Preview/Prediction

The momentum is building.

Last Friday, the Texas Rangers defeated the Yankees, ending New York's title defense, and sending Brian Cashman's front office into overdrive.

Cliff Lee, the Rangers ace, and the Yankees ace for a few hours on July 9th, will start game one of the World Series. But what uniform will he be wearing next season?

The battle for Cliff Lee is shaping up to be just as interesting, and perhaps more important than this years ALCS. And the teams in it? Texas and New York.

Who gets Cliff Lee? My moneys on New York. World Series ring or not.

The 2010 World Series will commence on Wednesday evening from San Francisco.  It can last as long as nine days or as few as five.  It should be interesting to see how this unlikely World Series will play out.  

Pitching match-ups will be at the forefront, but this slideshow will attempt to go even deeper. I will examine all things that need mentioning and present fun facts for each game.  

Here are some major league reasons to watch this 2010 World Series between the Texas Rangers and the San Francisco Giants.  

Many fans on the East Coast aren’t too excited about the 2010 World Series matchup. No, it’s not the 27-time World Champion Yankees against the postseason favorite Philadelphia Phillies.

Instead, it’s just the two best teams.

We're less than 24 hours away from the first pitch of the 2010 World Series between the Texas Rangers, champions of the American League, and the San Francisco Giants, champions of the National League.

There have been all sorts of predictions leading up to this game since both teams clinched their respective leagues.

Some have taken the Rangers and some are going with the Giants, but one thing is for sure, this could be a better series than most think.

After a long process, the Mets have cut their search for a new general manager down to two candidates, neither of which is a surprise to anybody.

Josh Byrnes and Sandy Alderson have been favorites for the job ever since the Mets' offseason began.  Some people like Byrnes and some people like Alderson, but it all matters on who the Mets like.  This week, the Mets are interviewing Byrnes and Alderson for the second and last time. 

It is quite ironic that two of the biggest topics in the news this week are the World Series and the upcoming election, which will determine our 106^th winner of the Fall Classic and our 112^th United States Congress.

There isn’t a whole lot that links the San Francisco Giants and the Texas Rangers, who are making their first appearance in the World Series.

Much has been said and written about the Giants lackluster offense.

The team batted .257 in 2010, finishing sixteenth while the Rangers hit .276 and finished first.

On the other hand, both teams did hit 162 Home runs finishing tied for tenth.

But pushing aside generalized offensive statistics, something strange happened during the course of the year that only keen eyes were privy to.

The Giants cut up opposing teams' aces.

Over the last several years, the Los Angeles Dodgers' management team of owner Frank McCourt and general manager Ned Colletti have utilized the deferred contract option as a tactic to bring in numerous big name players with highly valued contracts—without paying much up front.

Looking back at several of the players who were still part of the Dodgers payroll in 2010, and who will be receiving paychecks from McCourt into the future, there's no doubt that many of the deals have failed miserably.

Using our MLB simulation engine we "played" the Texas Rangers versus San Francisco Giants 2010 World Series Best-of-Seven series 1001 times.

In the table below you will find each teams' chances of advancing to the World Series and how often they win in 4, 5, 6 or 7 games. As you can see, the most likely scenario is the Rangers beating the Giants in six games 19-percent of the time.

This World Series won't showcase the teams most of us expected or the MLB probably wanted.

But even casual fans, and all Yankee and Philly detractors, will be excited to see a few new faces in this year's Fall Classic.

The Giants haven't been to a World Series since 2002, and it's well documented that the Rangers are making their World Series debut.