Round Two

Speaking with the newfound credibility of someone who correctly called 3 of the 4 LDS matchups, it's time to peer into my crystal ball uno mas ves and pick the ALCS and NLCS champs- a task I will concede at the outset is significantly harder than doing so in the first round.

American League, Boston vs. Cleveland

I don't think there's any doubt the eventual World Series winner will emerge from this series. The question is, will it be the Sawks or the Tribe?

Both teams are coming off impressive ALDS showings. Boston swept an LA team I would argue, didn't put up much of a fight, while Cleveland needed 4 games to dispatch with a Yankee team that got zippy starting pitching and left a small village on base. Advantage: Sox.

Both teams should have strong bullpens. Perez and Betancourt are what the Sox thought they would have with Okajima and Gagne. However, I'd take Papelbon over Joe Blowsaverowski any day of the week. But honestly how many playoff games this year and in years past have been decided in the 6th, 7th, and 8th innings as compared to the 9th? I would almost argue the "set-up innings" are slightly more crucial than the last one this time of year. Advantage: Tribe.

Both teams have tough lineups. If Dustin Pedroia is truly Boston's lead-off hitter, (he got all 13 ABs there in the ALDS), and a healthy Kevin Youkilis is hitting in the 2-hole in front of Papi, Manny, and Lowell they could have the Kansas City Royals 6-9 hitters and still be really dangerous. Cleveland has more potential base-stealing threats (Sizemore, Cabrera, Lofton) and was absolutely unconscious when it counted (.444, 13 RBI with men in scoring position and 2 outs). But they don't have the thumpers the Sox have. Advantage: Sox.

Both teams also have strong starting pitching. The result of Beckett versus Sabathia in Game 1 won't influence the Cy Young voting because the ballots have already been cast, but it will make for interesting post-game discussion about who should get it. And obviously Beckett dominated in his lone ALDS start while Sabathia was very wild (albeit a winner) in his. Carmona/Schilling in Game 2 could go either way, although I could see the Tribe pick apart Curt, who's been forced to become somewhat of a nibbler. In the Dice-K vs. Westbrook game, it's anybody's guess, but I think Dicey is due for a Wild Thing kind of outing. And Tim Wakefield is either way on or way off, whereas Paul Byrd will probably keep the ball down, pitch fewer than 6 and give up 2-4 runs. Advantage: Tribe.

So where does that leave us? It leaves us with a series that I suspect will go all 7, and will make the World Series very anticlimactic. But I'm going to stick with the Wahoos, based on the strength of their pitching. For the record, Tim Kurkjian likes the Red Sox in 7.

National League, Arizona vs. Colorado

As I've said before, I think this lengthy layoff will hurt the Rockies. That doesn't mean they'll be pushovers, especially with thumpers like Tulowitzki, Holliday, Hawpe, and Helton. But you know what? The Cubs had some pretty good hitters too (Soriano, Lee, Ramirez, etc.) and Webb, Livan, and that bullpen made pretty short work of them.

The D-Backs' offense needs to come up big though, because unlike Colorado, they don't have that one guy who can hit a game-changing bomb at a moment's notice. No, they have guys like Steve Drew, Eric Byrnes, Mary Reynolds, and Chris Young. Guys who can hit, hit for occasional power, and run, but also wiff a lot. I'll say this right now, if the Arizona "O" doesn't show up, it will be the improbable Rockies running away with the NL pennant.

With that caveat in place, I don't think that will happen. I don't see Jeff Francis out-pitching Brandon Webb. Rookie Ubaldo Jiminez is much-heralded, but he's also a rookie. And after that, the Rockies' starters are, well, rocky. Both bullpens match-up well, but if the D-Backs hit just enough, they should be able to escape in 5 games. For the record, TK likes the D-Backs in 7.

We'll see what happens starting tomorrow night!