(yahoo images)It's fairly common knowledge that I am a Cubs fan. This is unfortunate, because obviously the Cubs are terrible. I like any passionate baseball fan, do not like the teams in my division. The Pirates are harmless because, up until this year, have always been beatable and a borderline laughingstock. The Astros have recently taken up this futility, so they play the role of the shitty team with no chance that I know we get to pad our record against 18 times a year. The Reds used to just play us relatively even and have the likes of Adam Dunn etc. launch 500 foot homers out of Wrigley. They became the enemy last year with their playoff run, and Joey Votto's snub of Marlon Byrd at the All-Star Game. That leaves the Brewers and the Cardinals. We used to be able to call Miller Park our second home, as the place always seemed to be at least split 50-50 between Brewers and Cubs fans, as the Northsiders typically made the short trip North to Milwaukee to take over the stadium. Now, the Brew Crew has arguably the best home field advantage in baseball, with a record of 57-24 this season. St. Louis has always been St. Louis. I've hated them since the days of Vince Coleman, Ozzie Smith and his stupid backflips, and Whitey Herzog. When I was 6 and started with my unhealthy sports obsession, my neighbor that lived across the street, Mr. Corcoran used to taunt me hard about how good his Cards were, and how the Cubs were never going to beat them. For the most part aside from some isolated success, he's been right. To sum up, I hate the Cardinals, and I only moderately hate the Brewers. None of this matters in terms of who will win, so here's an attempt at an unbiased breakdown.
Catcher: Yadier Molina has a neck tattoo, while Jonathan Lucroy has a neck beard. They both had solid years, but I give the slight edge to the best of the three Molina brothers. Yadier probably got picked on being the youngest like my brother Matt, and although Bengie doesn't have multiple DUI's, he probably did the same things as me, like telling Yadier he was adopted in Spanish, serving as motivation to achieve greater than his older brothers. Advantage: Cards
Infield: The Brewers go with Prince Fielder, Rickie Weeks, Yuniesky Betancourt, and Jerry Hairston; while the Cards go with Albert Pujols, Nick Punto/Skip Schumaker, Rafael Furcal, and David Freese. Look for Pujols and Fielder to put on a show, effectively campaigning to be the Cubs 1B in 2012. They might have a combined OPS of over 2.000 clamoring for this honor. At this point, I would take Weeks' rookie brother Jermile from Oakland over poor Rickie at this point, as he went 1-15 in NLDS. I'd say the X-factor is Freese, who will be an All-Star if he ever stays healthy for a full season. Advantage: Cards
Outfield: I can't think of anything negative to say about Ryan Braun. If not for Matty Kemp, he'd be the clear-cut MVP this season. And he's taken it up a notch in the postseason, with an average of .467 and an OPS of close to 1.400. We all know about the exploits of a certain ex-National, Tony Plush. And Corey Hart looks like he could be a long lost Sites brother, but is a bit more athletic. Meanwhile, Matt Holliday is banged up, and Lance Berkman is still fat. Advanatage: Brew Crew
(yahoo images)Starting Pitching: I'd go with Chris Carpenter over any of these starters if I had one do or die game to win. (See Friday Night's classic 3 hit shutout). In terms of depth however, I'd side with the Brewers. Although they didn't pitch well against Arizona, Grienke and Marcum had great seasons. I still look at Kyle Lohse as a bit of a fluke, and you really can't trust Edwin Jackson if the White Sox decided he wasn't good enough to play for them and their flaming bag of dogshit baseball season they just completed. Randy Wolf sucks, but I'd take the Milwaukee top 3 over the St. Louis twosome of Carpenter and Jaime Garcia. Advantage: Brew Crew
Bullpen: Jason Motte has been lights out lately, but John Axford has been lights out all year. The erratic Francisco Rodriquez doesn't dazzle anyone with his WHIP numbers, but he always seems to skate out of trouble. The teams are evenly matched here, as Octavio Dotel, Marc Rzaepppppejazzzzsnki, and Fernando Salas all have been solid. Advantage: Even
Bench: I like the edge the Cards have here with Ryan Theriot, Skip Schumaker, and rookies Adren Chambers and Daniel Descalso. The Brewers have Carlos Gomez playing out of his head, but not much else outside of Casey McGehee, who's gone from fantasy sleeper at 3B, to Jerry Hairston's backup in a span of two months. Advantage: Cardinals
Managers: The only memorable thing I can think of with Ron Roenekie's first year is his frequent use of the defensive shift, sometimes to the Brewers detriment. La Russa might win the "manager that holds the title belt for the biggest douchebag in baseball," but you can't argue with the success he's had both in Oakland, and in St. Louis. I give the Cards the nod here. Advantage: Cardinals
Post breakdown, it seems as though I'm unfortunately going to go with St. Louis. I think the pitching is slighly better, they have more options off the bench, and a better overall lineup. I think it will go all 7 games, but look for the Cards to host Game 1 of the World Series against the Rangers.
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