World Series Preview

Phillies in 6.

ALCS Preview: Yankees vs. Angels

So the Angels finally got past the Red Sox and the Yankees didn't implode in the postseason (yet). In a couple of series marred by terrible blown calls by the umps, both of these teams came away with clean sweeps. The Angels did what no one has done before in the postseason, get to Jonathan Papelbon; and the Yankees' timely hitting, good starts, and crushing of Joe Nathan's soul brought them to the next round.

Both of these teams are playing with such a passion that when the two collide, the results should be very entertaining. The two teams are actually pretty evenly matched, they had the most wins and runs in all of Major League Baseball, and their head to head record this year was 5-5. Mark Teixeira will be facing his old team, and Bobby Abreu will be facing his as well. Both of these teams seem to be playing their best baseball at the right time. All of the ingredients for a great series, minus the steroids..(well...).

Both of these teams have a great rotation, both offenses have been ridiculous (the Angels are the only team in MLB history to have 11 players with 50+ RBI each. The Yankees get the edge in starting pitching, but the Angels' speed gives them the edge on offense. Both have capable bullpens and solid closers.

Lady and Gentlemen, what we have here is damn near a push. Crack open your 40s and let's hope for a competitive series to wake us up from those lame divisional series'.

Players to watch: CC Sabathia, Alex Roidriguez, Torii Hunter, Scott Kazmir, Brian Fuentes

The Prediction:

Angels in 7

ALDS Preview: Yankees vs. Twins

This is the game where the Yankees are supposed to roll over whichever crappy team ends up winning the AL Central (apologies to Fox for their stupid commercials where it shows the Tigers will be in the postseason). ESPN experts across the board picked the Yankees to easily handle the Twins (why not? The Twins are 0-7 against the Yanks this season), and most have picked the Yankees to go all the way and bring home their first World Series win since 2000, or an eternity if you're a Yankees fan. The Yankees recent postseason attempts haven't gone well, they've choked, choked, and choked some more. Oh yeah...and this. But talk to any Yankees fan and they don't wanna live in the past (unless they pull out the obligatory "kiss the rings" cop-out), nope, they're all about living in the now. Their team went out and spent enough money to buy Nigeria this offseason and are convinced that these are the guys to finally bring home another title.

But it's never quite as simple as that. Let's start with their "scary" rotation. their ace Carsten Charles Sabathia is a known postseason choke-artist (2-3 in 5 starts, the only thing scary about him is his postseason ERA of 7.92 if you're a Yankees fan), AJ Burnett has been real shaky as of late, Andy Pettitte has question marks of his own as of late. Then of course you have the king of postseason choking, Alex Rodriguez.

Anytime someone brings up the Twins' chances in this series, that magical word is always brought up... "momentum." Yes the Twins have been arguably baseball's best team over the past month, they just capped off a never-before-seen comeback to win the AL Central for the 5th time in 8 years. Momentum is definitely on the side of the Twinkies, even when they have more question marks on that team than I can even explore in one blog post, they're just getting it done any way they can.

So which team shows up? The team that hasn't been able to beat the Yankees over the past decade or the gritty team that finds ways to win no matter how much the odds are against them?

Yankees Player to Watch:

Alex Rodriguez, A-Roid is licking his chops waiting to show the world why the Yankees gave him a $700 billion contract and silence his critics once and for all.. or at least for a few days. The pressure is definitely on him, but will he choke? Try to swat a ball out of Michael Cuddyer's glove? Or yell "I Got it" as he rounds the bases on an infield pop-up?

Honorable Mentions: CC Sabathia, Mark Teixiera, Joba Chamberlain


Twins Player to Watch:

Brian Duensing

Congratulations rookie, in your 10th career start you get a trip to the Bronx to face the Yankees as a heavy underdog against a former Cy Young winner. If Duensing can keep up his unexpectedly awesome rookie season, that will be the key to the Twins competing with the Yankees. A good start from him will give an undoubtedly tired bullpen some much needed rest.

Honorable Mentions: Nick Blackburn, Michael Cuddyer, Delmon Young


The Prediction:

Momentum. Is. Everything. However, as tempted as I am to pick with my heart...and I really am, my head is prevailing and I'm saying the Yankees will handle the Twins in 4 games, thus continuing the recent struggles of the Twinkies against the Yanks. I do think the Twins will win one at the Dome behind a fired up crowd...and I do like the Twins chances to win at least 1 in New York, hell they came 1 run away from doing it 3 out of 4 times this season. Unfortunately I think this is the year the Yankees right the ship.

Yankees in 4.