otherwise.  He only allowed 4 hits and 2 walks while striking out 6.

The Mets had won 8 straight games heading into their weekend series with the Yanks.  The Yankees put a stop to all that winning two of three thanks to pitching performances by Phil Hughes and now C.C. Sabathia.  The AL East is the toughest division in baseball, again, and the Yankees have managed to climb to the top of it.  Can they win it all again?  Only time will tell that, but for now, they win “The Stat Line of the Night”.