It’s the end of the season and now the road to the World Series begins. There are going to be 8 teams buying for the right to become champion. Only 4 of them however have actually won a World Series in this new playoff format: The New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Angels, and the Arizona Diamondbacks. With the Colorado Rockies making it by way of sudden death, they will make it just one team that has never won the World Series in this format and have never been there neither have the Phillies or the Cubs for that matter. Without further or do, here are the teams going to be from Underdog to favorite and then picking the overall winner and when it’s all said and done, it will be a shock as to who gets picked.
Chicago Cubs
This one is fairly easy to see why they are a major underdog team. They haven’t won a World Series in nearly 100 years and haven’t been there since 1945. The title of “lovable losers” has been given to them and that’s a shame. The Cubs have had decent teams but have never been able to capitalize on it and they got the Diamondbacks in the 1st round. This is what you call looking at adversity straight in the face. No one really believes in this team one-way or the other no matter how anyone looks at it. They are expected to get beat in the 1st round by a very good Diamondbacks team. As far as underdog, they personify it due to the history books dictating that with them.
Cleveland Indians
The 2nd biggest underdog in the whole post-season would have to be Cleveland. Since 1995, they’ve been to the World Series twice and have lost each time involved. Could the 3rd time in this case be a charm for them? In order to do that, they’re going to have beat the Yankees in the 1st round and that’s not going to be an easy task. True, they got the pitching with Sabathia and Carmona both winning 19 games but it doesn’t take away the fact they are underdogs. The last time these teams played was in the 1998 ALCS when the Yankees won in 6 games. In the 1st round however, they beat them in 1997 and went to the World Series. Key for the team is basically the starting pitching and having the desire to go all the way this year.
Philadelphia Phillies
In this format, this is their 1st appearance and they would be the #3 team as far as underdogs go. It’s another team that isn’t expected to go all the way. They will be playing perhaps the hottest team in baseball, the Colorado Rockies, which will be discussed later. In fact, hardly anyone is actually giving the Phillies a shot at going all the way. It has been like they’ve been so close to making it to the post-season but they’ve been so far away. What is the key for Philadelphia, it will be heart and determination. That’s all that can be said about them.
Colorado Rockies
They are in-between being favorites and underdogs due to the fact they don’t have a lot of post-season experience. They’ve made one other appearance and that was in 1995 losing in the 1st round to the eventual World Series Champion Atlanta Braves. A reason to consider the Rockies favorites is due to having a very high level of momentum on their side winning most of their games aside from one in the last couple weeks of the season. It would be considered a Colorado miracle due to them going strong and San Diego on the decline. For this team to make it all the way, momentum will need to be on their side.
New York Yankees
Odds are expecting them to beat the Indians in the 1st Round without question. They’ve got some pitching and can really win at home. The only part that is really going to be a key factor will be them winning on the road. Either way, they will not have home field in either round should they somehow make it past the Indians. New York wants another championship and A-Rod is trying to prove he’s not going to choke in a big-game situation like this. It has seemed that no matter what team he’s on, they never win the big one. For the Yankees, it will depend on pitching and hitting and the big strength is the hitting without question.
Los Angeles Angels
To be honest, why they are favored over the Yankees has to do with the fact they’ve actually beaten them in the post-season and have eliminated them. They won the series in 2002. They look to get it back once again this time from LA. It was won during the time of being the Anaheim Angels. They do have one of the stupidest names being the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim though to be fair they should just be the LA Angels now since they no longer are in Anaheim. This decade has been good to them because they’ve gone to the post-season and have proven they can be good when called upon it.
Arizona Diamondbacks
2001 was the year of the Diamondbacks setting the record for fastest franchise ever to win the World Series breaking the Marlins record. While they have had some good and bad years, they got home field in the National League. There’s no one-two combination with Schilling and Johnson together though they have gotten better. This year was a good year for them and finished rather well and will meet the Cubs and this team is expected to beat them. For Arizona to win it, they must continue to play strong and have that team chemistry.
Boston Red Sox
The heavy favorite to win it doesn’t always mean they will do so. Wanting to prove that last season was a fluke, they played strong and was able to hold on to the division and not have a meltdown unlike the New York Mets, they actually kept it and won their 1st crown since 1995. The 2004 Season was what would be called the team that did the unthinkable and basically embarrassed the New York Yankees 4 to 3 after being down 3 to 0. Boston has a reason not to worry as there is no “Curse of the Bambino” anymore to worry about. Pitching and hitting have been very good to them and for them to go back, they’ll have to continue to do so.With all this being said, all of these 8 teams are going to be buying for the championship. The question is who gets it all. There are favorites and there are underdogs that aren’t expected to do anything at all. This season however will be like some of the previous years since 2004, ending a long drought of at least 10 years of a World Series crown. The final pick for the winner will be the Cleveland Indians this year. Despite the fact they have not been given a chance to win and go to the ALCS, there is still a will to this team and has a lot more to lose than anyone else. Should they fail, the team may get dismantled. However, they will pull it off and go all the way this year. Cleveland goes and gets the city its 1st World Series Title since 1948
