A CITIZEN'S BLOG

Surely we all knew that it would come down to this … the Red Sox vs. the Yankees are baseball’s Hatfields & McCoys, its holy war, its Armageddon. This is not just baseball’s best rivalry, this is sports best rivalry. The most storied, most glorified team in American sports against the cursed. The Babe Ruth trade, the Yankees miraculous comeback at the end of the ’49 season, the years of bad blood between the teams, Bucky Dent’s home run in ’78, the 2003 ALCS … these teams have nearly ninety years of hatred for one another.

And this is the Red Sox year. I said it in the preseason, and I say it now, the Boston Red Sox are the best team in baseball. They will win the World Series this year. They will defeat the Yankees. As long as the mystique of the past doesn’t play with their minds, they will win. The numbers are clear:

Offense (GPA / Runs / OBP / SLG)
Boston: .280 / 940 / .360 / .472
New York: .273 / 897 / .353 / .458

Pitching: (WHIP / ERA)
Boston: 1.293 / 4.18
New York: 1.369 / 4.69

But even if we were just working off the numbers, I'd go with the Red Sox. There is something different this year. The Yankees look more lukcy than good, and the Red Sox look more confident, grittier and tougher than we've ever seen before. This isn't those old Sox teams that you knew in your heart would fall short. This team can beat the curse.

The Red Sox are stronger. Sox in six.

Armageddon begins Tuesday.