New York Yankees

For many years I wondered why so many people seem to have such a disgust for the Yankees.

You either like them or you don't. "They buy their players," people say, or, "They spend the most." Show-offs. Greedy.

I never believed it—until now.

I, myself, have been a Yankee fan since 1987. I watched them play through terrible seasons, paying over the hill sluggers until the mid '90s. They turned it around and eventually rode their core of players (Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada, Bernie Williams) to a dynasty.

When I think back to the old Yankee Stadium, the first thought that comes into my mind is an animal house.

The crowd was extremely loud, extremely rowdy, and the hostile environment they created made playing there unbelievably difficult for visiting teams.

At the new Yankee Stadium, however, those boisterous fans seem to still exist; only now you can’t see them because their seats begin a good 20 rows from of the field.

The two best teams in baseball, most home runs and runs scored in each league, plus one stat which surprised me: both the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies led their leagues in stolen base percentage, with each having an over 80 percent success rate.

Power and speed, plus a lethal starting pitcher at the top of the rotation for both teams.

The Yankees will win in five games, after taking a 3-0 series lead.

Starting Pitching

The 2009 World Series has arrived after a long and quite interesting season. Along with the arrival of the Fall Classic comes the World Series buzz and debates on who's got the edge. The Phillies and the Yankees make great cases for themselves, respectively.

The New York Yankees are trying to get back to their previous state of baseball dominance. Yankees like Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, and Andy Pettitte hope to end this decade the way they started it, with a World Series Championship.

The World Series mercifully begins tonight and what better way to prepare than to inundate sports fans with predictions? What kind of sports writer would I be if I didn’t throw my hat into the prediction ring?

Exactly.

So let’s go ahead and compare the Yankees and Phillies position by position to find out who the better team is and, thus, who will win the World Series.

The two best teams in baseball will meet in the World Series, and oddly enough each is similar to the other. 

Both have dynamite, strike-at-any-moment lineups loaded with former MVPs and future Hall-of-Famers. Both have lefty aces that were on the Cleveland Indians only a season ago. Both have inconsistent fireballers who, if on their game, are unhittable. 

Tonight, if the rain lets up, the World Series will begin between the Phillies and the Yankees. While on paper this seems like a great matchup, featuring the teams that have been the best in their respective leagues all season, I'm completely uninterested.

At the risk of sounding like a whiny blogger, this is not a World Series that captivates my interest.

Perhaps it's the story, or lack there of. While A-Rod's rise from a playoff failure to juggernaut has been interesting, I honestly can't get into it.

Put on your old Donnie Baseball jersey, pour a cold beer, and get out your Tim McCarver voodoo doll...it's time for the World Series!

River & Sunset has 11 reasons why the American League champion Yankees will topple the National League champion Phillies in the annual Fall Classic.

11. Home-field advantage

After what has seemed like an eternity since the end of the ALCS, the World Series is finally ready to get underway later tonight.

On paper, I can't say that a Yankees-Phillies matchup is one that will go down in history as one of the greatest playoff rivalries, but I'm sure some people probably thought the very same thing about the 2001 World Series between the Diamondbacks and the Yankees.