2010 MLB Championship Series Preview

Happily, my two favored teams swept through the Division Series with the Phillies using dominating pitching (and a historical no-hitter from Roy Halladay) to sweep the Reds. The Yankees ended the Twins season with a too easy playoff beatdown (in other news, grass is green and the sky is blue). Now both of those teams will face stiffer competition.

Philadelphia Phillies vs. San Francisco Giants

On paper, one would think that the pitching staffs are both terrific but the Phillies much better offense gives them the edge. Unfortunately for the Phillies, great pitching always neutralizes a great offense, thus giving the Phillies little margin for error. It's completely conceivable that the Giants, with their stellar four man rotation of Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez and Madison Bumgarner matching up favorably with the Phillies Big Three of Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels, and it's quite possible for the Giants to win a series of 2-0 or 2-1 games.

The Braves didn't do any favor for the Phillies, with Brooks Conrad having an unbelievably horrid fielding Game 3, including allowing the winning run to score as a routine ground ball skipped between his legs. With that loss, the Giants were able to keep their rotation lined up and allow Lincecum to start Game 1.

At the end though, the home field plus the edge in playoff experience does make a difference, and the Phillies pull off a hard found series win to bring them back to the World Series for the third ear in a row.

Phillies in six.

New York Yankees vs. Texas Rangers

Unlike the Braves, the Rays actually did a favor for the the already-punched-their ticket-in-the-Championship-Series team by stretching the Rangers to five games, which meant that ace Cliff Lee won't be able to pitch until Game 3 of the ALCS (it's notable that Lee would be able to pitch Game 7). While it looks like the Yankees won't try to line up C.C. Sabathia for three starts (Games 1, 3, 7) and instead put A.J. Burnett in the rotation, the advantage still holds as it's entirely possible that the series could be over in five or six games, thus leaving Lee with only one start.

Are the Yankees as good as they were last year? Maybe not, though it's clear that this team presumed Achilles' heel, starting pitching, isn't quite as bad as feared. In fact, it's reasonable to surmise that Sabathia and Pettitte are just as good as last year, and Phil Hughes, who pitched six innings of shutout ball in Game 3, might be better than A.J. Burnett last year. Time will tell.

Not having home field will be tough for the Yankees, but the vote here says that needing to use Cliff Lee in Game 5 in the ALDS costs the Rangers the series.

Yankees in six.