We are.

You can almost feel the intensity of the 2009 MLB World Series as the ALCS and the NLCS will decide which two teams will come out to play for the world championship.

In the ALCS, the New York Yankees are looking to return back to the big dance as they go up against the Los Angeles Angels, a team looking to get at least one team from Hollywood in the World Series.

In the NLCS, the Philadelphia Phillies are looking to return to the World Series and defend the world title they won last year after dominating the Tampa Bay Rays in five games. They do battle with the Los Angeles Dodgers, a team looking to give Joe Torre his first world championship ring since moving to Hollywood.

What’ll happen if the Yankees face their old mentor and take on the Dodgers? Will the World Series be settled in Hollywood this year? Can the Philadelphia Phillies win back to back titles and beat whichever team that’ll come out of the American League?

Here’s a look at all four possible matchups and who we think will take it. Unfortunately, we’re not picking the Los Angeles Angels to win ANY matchup. Sorry.

Los Angeles Angels vs. Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2009 MLB World Series

Another cross-town World Series match-up in the making? As everybody knows, this kind of scenario never materialized like the New York Yankees – New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals – Kansas City Royals matchups they were gunning for before mainly because there still is the ”baseball doesn’t exist west of Kansas” reaction.

And since East Coast fans usually can’t stay awake to…

The American League has always been all about the Yankees. And it doesn’t matter if they are playing well or not.

But since the New York Yankees are just clicking on all cylinders this 2009 MLB season, you just know that they’re talking about them Yankees like never before. But can they really win it all?

The New York Yankees hold the best record in the league. Mark Teixeira leads the American League in RBIs, Derek Jeter is having another great season and they have a good supporting cast in Robinson Cano, Nick Swisher, Hideki Matsui, and Jorge Posada.

The pitching has improved, and that’s the main reason why they are where they are. CC Sabathia has 19 wins, AJ Burnett has 12, and Andy Pettitte has 13. And of course, closer Mariano Rivera continues to dominate from the mound.

So if the New York Yankees are the best team in baseball right now, who’ll challenge these guys in the conference? We have two, the Los Angeles Angels and the Boston Red Sox.

The Los Angeles Angels are six games behind the Yankees, and the second best team in the league. Angels manager Mike Scioscia says this is the deepest lineup he has taken into the playoffs since the 2002 team that won the World Series.

Let’s see if they can indeed win it all…

It’s no secret that Big Papi’s 2009 season is off to a painful start.

After 178 at bats, David Ortiz simply hasn’t come up big this 2009 MLB baseball season yet. He only has one home run to his credit this year and to say that the Red Sox clean-up man has been unproductive is an understatement.

David Ortiz has been a great player for the Boston Red Sox organization, but as a designated hitter, Ortiz needs to hit. That is, after all, his value to this team. The question is, how patient are the Red Sox going to be with their star? Will Ortiz go the way of Roger Clemens, Mo Vaughn, and Nomar Garciaparra, former Red Sox players who were fan favorites and yet, were sent packing?

Since coming over from the Twins, David Ortiz has been an invaluable member of the Red Sox team. With the exception of last season, where he spent time on the DL, Ortiz has hit 30 or more homers and driven in over 100 RBIs annually.

This season however, is different. Last month, the Boston Red Sox actually benched their slumping slugger. Manager Terry Francona left the five-time All-Star out of the lineup for the series opener at Seattle, a day after he went 0-for-7 and stranded 12 base runners, tying a team record, in a loss to the Los Angeles Angels.

Ortiz is only batting .208. He is without a…

That’s the match-up everybody loves to see.

You read it, everybody was waiting for this match-up in the 2008 MLB World Series next only to the Yankees and the Mets, the Cubs and the White Sox, the Dodgers and the Angels and basically any other match-up between any two teams OTHER than the Rays and the Phillies.

STILL, the Tampa Bay Rays will still play the Philadelphia Phillies in a best-of-seven World Series everybody will probably just sleep through. After all, nobody thought these two teams will get this far but since they have, the rest of the world (other than Tampa Bay and Philadelphia of course…) still have no idea who to root for.

Game 1 of this best-of-seven series for all the marbles starts Wednesday in Tampa. Who has the edge? (I know most of you probably won’t care anyway but since this IS a gambling guide, we’re asking ourselves the question…)

The Philadelphia Phillies have lost more games than any franchise in professional sports, while the Tampa Bay Rays never finished higher than fourth place during its last ten seasons. These two clubs haven’t played since June 2006, when Tampa Bay took two of the three regular season games in Philadelphia and yes, we don’t know what to expect now.

The Tampa Bay Rays are a surprising 10-5 overall against the Phillies in interleague play. The Phillies, on the other hand, have experience and power from their bench. Including the playoffs, the Phillies are 86-0 this year when leading after eight innings but the Rays are still the guys who dethroned the…

Those guys from the MLB are probably hoping they’ll still get a piece of the viewing audience with football season finally here.

Teams are beginning to make that final push for the playoffs as the 2008 MLB baseball season gets ready for its conclusion. Looking at the teams that might be playing until October, we will try to pick out the best of the lot and hopefully, this’ll earn you a little something on the side to go with what is hopefully a profitable football weekend.

Let’s start with the American League, the Los Angeles Angels from the American League West are considered to be one of the complete teams in the American League.

