Getting ready for the best week of the baseball season

It's no secret October is one of my favorite months. Aside from my birthday, my favorite part of October is the baseball playoffs. This is the time of year when several teams are competing to win the ultimate prize, the World Series. Me personally, what makes the baseball playoffs special is it's a luck of the draw as to who wins the championship. As much as I love football, the team that has the best players wins 85% to about 90% of the time in football. Baseball that's not the case most of the time. I've seen many teams that had a ton of talent fall flat on their face in the playoffs. If you have a red hot pitcher for instance, he can carry you for a long time. Remember, it's not the most talented team that wins, it's the best team. So if you take a bunch of players who might not have the most talent but have the most heart, you can go a long way.

Up until this point, this season has been a major drag for me because the Mets have been almost unwatchable. With that said, starting on Thursday will be the best week of the season as far as I'm concerned. You have two series coming up that will go wire to wire with no clear cut favorite to win. For the American League Championship, the New York Yankees will be squaring off against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. And for the National League Championship, the Philadelphia Phillies will face the Los Angeles Dodgers. The winner of each respective series will play each other in the World Series. I have something I can finally get excited about. The main reason is because I think anything is possible with these two series.

Look at the Yankees-Angels series, there is so many questions to answer. The Angels are one of the few teams that give the Yankees trouble. With that in mind, can the Yankees finally get over the hump and defeat the Angels?? That's one thing to look at. How about Arod's postseason play? Can he continue his hot streak or will he melt away? Plus, which teams pitching will come up big?? The answers to these questions will go a long way in determining who will win the series.

As for the Phillies-Dodgers, this is a rematch of last year's National League Championship. The Phillies, who are the defending World Series champions, want to prove last year's title run was no fluke. They have the makeup to do it but their big question is their bullpen. Can Brad Lidge, who had a terrible year, rediscover the magic he had last year which pushed the Phillies to the title?? He could be the difference whether the Phillies repeat or not. For the Dodgers, can their pitching match up with the dangerous Phillies lineup? Will Manny Ramirez get out of his funk and become the player that he is come crunch time?

I'm not going to make any predictions but I will say each of these series should be very entertaining. It doesn't matter whether you're a huge baseball fan or even a casual fan, each series has something for everyone. During this upcoming week, I'm sure there will be plenty of topics to debate about. So without further ado, Lets Play Ball!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!