It's that time of the year again, when the baseball season is about to come to a conclusion. After two rounds of playoffs in each league. The top two teams from their respective groups come off to face each other to decide the best team for the year.
From the American League, coming off an astounding comeback from a 1-3 deficit, the Boston Red Sox. A team filled with powerful hitters (David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez), and two of the best postseason pitchers in history (Curt Schilling, and Josh Beckett). We must not forget the guys like Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, and Mike Lowell, as they drove in crucial runs during the improbable comeback against the Cleveland Indians.
From the National League, coming off from a record 8 days off since sweeping the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Colorado Rockies. A team of youngsters with a veteran leader Todd Helton. Matt Holliday? Troy Tulowitzki? Jeff Francis? Ubaldo Jimenez? Yorvit Torrealba? Not quite the big money-big marquee names that people are expecting to compete at this time of the year. The Rockies management have patiently built this team with young players and avoid overspending on free agents. This is the first ever appearance of the team in the World Series since joining the major leagues in 1993. The Rockies have strung together an amazing run of 21 wins in their last 22 games, including a 7-0 start in the playoffs.
From how it looks like, this is a series the Red Sox are to lose. They are heavy favorites, the household names facing off against the unknowns. Analysts are pointing to a lot of factors that are supposed to swing in favor of the boys of Boston.
The layoff that the Rockies got was similar to what the Detroit Tigers had last year. It resulted in a 4-1 drubbing by the St. Louis Cardinals after a ton of errors from the favored Detroit team. I personally think though, that there is one stark difference between the Tigers and this year's Rockies. The Rockies are coming in as the underdogs, as they have been throughout the season. This also happens to be one of the best infield defenses in the majors this season. I'm in the minority that don't believe it was the layoff that got the Tigers, it was the overconfidence. They were, after all, facing a St. Louis Cardinals team that only managed to win 83 wins for the whole season.
The morale of the Red Sox are also very high after pulling off another big comeback reminiscent of the 2004 season, when they beat rival New York Yankees from an 0-3 deficit. The Rockies are still high with their 21 of 22 games streak still waiting to be challenged [their only loss was to Brandon Webb and the Diamondbacks, who they've beaten in game 1 of the NLCS].
My prediction would be that the Red Sox would win in 6 games. I personally want the Rockies to win it all and finish off their Cinderella season, but realistically speaking, with Josh Beckett and Curt Schilling around, I don't think so.
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