Red Sox vs Cardinals

The Red Sox and Cardinals have won their respective conferences, which brings them to the World Series. These teams squared off in the 2004 World Series, where the Sox won in four games. But, I don't see that happening this year.

Dominant pitchers like Michael Wacha and Adam Wainwright were not on the roster for the 2004 Cardinals. Both pitchers have the potential to shut down explosive Red sox hitters like Ortiz, Elsbury, and Victorino. The Cardinals rotation has been able to control great hitting lineups this postseason, including the Dodgers and Pirates. Those teams are some of the best hitting teams in the MLB. But, keep in mind that the Red Sox have beaten Verlander, Scherzer, Price, and Moore. Those guys are four of the best, if not the four best pitchers in the AL. In this series, there will be some high-scoring games, and some low scoring games, due to the strong pitching of the Cardinals.

Speaking of high-scoring games, both teams have big play potential, with stacked lineups. The Cards don't have Pujols and Renteria like in '04, but they do have some other players. Guys like Beltran, Carpenter, Freese and many more have showed they have the talent to take down a Red Sox rotation comprised of Bucholz, Lester, and Dempster. This rotation has been stellar, and in the ALCS, they were able to shut down Miguel Cabrera. Cabrera batted under .200 against the Sox, which is .150 points under his regular season average. If the cardinals hitters can get the Sox pitchers a bit rattled, then they can take this World Series in a minimum of five games.

All in all, I think the Cards will take this series. The emergence of Michael Wacha has shown baseball fans that he can help this team. With a strong rotation, and a starting lineup stacked with talent, they have a great chance to win this series.