Who Will Make the World Series from the National League?

Last week we were treated to some pretty good baseball, though all four series were pretty short the games themselves had some decent drama. We had closers blowing leads and umpires blowing calls. After all the dust settled we wound up with the two best teams, at least by regular season records, left in each league. The National League Championship Series starts tomorrow and I figured it would be a good time to get out the crystal ball and make some predictions.

The NLCS starts first so we will start there as well. The Philadelphia Phillies and the Los Angeles Dodgers face off in a rematch of the 2008 NLCS. In 2008 the Phillies won the series in five games. This year I think it will take one more game, but they will still come out on top.

The Phillies will need starting pitcher Cole Hamels to come up big in the series. Hamels had a disappointing year going 10-11 on the year yet he will still take the mound for game one of the series. The Phillies second starter, Cliff Lee, has been rock solid this year after his out of the blue AL Cy Young Award winning year last season with the Indians. Rookie J.A. Happ or veteran Pedro Martinez will start games 3 and 4. The Phillies offense is led by Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, and Ryan Howard. Though their collective numbers may be down a little form last year they have a habit of coming through in the big moments. The one major concern for the Phils is closer Brad Lidge who had a horrible year blowing 11 out of 42 save opportunities during the regular season but was 2 for 2 in saves in the division series.

The Dodgers aren't nearly as potent on the offensive side as the Phillies. The pop in the lineup is in the outfield with Manny Ramirez, Andre Ethier, and Matt Kemp. Ramirez hasn't seemed to be completely right since he returned from his 50 game suspension back on July 3. Ramirez finished the year with just 19 home runs and 63 RBI. Ethier and Kemp have emerged as stars in the league. The Dodgers starting pitching is a bit of a jumbled mess as they have named Clayton Kershaw the starter of game one and the rest of the rotation remains a mystery, but will probably include veterans Randy Wolf and Jeff Weaver. The Dodgers bullpen was one of the best during the regular season and is lead by hard throwing closer Jonathan Broxton.

To me the series boils down to can the Dodgers starters hold down the Phillies offense long enough to get their bullpen involved and I think the answer is no. The Dodgers will probably have to rely too heavily on the arms of Wolf and Weaver who are nothing more than average pitchers. The Phillies hitters will wear down the Dodgers pitchers in six games and will once again be in the World Series.