Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Rays vs. Red Sox

The division series are over, and the trip to the World Series is just four games away. I would like to first dive into the the ALCS featuring two AL East teams: Red Sox and Rays. The teams battled the whole second half of the season, with the Rays finally prevailing. The Rays won the season series vs. Red Sox 10-8, but you can throw that out the door. The key to this series is the bullpen from each team. I expect the games to be close going into the 7th, 8th, 9th innings. The Rays weren't really challenged to a close game with the White Sox, while the Red Sox prevailed in 3 of 4 close games against the Angels. I give the bullpen advantage to the Red Sox with Papelbon being the most valuable player in the series. Red Sox starting pitching is much better than the Rays as well. With Matsuzaka, Lester, and Beckett, it will be tough to win more than two games against these three. The only advantage I see for the Rays is home-field advantage. The Rays play extremely well at home, but the Red Sox experience neutralizes that. So, without further prevail, my pick is the Red Sox in 6 games. Who they will play, I will pick tomorrow. 

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs2008/columns/story?columnist=kurkjian_tim&id=36301


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