2010 World Series: Predictions and Schedule

The opening game of the 2010 World Series is set for Wednesday, October 27 at AT&T Park in San Francisco, California. For most of the 2010 season, the winners of last year's pennants (the Yankees and Phillies) had fancied their chance of reaching the World Series for the second year in a row. Unfortunately, the highly anticipated rematch will not happen. The two favorites were soundly beaten in their league finals. The 2010 World Series will be between the Texas Rangers (who is seeking its first championship) and the San Francisco Giants. This article previews the 2010 World Series and offers predictions as well as schedule information.

This year's World Series delivers an interesting match-up. Offensive-minded Texas Rangers is set to face pitching-rich San Francisco Giants. The Rangers come into the series after having conquered 2009 champion New York Yankees. The team from the Lone Star State managed to score at least 5 runs (in five of six games) against a very good Yankee pitching staff that includes CC Sabathia, Andy Pettitte, and Phil Hughes. This is not a surprise as the Josh Hamilton-led offense is among the best in baseball. Most importantly, MVP candidate Josh Hamilton appears to have fully recovered from a late-season injury in spotting a batting average of 0.375 with 4 homeruns against the Yankees.

What makes the Texas Rangers such a strong team is the fact that it has both exceptional hitting and pitching. The Rangers pitching staff has been outstanding this postseason, shutting down two strong offensive teams in the NY Yankees and Tampa Rays. Historically, the World Series has been generally won by teams with a dominant ace. The Yankees did it last year with CC Sabathia. Texas will look to Cliff Lee to help carry the team to its first ever world title. The 32-year old lefthander has been the dominant pitcher this postseason, yielding only 2 earned runs in 24 innings pitched. Additionally, Lee has enjoyed a terrific postseason career. He is undefeated in 8 postseason starts, including a 2-0 record in the World Series.

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The San Francisco Giants is undoubtedly the Cinderella story of the 2010 MLB season. The team was able to erase San Diego's huge late-season lead en route to winning the NL West. Remarkably, the Giants managed to achieve this entirely with their pitching as their offense is among baseball's worst. San Francisco's strong pitching has since extended into the playoffs, as evident in the performance of Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain.

Despite being labeled as the underdog against heavily favored Philadelphia Phillies, the Giants were able to convincingly defeat the 2009 finalist in 6 games. Facing the Texas Rangers, the 2010 National League champion will once again be the heavy underdog. San Francisco will need more great pitching from Lincecum and Cain, if the team is to complete its Cinderella tale.

My predictions for the 2010 Fall Classic: The Texas Rangers defeats the San Francisco Giants in 6 games for its first World Series title; Cliff Lee will be the series MVP. Game 1 of this year's championship (best of 7) is scheduled for October 27 at AT&T Park. Subsequent games are on October 28, 30, and 31 respectively. Venues for the games will alternate between San Francisco and Arlington, Texas. If the series is extended beyond 4 games, the games will be played on November 1, 3, and 4. All games will be broadcast by FOX TV (in the U.S.).