The Angels have a great pitching corps to go hand-in-hand with an awesome rotation. Their only weakness would probably be their bench and since benches are really only good in this sport for fisticuffs on the diamond, this won’t hurt them that much.

In the Central Division, the Chicago White Sox are looking to dominate. The White Sox have a high powered offense with young players carrying the team this year. Although Chicago is not the only team being carried by young wheels this season.

The Tampa Bay Rays, aside from becoming the absolute Cinderella story of the year, is also a good young team that has…

It’s a foot race to the finish at this point.

There’s still more than enough time in the 2008 MLB baseball season for teams to catch up and make their final push for the playoffs. As the trading deadline passed, we saw a lot of changes from teams that want to either stay on top or make it there.

Probably the best bet to make the playoffs is the Los Angeles Angels. This team from the American League West should be considered as the team to beat, holding a solid 70-43 win loss mark, going 6-4 in their 10 last games.

The Angels are closely followed by the Tampa Bay Rays, holding a surprising 67-45 record. Executive VP Andrew Friedman says ”we feel with the lead we have, we’re in the exact position we want to be in, with the ability to control our own destiny.”

It has been a dream season to say the least for Tampa Bay after all the struggles this franchise has been through in recent years.

Another surprise this season is the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs are playing good baseball, winning eight of their last 10 games to own a 68-46 win-loss card. They just recently regained the services of their bullpen anchor, activating closer Kerry Wood from the 15-day disabled list. The…

The trading deadline has passed and it was no surprise that Manny Ramirez is finally out of Boston.

That was only one of the big trades that have transpired in the ongoing 2008 MLB baseball season. Baseball teams have begun their preparations for a run to the World Series title and we’ll find out soon enough if these teams improved their rosters or just fucked it up even further.

Of course, as I already mentioned, one of the more notable deals that transpired before the end of the trading deadline was the acquisition of the Los Angeles Dodgers to future Hall of Fame slugger Manny Ramirez from the Boston Red Sox in a three-way deal that also moved Pittsburgh’s Jason Bay to Boston.

The Pirates received two prospects from each team, including reliever Craig Hansen and third baseman Andy LaRoche. July 30 was the day when New York Yankees sent Kyle Farnsworth to the Detroit Tigers in exchange for Ivan Rodriguez. The Yankees are in need of a starting catcher since Jorge Posada decided to undergo season-ending surgery on his throwing shoulder, hence the Yankees picked up a 13-time Gold Glover and 14-time All-Star Ivan Rodriguez to work behind the plate the rest of the year.

The Yankees’ setup job had been increasingly filled by Jose Veras, and…

Because with the NBA Finals almost over and with football still a few months away, we won’t have much of a choice but to watch baseball.

He he… Yes, with virtually nothing on TV after the NBA Finals conclude, ya’ll probably won’t have much of a choice but to start watching the ever so exciting, (we use the term ‘exciting’ ever so slightly here…) 2008 MLB baseball season.

On that note, let’s take a quick look on what’s been going on around the diamond lately shall we? Hopefully, we’ll find something else to write about other than Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and a whole lot of steroids syringes.

And of course, like last season, everybody’s still so fixated on the American League compared to the National League. While NBA fans favor the Western conference more than the East, baseball has this one.

Defending champions Boston Red Sox lead the pack from the American League East while the Chicago White Sox and the Los Angeles Angels lead the Central and West divisions respectively.

Boston Red Sox are still coming out strong after winning the MLB World Series last season. They have a 43-28 win-loss record, with a decent 7-3 showing in their last 10 games.

In the Central division, the Chicago White Sox, with a 38-30 win-loss mark…

That game is this Friday and for the Yankees’ sake, let’s hope they don’t start their ‘’second season” the way they started their first one.

Let me explain. In case you forgot already, the New York Yankees started the MLB season a few months ago with a rather dismal start before catching fire, leading them to where they are now. In these 2007 MLB playoffs, it sure looks like these Yanks’ are back in their old tricks again.

Of course, the New York Yankees have only played one game in the playoffs. But with the way they lost to the Cleveland Indians Thursday, jeez… the boys from New York definitely need to bring their A-game in Game 2.

12-3. That’s the final score the Cleveland Indians finished off New York. Behind heavyweight pitcher C.C. Sabathia, the Indians took A-Rod’s powerful bats off him as the Yanks drop their first game of the playoffs.

Alex Rodriguez, after what has been a milestone 2007 MLB baseball season, was sure to erase his somewhat tarnished postseason image. Thanks to Sabathia, A-Rod failed miserably.

Much to the dismay of…

This guy should’ve just stayed home, retired.

But NO, he had to come back for the Yankees this 2007 MLB baseball season. Now all we have about him is countless stuff about him getting injured, him getting healthy again and him making all these comebacks to pitch for the Yanks.

Yeah sure, it’s the 2007 MLB playoffs and the Yankees will need all the help they can get but c’mon, talking about stuff about Roger Clemens making yet another pathetic return is getting old, FAST.

The New York Yankees will face the Cleveland Indians on Thursday to start their playoff series in the American League. Roger Clemens, on the other hand, is scheduled to pitch for the Yankees in Game 3 of the said series and Clemens is hoping he’ll be ready then.

”I feel fine, I really do,” Roger Clemens said. ”Everything is right on schedule for me, and I’m excited to be here. I still have to go out there and get it done in a game, and that’s…”