World Series Predictions
By: mbohn
Tonight marks the start of the 2008 World Series between the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (yes, I know they dropped the devil from their name, but I refuse to fall in line!) and the Philadelphia Phillies. Who will win? My thoughts after the jump.The Devil Rays have home field advantage, and a stable of young talent with a world of potential. The Phillies have a well balanced team team that has one of the best offenses and bullpens in all of baseball. By now you know the players on both teams, or at least some of them. You know the Devil Rays struggled to put away the Red Sox after being up 3 – 1 in the ALCS, while the Phils demolished the Dodgers in the NLCS.So how do I think things will shake out? I think it breaks down to starting pitching, and the ability to close the door. The Devil Rays have Kazmir, Shields, Garza and Sonnanstine. The Phillies have Hamels, Myers, Moyer and Blanton. The Devil Rays have the edge here, as other than Hamels you don’t really know what you are going to get from the Phils starters. The bullpen is the problem for Tampa Bay, as they do not have a true closer. The Phils? They only have Brad Lidge, who has not blown a save all year.Actually, that is not completely accurate. He did blow one save, and it cost his team home field advantage for the World Series, as it was in the All Star game. The winner of that game? Scott Kazmir. The guy who drove in the winning run? Evan Longoria.Alright, time for my predictions. I think the Devil Rays will win it in six. I think the Phils win games one and four, with the Devil Rays taking games two, three, five and six. Remember how Lidge has not blown a save all year? I think he will blow two of them during the Series, handing the trophy to Tampa. Look for David Price to come out of the bullpen and get a couple of saves for the Devil Rays, and for Carlos Pena to win the MVP.