The opening round of the baseball playoffs has yet to be completed yet it can be said that two teams have shown they have what it takes to make it to the World Series. One is a franchise that has been “cursed” while the other personifies the notion of baseball being an integral part of the fabric of America. Though making predictions about sports is always a risky proposition, there is a certain amount of confidence at hand in making the statement that World Series will be played between the Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals.

First let’s take a look at the Red Birds. Though no one picked them to win their division, the Cardinals steam rolled the competition on the way to winning the title in the NL Central. Traditionally the formula for success involves good pitching and timely hitting, the Cards have gone the other way in combing monster bats with adequate pitching. The concept of a team of all star sluggers is not new and has been seen in the past. One can look at the Cleveland Indian teams of the mid to late 1990’s that boasted lineups including Albert Belle, Jim Thome, Carlos Baerga, Eddie Murray and a young but still dominating Manny Ramirez. Now that was a team that could slug the ball with the best of them, yet they never quite came through with a title, having lost in the series several times, most painfully to the upstart Marlins in 1997. You might then ask how a team like the Cardinals can win a title with a similar makeup, power bats, average pitching? The answer is quite simple, there has not been a team in the modern era that had the firepower that the current version of the Cardinals possesses and because of that, they don’t need lights out pitching. The current lineup of the Cards boasts the following names, Larry Walker, Scott Rolen, Albert Pujols and Jim Edmonds. Those are the hitters that bat 2-5 in the heart of the order. Broken down individually, you have a former MVP who has a new lease on life in a baseball crazed city, the best third basemen of his generation, one of the steadiest players all around over the past decade and of course Mr. Pujols. Much like teams who were unfortunate to play during the Michael Jordan era, Mr. Pujols deals with the same fate playing at the same time that Barry Bonds is rewriting the record book. For if Mr. Bonds was not playing, Albert would most likely be collecting his 3rd straight MVP award. Either way, Pujols numbers over the first 4 years of his career are nothing short of legendary and as his career advances we will have the joy to bear witness to one of the best offensive players ever to play the game. Such a foursome, composed of 4 men who on their own can dominate a game or a series, is the recipe for success needed to win the title. Certainly their pitching is not great, but with those 4 men, the Cardinals can expect to score at least 5 runs a game leaving their pitchers the job of merely avoiding getting blown out rather than shutting down opposing teams. Plus, with old school pro’s like Matt Morris and Woody Williams, the fear of butterflies in untested players is not relevant. All of this adds up to an appearance in the fall classic and sheer pandemonium in the streets of St. Louis.

The other part of the World Series equation is sure to rile some people up, most specifically the contingent of Storm Troopers that root for Darth Steinbrenner’s Yankees. It is without much fanfare or excitement that I proclaim that the Boston Red Sox will play in the Series this year, and they will win it. Let it be known I am not a Red Sox fan so there is no skewed thinking going into this, the decision was made strictly based on the facts. The first fact is that despite what I just said about the Cardinals and their monster lineup, great pitching will beat great hitting 9 times out of 10. I won’t say it happens every time strictly because in baseball nothing is 100% guaranteed. But pitching is vital, and with Schilling and Pedro, the Sox have the horses. Concerning Schilling, say what you want about him, he’s cocky, he grates on his teammates, he talks too much, but the man can flat out pitch and he wants to win more than any other player in the game. His signing with the Red Sox is one of the better examples of “right player, right team” in a long, long time. Then there’s Pedro, of whom a lot has been written lately. The experts say he isn’t the same as he used to be, which is true, but when you realize that in his 4 year prime he was the best in the game and those four years were among the best any pitcher has ever had. Then there are his infamous quotes, most recently where he called the Yankees his daddy, but even more his quote from a few years ago when he proclaimed that if he faced Babe Ruth today he’d drill him in his ass. Now that is confidence, and cocky, but to be successful you need them both and Pedro has them in spades. Beyond pitching, what about the Sox offense? Well they also have a powerful lineup, perhaps not as powerful as the Cards, but it’s pretty close. They are led by two men, Manny Ramirez, the idiot savant hitting machine, and David “Popy” Ortiz, who in his two years with the Sox has become Mr. Clutch. Throw in salty veterans like Trot Nixon, Jason Veritek, Mark Bellhorn, Kevin Millar and Jesus himself, Johnny Damon and you have all the pieces in place. Now there is one thing I have not addressed in regards to the Sox, the supposed “curse.” Let me just say that I don’t buy it. Baseball is won on the field by real life plays, not by some mystical elements. Stupidity by a manager is a real life thing, not an imaginary entity, and that is why the Sox lost last year. Even in 1986, the infamous Game 6, even if Buckner fields the ball cleanly, the tying run scores and they head to extra innings. Plus, in Game 7, the Sox were up and the Mets came from behind. So talk all you want about curses and bad luck, it means nothing, for if it did, it would mean the Yankees have good luck, and that just can’t be true. Pure evil isn’t rewarded in such ways.

The Red Sox versus the Cardinals. The Boston Faithful versus the St. Louis Loyalists. It will be a match made in baseball heaven sweetened even more so by the fact that Red Sox will be crowned World Champions for the first time in over 90 years.