World Series Prediction

For the first time that I can ever recall, I'm not really rooting against one team in the World Series. That's remarkably odd.

While it's still a little strange hearing the names of these two teams in the Fall Classic, perhaps the hardest thing for me to fathom would be that I could be so absolutely content with the match-up.

Still, the stories add up to a satisfying conclusion, one way or another. In Tampa, we have a team I've been (like many) surprised by all year. And their hard-fought American League East title speaks for itself, but the little team that everybody had expected to run out of gas now only has one more obstacle to go. It's a remarkable, inspiring story—unless you're a Red Sox or Yankees fan, of course.

On the other side of the coin are the Philadelphia Phillies, a team which I've probably never given much credit to. This year, not many people we're giving the Phillies their due either; this was supposed to be the year the Cubs broke the curse, after all.

As a Braves fan, I'm still feeling terribly new to my feelings for the other teams in the National League East. It's still those teams from the West—those pre-realignment ones—that I feel my natural, instinctive hate for. While the thought of, say, a Dodgers or a Giants world title would make me wince, the Phillies (much like the Mets, or even the Marlins) accomplishing such a feat has always struck me as just not being plausible. And since relaignment, these past few seasons have been the first times I've seen somebody other than Atlanta win the division, so my relatively dismissive opinion of clubs like Philadelphia or Florida seemed justified.

But I've gained a newfound respect for Philadelphia throughout these playoffs and certainly wouldn't be all that upset if they happen to be the team that emerges victorious. As this baseball season draws to a close, I guess the only thing I want is for the last series of games to go the distance. In the end, here's what I think will be the result:

Tampa Bay Rays over Philadelphia Phillies in seven games

And with their unforseen (by me) pennant, so ends my little strikethrough tampering with Tampa Bay's name, as they've truly earned my respect and built a memorable foundation for the legacy of the team's somewhat new identity.

That, and the joke was pretty old.