A Red Sox Fan Predicts the Sox-less 2010 World Series

“It’s like déjà vu all over again.” –Yogi Berra

When it comes to the Major League Baseball postseason, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

There were some surprising shake-ups in the MLB standings at the end of the 2010 regular season. Here’s a sampling of the many unlikely feel-good stories this year: the Rays won the American League East division for just the second time in franchise history, the Reds imposed their will on the National League Central division teams for the first time in over a decade and the Texas Rangers finally managed to outshine the Angels to take the AL West.

Despite these stories, baseball fans find themselves looking at a somewhat familiar picture: the Yankees and Phillies are dominant heading into the ALCS and NLCS, respectively. Can these two teams be stopped? I think not.

As a devout Red Sox fan, I take no pleasure in expressing this as the current reality, but the past two seasons have been all about these two franchises. The Yankees successfully avenged their “disappointing” 2008 season (they missed the playoffs for the first time in thirteen years; I didn’t shed too many tears over this) by winning their twenty-seventh World Series title last year. The Phillies won the World Series in 2008 and they were the opponent the Yankees conquered in 2009’s Fall Classic.

And this year, it seems to me that we’ll be subjected to a repeat of last year’s World Series, with one important difference: the Phillies will have home field advantage.

Before I make my World Series prediction, I’d like to apologize to the fans of the Rangers and the Giants.

To fans of the Texas Rangers: I send resounding congratulations to your team, seeing as they have just won their first playoff series in franchise history. They knocked off the Tampa Bay Rays—a formidable opponent—in five thrilling games. Cliff Lee, C.J. Wilson, Josh Hamilton and Vlad Guerrero are all looking strong heading into the ALCS. Your team has had a good run but, ultimately, the Yankees are just too strong. I love a good underdog, and I certainly hope Texas can somehow win four games against the Yanks, but my cynical baseball instincts tell me that New York’s veteran pitchers (see Sabathia, Pettitte and Rivera) and stellar batters (see Jeter, Rodriguez and…Swisher?) will be too much for the Rangers to handle. I truly am sorry, but better luck next year, Texas fans. Prediction: Yankees in 6.

To the Giants’ faithful followers: I find it fitting that your team will be playing the Phillies in the NLCS. San Francisco has excellent starting pitching to counter Philadelphia’s experienced batters; Tim Lincecum is the strikeout king of the Major Leagues, Matt Cain rarely walks a batter and closer Brian Wilson’s beard is simply epic. But in the end, the Giants’ offense is just too inconsistent to match up well against the Phillies’ aces. The Phils have Roy “Doc” Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels, and these guys are all on fire right now (Halladay threw a no-hitter in his postseason debut). These three pitched well enough to allow Philadelphia to sweep the Reds convincingly in the division series, but I think the Giants have a little more fight in them than the club from Cincinnati. It will be an exciting NLCS, but the Phillies will prevail. Prediction: Phillies in 5.

And now for a World Series matchup that seems strangely familiar. Yes, the 2010 Fall Classic will be played out between the Yankees and the Phillies again, but this year the result will be different.

In addition to what I believe is a superior starting rotation, the Phillies also have revenge on their minds after losing to the Yankees in six games last year. Roy Halladay wants to prove that he is the best pitcher in all of baseball and what better way to do this than by completely dominating the Yankees. This should set the Phillies off to a favorable 1-0 start in the series and there’s a good chance we’ll see Halladay a second time in the sixth or seventh game.

While I do acknowledge the Yankees’ strong starting rotation and Mariano Rivera, their Hall of Fame-bound closer, I believe that the Phillies have the offensive power to overcome this bevy of pitching prowess. Do the Yankees have offensive strength? Of course they do, but the Phillies pitchers will have the home crowd behind them in several close games in this series, and in the end, that will make the difference. The Phillies have their National League competitors to thank for winning the All Star game, thereby securing them home field advantage for the World Series. The Yankees will have to wait at least another year to savor a twenty-eighth championship. Prediction: Phillies in 7.

Go crazy Philadelphia; you’ll have won your second World Series in three years.

With the notable exceptions of the Yankees and Phillies fans on campus, let’s all collectively hope for two different teams in the 2011 World Series (I’m looking at you, Red Sox and Cubs).