Everyone knows that Philadelphia has a nice history of sports failures.  The Phillies were the first team in Major League history to pick up 10,000 losses, accomplishing that not so glorious feat last year.  The rest of their professional sports teams while not reaching that level of futility have struggled as well.  The Sixers, Flyers, Eagles and Phillies have managed to put the city of brotherly love through an excruciating title drought for a city which has a professional sports team in all the major leagues.

Now with their entry to the World Series, the Phillies have given the people of Philadelphia hope.  They should also be feeling a sense of dread.  If the Rays beat the Phillies, then they will have a completed an AL East sweep of the Phillies in the World Series.  I’m not sure if this has ever happened before, although I would assume it hasn’t.  It seems to be the type of thing that only a city like Philadelphia would be forced to endure.

In 1915 the Phillies lost to the Boston Red Sox 4-1
In 1950 the Phillies lost to the New York Yankees 4-0
In 1983 the Baltimore Orioles beat the Phillies 4-1
And in 1993 the Tornonto Blue Jays and Joe Carter put that famous smacking on the Phillies 4-2

That means in World Series games the AL East is a combined 16-4 against the Phillies.  If history is to repeat itself then the Phillies appear to be doomed to a 4-1 loss at the hands of the Rays, and the AL East would officially make Philadelphia its collective bitch.

Finally, a breath of fresh air.  How many times hae you oveheard someone say “wahhh its always the Red Sox or the Yankees, too predictable” when talking about baseball?  Well, that theory can eat shit.  The Rays are arguably the best story baseball has had in decades, making a ridiculous season long run culminating with their first World Series berth ever.  Meanwhile in the NL the Phillies are back in the World Series for the first time since, well, since this happened.  The Rays weren’t even a twinkle in MLB’s eye when Mitch Williams gave that bomb up in 1993 to Joe Carter.

As far as how the series will shake out, all attention has to be on the Rays.  “They won’t win 70 games.  Okay they won’t win the division.  Okay they won’t beat the White Sox.  Okay they won’t overcome the Red Sox.”  Don’t give me anything about this team not having the stones to beat the Phillies on the worlds’ biggest stage.  Evan Longoria and BJ Upton have gone beast-mode during the playoffs, carrying the Rays offense with moon shots.  Their pitching has been unbelievable with Big Game James Shields, Scott Kazmir, and ALCS MVP Matt Garza pitching lights out. And let’s not even dive into how epic David Price’s outing was in game 7.  At 23, he’s going to be some kind of filthy in the coming years.

Meanwhile, the Phillies are the team that’s had as little hype as any National League team in this post season.  While ESPN was busy jerking it to the Cubs 97 win season, CC Sabathia starting every third day for a month, and Manny Ramirez owning Los Angeles, the Phillies went to work and handled both the Brewers and Dodgers with relative ease.  Ryan Howard hasn’t started hitting yet, which is a bit frightening.  Pat the Bat Burrell has played well and Chase Utley is back on track.  As far as arms go, Cole Hamels looks downright unhittable.  Brad Lidge has yet to blow a save this season, which is pretty impressive considering his history of blowing saves in big games.

For a prediction, I have to go with the Rays.  I have a few reasons for it, starting with Steve Phillips picking the Phillies to win it all.  The Rays seem like the most rounded team in baseball; a bunch of power, a bunch of speed, and incredible arms.  Guys like Longoria, Upton, and Crawford have been huge throughout the playoffs and it’ll continue in this series.  The Phillies downfall will be their fall off in their rotation after Hamels.  If the Phillies want to win this series, they’ll need a big win from Cole Hamels tonight.  I still think, regardless of Hamels winning, the Phillies will be overmatched in the long run.  This series will be epic, so screw the talk about the ratings sucking, you don’t work for Fox and neither do I.

Talk about a great series, wow.  To me, this Boston Tampa Bay series epitomized a great matchup of two teams with great pitching and timely hitting.  You look at the Boston Red Sox, a team I picked to win this AL Championship, and you scratch your head.  To me, Josh Beckett clearly didn’t pitch like the Josh Beckett I know and John Lester struggled in both starts he made.  And if you look at Big Papi, it’s obvious that he’s not 100% healthy.  I think that really had an impact on this series.

Then you look at a team like the Tampa Bay Rays.  To me, this team epitomizes a young, exciting, motivated baseball team.  You look at a guy like BJ Upton, a guy who only had a handful of home runs all year, and you look at how many clutch home runs he’s had so far this post season.  To me, Upton is a guy who has really matured in this post season, especially when you consider the motivation problems he had earlier in the year.  Then you look at a guy like Evan Longoria who has become an MVP type player in his first season.  To me, these are some of the reasons the Rays were able to overcome the powerful Boston Red Sox in this series.

Looking ahead to the World Series it’ll be a tough matchup for both teams.  But I like the Philadelphia Phillies.  I’m looking to get my first prediction right this post season and I think the Phillies match up well with what the Rays bring to the table.  To me, Ryan Howard is about to take his game to the next level and Chase Utley will show why he should be the MVP that I predicted.  Nevermind that the Rays have better pitching and arguably a better lineup top to bottom, to me this series will come down to the middle of the Phillies order hitting.  When you have a lineup like that, it’s tough to pick against.

As a continuation from the National League tale of the tape, let’s take a look at the two remaining American League teams; the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays.  More specifically, lets take a look at the obnoxious Red Sox nation and how they compare to the fierce rays that swim around in the tank in right-center field at Tropicana Field.

