Alex Rodriguez

It all makes sense. There should never have been any doubt in anyone’s mind that in The Year of the Pitcher, some of the better arms in the American League will be fighting for the Pennant beginning with Game One on Friday night.

Tonight is the start of the American League Championship Series between the New York Yankees and the Texas Rangers.  This game is being played at the Ballpark in Arlington and first pitch is scheduled for 8:07 PM EST.

The pitching match-up for tonight's game is between C.C. Sabathia and C.J. Wilson, both of whom had good regular season numbers.  Texas needs to take at least one of Sabathia starts to have a chance. Tonight will be their first opportunity to do so.

The World Series.

One of the most sacred events in the sports world. It goes without saying that getting there takes intense preparation, heart, skill and a little bit of luck.

The 162-game regular season is a grind, and it all boils down to even more baseball—October baseball, AKA: Baseball at its finest.

The Yankees have done all of this before, and this year they've completed one third of the postseason puzzle by sweeping the Minnesota Twins in the first round.

We're down to baseball's final four as the New York Yankees, Texas Rangers, Philadelphia Phillies and San Francisco Giants are set to duke it out—beginning on Friday—to advance to the 2010 World Series.

There are multiple story lines to follow in both the ALCS and NLCS—for example, the filthy pitching matchups between the Giants and Phillies or the possibility of the Rangers making their first ever World Series—and we'll get to each of those.

After storming out to a 2-0 lead in their ALDS clash with the Tampa Bay Rays, it quickly appeared as if the Texas Rangers had taken firm control of the series and were inevitably headed to their first American League Championship Series appearance in franchise history.

One has 27 World Series titles under its belt. The other has one postseason series victory in its 50 years of existence, which coincidentally came on Tuesday night.

Things have gone exactly to plan for the Yankees so far this postseason.

New York tanked the American League East so it could face the whipping boy Twins instead of Cliff Lee and the Rangers, and what happened?

The Texas Rangers will face the New York Yankees in the ALCS.

Yes, you read that correctly, the Texas Rangers! One of just two teams coming into the season to never win a postseason series are now four tough wins away from a World Series birth.

Those wins will definitely be tough to come by, as they face off against the reigning World Series champs in the Yankees.

That is not to say the Yankees don't have question marks because they certainly do. They still have to decide whether or not to pitch the often erratic, sometimes brilliant A.J. Burnett.

Mr. Darcy Fournier

The debate about Pete Rose and his eligibility for placement in the Hall of Fame is well documented, with passionate arguments for and against his induction.

I am not a "fan” of Pete Rose. However, I am not oblivious to his contributions to the game, and the poor choices he made along the way.

I am equally not oblivious to the political football this has become, and how poorly this has been handled by just about everyone, Rose included.

The Yankees again proved to be the most playoff-efficient team of all.  They bullied Minnesota right out of their own home early on and then finished them off in the Bronx.  An all-around dominant performance from the Yankees shows that they will be tough to beat once again in these playoffs.  There may be only one team that could challenge them this season.  Can I get a..."RE-MATCH?!"

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