You would think the closing of another baseball season would leave the legion of baseball fans in America tremendously upset but it’s completely the opposite. This year, each team finished so close to one another that it seems to be anyone’s game as to who will be crowned the World Champion of Baseball in 2010.
Both first-year undeclared students Faiqa Amreen and Jeanine Folkl said that the Yankees were going to repeat their title. While most believe the New York Yankees will once again take home another title to add on their history, there is always the notion that perhaps we’ll find a team that comes out of the blue and will be able to take down the Yankees and prove the opinions of many wrong. But who are we going to see?
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REDS VS PHILLIES
The Philadelphia Phillies are the best team in baseball, gag-reflex inducing, yes, but true. When you see a team with a pitching lineup including Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt, it is hard to doubt the fact that they’ll lose the first round. While the Reds are a very good team, they just can’t cough up to the Phillies. Especially since the Phillies have home field advantage going in, and we all know what that environment must be like to incoming players, it is practically a given that the Phillies will be moving on to the next round and the Reds will be going home early. Sweep? I think so.
GIANTS VS BRAVES
In MLB playoffs, pitching is everything-and that is exactly why the San Francisco Giants are going to move on to the next round. True, most people would like to see Atlanta win because their long-time manager Bobby Cox is going to hang up the glove after this season, but the pitching the Braves have, compared to San Francisco’s Lincecum, Sanchez and Cain, will not be able to compete. Even if the Braves do have Tim Hudson. If the Braves do come out and win it, I will be because they want it more than the Giants do. I’m keeping my fingers crossed, but it’s more than likely that the Giants will go on to win.
RANGERS VS RAYS
Texas will come in playing the Rays, which is a big problem for Texas. Despite the fact that they have a better hitting lineup which includes Josh Hamilton and Ian Kinsler, the Rays have a better list of starting pitchers, and as all baseball fans know, the teams with the better starting pitchers always win the series. And let’s be honest, the Rangers just never seem to be able to win when they really need to. Tampa Bay doesn’t do that, which will give them the upper hand in this series.
TWINS VS YANKEES
The Twins are coming in with one of the best records but the Yankees are coming in with an even better one. While the pitching situation for the Yankees is questionable, there is no denying that the Yankees have the best everyday lineup in baseball. But if you take statistical factors out of the picture, the Yankees have more experience in these kind of scenarios and win the series easily, even with the Twins having home field advantage for the first two games. Once the Twins get to New York, they will likely have a hard time winning, and will probably see an easy exit from the 2010 playoffs.
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WORLD SERIES: PHILLIES VS RAYS
Experience is so important when it comes to playoff seasons. However, pitching is everything. When the AL Pennant gets here, we’ll see a showdown between the New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays. Not only is Tampa Bay’s pitching better, but the team as a whole is younger than the Yankees. Tampa can probably carry more of their energy over while it is more likely the Yankees will lose steam quicker.
As was stated earlier, it’s so hard to say that a team with Halladay, Oswalt and Hamels won’t make it through, and I think the same applies now when a team like San Francisco that has a strong rotation comes into the picture. I still think the Phillies will win. Yes, the Phillies are that good. They always get the big hit when they need it, don’t they? Everything just seems to go that way, which is the most important factor once they find themselves in the World Series.
In the MLB World Series, competitors need to know how to win. At this point, relying on individual players and skills cannot win you a series. The Phillies, more so than any other team, know how to win and this series will come down to a battle between the pitching lineups. From here, most people are pretty split on who will win. The key factor helping the Rays is that they are younger, and they’re coming from a more competitive division. The Phillies though, have now have been to two consecutive World Series, and won the Series once. They know what to do to win, and they can execute it. While Tampa is one of baseball’s strongest teams, most will probably give this series to Philly, simply because if anyone knows how to win, it’s them.
WORLD SERIES CHAMPION: Phillies