2013 World Series Prediction: Battle for Team of the Century (Thus Far)

Aside from one series and a couple of games, my postseason picks this year have been fairly right on. Of course, seeing as we've wound up with the two best teams in baseball in this year's Fall Classic, it's not as though I really took any tremendous risks along the way. Additionally, I'm sure to note in my year-end Final Thoughts post that this year's conclusion is pretty far off from my original predictions before this season began. Then again, it looks like this was a series that absolutely no pundit saw coming at that point either.

As this season draws to a close, we're also left with a World Series that many fans simply have zero rooting interest in. As Will Leitch put it, many fans will be "cheering for the meteor." As Leitch also noted, the winner of this series will also be the first team to win three championships this century. Furthermore, it will also mean that these two teams have won half of the World Series titles over the past decade. So a lot of people can be forgiven for being tired of seeing either one of these stadiums of red-clad fans.

While I was tempted to create a graphic using some of the most egregious examples of obnoxious fandom from the Red Sox or the Cardinals, the truth is that we have been treated to some really good baseball in this year's playoffs and I'm looking forward to what should probably be a thrilling conclusion.

St. Louis Cardinals over Boston Red Sox in six games

I could honestly see this series going either way, but I seem to recall saying that I wouldn't pick against St. Louis for as long as they were still going. Sure enough, here they are, still alive. The Red Sox certainly have the benefit of home field advantage, but I could really call this a draw when it comes to the lineups, the starting rotations and benches. I might give Boston the edge in the closer, but ultimately I am expecting the X-factor here to be Carlos Beltran, the postseason phenom that I'm guessing will be named the MVP of this year's World Series. I may be pulling for one last seven-game series to maximize the suspense and excitement, but ultimately, I think this will be an evenly played series split after the first two and four games before the Cards win a critical Game 5 at home and close it out at Fenway. It's going to be a somewhat awkward experience not really actively cheering on any one team, but like I told a former co-worker who's a very dissatisfied former Detroit native right now, perhaps I'll just root for whichever team is on the road so I can see shots of sad, heartbroken fans in each city. Lord knows both of these fanbases are already full enough of themselves, but one of them is going to get to act even more classless and annoying at season's end. Pray for the meteor.