Preview/Prediction

We all know, and will be reminded again throughout the NLCS, about the greatness of Roy Halladay and the precision of Roy Oswalt.

Experts and baseball analysts will pound it into your head how prominent the Phillies 1-2-3 punch is on the mound. My two-year-old nephew knows they are good.

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?

After dismissing the Cincinnati Reds in the NLDS, the Phillies will face off against the San Francisco Giants in the NLCS. 

Will the Giants be a minor speed bump on the road to another National League pennant, or do they have a legitimate shot at sending the Phillies home early?

Here are some arguments for both cases:

Fear the Giants

What an incredible LDS highlighted by Roy Halladay’s no-hitter. We saw the Rangers over the Rays in five, the Yankees sweep the Twins, the Phills sweep the Reds and the Giants top the Braves in four.

I went 3-1 in the LDS, with my blemish coming when I picked the Rays. I wish I had do-overs. This year’s LCS looks amazing. We have a classic David vs. Goliath story in the AL, and a mouth-watering pitching dual in the NL. Let’s run it down:

As a diehard Rays fan, last night's Game 5 loss hurt especially hard.  Yes, it was an elimination game that ended what I thought would be a season ending with the World Series coming to Tampa.  

But it also means the likely end to 1B Carlos Pena, LF Carlos Crawford and closer Rafael Soriano.

Crawford—the heart and face of the franchise for the past nine seasons, will likely (and rightfully so) seek greener pastures next season.  But contrary to popular belief, the Rays will be just fine come next season. 

With the divisional series now complete, the league championship series are ready to begin.

Two familiar faces, the Yankees and Phillies, are the favorites to repeat as pennant winners and set up a World Series rematch.

Thankfully, there are two newcomers, to offset the potential Yankee-Phillie overload.

The Giants haven't reached the NLCS since 2002; the Rangers never have made it this far.

Inside we take a look at the key matchups. (All times EST)

The moment the Texas Rangers' Cliff Lee hurled his last strike Tuesday night; he not only killed the Tampa Bay Rays' postseason dreams, but also gave the New York Yankees an official ALCS opponent for Game One on Friday night.

The Yankees will fly down to Texas to face the Rangers in the seven-game ALCS series, which for one team will lead to the World Series.

In all honesty, predictions were betting the Rays would beat the Rangers in the ALDS, but in a five-game series, there is no room to stumble.

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.

The American League Division Series has now concluded, and the New York Yankees are set to face the Texas Rangers in the ALCS. While the Yankees had a relatively easy time of advancing by sweeping the Minnesota Twins, the Tampa Bay Rays took the Rangers to the limit, making it a five game series.