Height/Weight:
Red Sox Fan: Usually like six foot brah, weighin in at a hefty 230 but it’s 230 pounds worth of Red Sox blood.  GO SAWX.
Rays: Can grow up to 25 feet in width and can weigh up to 5,000 lbs.

Introduction to baseball:
Red Sox Fan: Came in around 2002 with the rise of the Red Sox in the AL East division standings.  Followah of Kevin Millah, Big Papih, and, of course, the Caaaap, Jason Varitehk.
Rays: Came into the league in 1998 but didn’t matter (unless you gave a shit about who finished last place or reaped the benefits of acquiring one of their countless talented young players in a steal of a trade) until this year.

Typical Friday night:
Red Sox fan: Goin to the Sawx game, of course.  Then aftawards, headin’ down to McGillicutty’s, O’Houlihans, or the Blarney Stone fah a few rounds of Sam Adams and spendin’ the night talkin’ bout the Sawx win.  Love that shit, brah.
Rays: Swimming around a glass tank.

MVP of the team:
Red Sox Fan: DUSTIN PEDROIAH THE DESTROYAH BRAH.  Nawt just MVP of our team, MVP of the world.
Rays: Blub blub, Evan Longoria, blub blub.

Notable feats:
Red Sox Fan: Annoying the shit out of everyone in the United States who isn’t a Red Sox fan.
Rays: Taking down Steve Irwin, someone who was previously thought to be fearless and a superhuman.  RIP.

Yankees?:
Red Sox Fan: Nothin’ I hate more, brah, than tha Yanks.
Rays: We justify our spring training fight as standing up to the man, but the Yankees couldn’t give two shits about it.  We’re still the Rays.

Series History: Up until this year, there wasn’t much of one.  But the Rays have stood up to the Red Sox all year, and I’m sure that, over the course of this season, some stupid ass Red Sox fan got stung by a sting ray at a beach somewhere (Red Sox Nation is everywhere brah).  Likewise, the Rays have battled back and forth with the Red Sox all season, including a sweep in Tampa Bay late in the year.

Outcome: The Red Sox are still the Red Sox, and they’ll put up a fight.  But this year seems to be the year of the Rays.  Tampa seems more confident and more energetic, and I think that’ll translate.  And I also like Tampa’s pitching more than Bostons.  Rays in seven.

If the Major League Baseball season continues to shake up like it has we could be in for a very special treat. Many Major League teams are adding to the excitement that we see night in and night out, but it remains to be seen what teams will have enough to withstand the tough month of September and stay alive. Let’s take a look at this year’s pretenders and contenders for the upcoming dramatic playoff race.

A.L. Pretenders:
Tampa Bay Rays- I feel really bad for putting the Rays in this spot, but I don’t see them making it out alive in the A.L. East. The Red Sox will find some way to make this thing close before September comes. If stud third baseman Evan Longoria and closer Troy Percival can get off the DL sooner rather than later the Rays could have a chance, but putting everything on Carlos Pena and Australian Grant Balfour is a tough thing to ask.

Minnesota Twins- Tip your hat to the Twins for staying in it this long. Losing Santana and Hunter gave the image of a losing year back in Spring Training, however the emergence of young pitchers such as Nick Blackburn and Kevin Slowey have kept the Twins floating. The main problem with the Twins lies with the lineup outside of All-Stars Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer. The Twins will take on the Mariners and Oakland this week in a 7 game west coast swing; games in which they need to play well in to stay on top of the division.

N.L. Pretenders:
Philadelphia Phillies- The Phillies leader in wins is Jamie Moyer. Ouch. This squad has no pitching outside Cole Hamels and Moyer. And please don’t sit here and tell me that fat ass Joe Blanton was the answer to the Phillies pitching problems. They made a weak push for Rich Harden and are quickly learning that Blanton’s cheese curd fastball can’t hold much to Harden’s dominance. Their lineup is stacked, but their rotation isn’t. Balanced teams make the playoffs. The blue collar working class of Philadelphia will once again have to hope the Mets collapse in a New York minute (or seven games in seventeen days like last year).

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After reaching a club season record with 71 wins this past week the Rays could potentially hit a skid and begin a downhill tumble. The injury storm has swirled into Tampa taking out Carl Crawford and rookie of the year candidate Evan Longoria. Can a 4 game lead keep the Rays shining atop the A.L. East?

I feel bad for the Rays at this point. It seems that all of the work they put in early on could fall apart if the injury bug doesn’t go away. Running away from teams like the Red Sox and Yankees could be too much to ask. Not to mention with around a month and a half remaining in the season the Rays will have to play a third of their remaining games against these A.L. East powerhouses.

Manager Joe Maddon should easily win the skipper of the year award if the Rays are still playing ball after September 30th. His patience with these young kids has taken center stage as the ball club continues to set franchise marks by the week.

How long can this run hold up for the Rays? Will we see them take a dive immediately with Crawford and Longoria out or can we expect them to compete for a playoff spot? I honestly think the Rays will be in this till the first or second week of September. A slip up will probably surface after that mainly due to their lack of experience in these situations.

Now don’t get me wrong, I would be the first person in line to see the Rays make it to the playoffs; however at this point with these key injuries it doesn’t seem likely. Crawford and Longoria provide power, speed, and excellent defense; multiple attributes that all need to be on the field if you want to take out Boston and New York in September.