2008 World Series Predictions

If I told you the World Series would be Rays/Phillies in Spring Training, you'd all laugh at me. Well, it happened and who will it be? Who will win it all? Here is some analysis:

Catcher:
Dioner Navarro (TB) vs Carlos Ruiz (PHI)
Navarro's postseason has not been great compared to his regular season. He is batting .268 with no homeruns and 5 RBI. Carlos Ruiz's postseason has not been great either, hitting .200 with only 1 RBI. Both have bad offensive numbers, but the edge here goes to Navarro because of the great game he calls. Navarro can manage pitchers very well and knows what pitch to call in key situations.
Edge: Navarro

First Base:
Carlos Pena (TB) vs Ryan Howard (PHI)
In the postseason, Pena is .333 with 3 homeruns, 8 RBI, and an OPS over 1.000. Pena also has 3 stolen bases, 2 more than he had in all of the regular season. Ryan Howard's postseason performance has been mediocre. A .258 batting average with no homeruns and a mere 3 RBI have not shown his full potential. His .733 OPS is over .150 points below his regular season average. Between their playoff performance, Pena has outmatched Howard by a landslide.
Edge: Pena

Second Base:
Akinori Iwamura (TB) vs Chase Utley (PHI)
Iwamura's postseason has been alright by his standards. A .277 batting average is close to what he put up in the regular season. He has 1 homerun, 4 RBI, and a .805 OPS in the playoffs. His SLG in the postseason is .067 points higher than in the regular season. Chase Utley has also struggled in the postseason with a .250 batting average, 1 homerun, 5 RBI, and an OPS of .838 (nearly .080 points below his regular season total). With their playoff performance, I'd call this a tie, but with their impact on their team, the edge goes to Utley.
Edge: Utley

Third Base:
Evan Longoria (TB) vs Pedro Feliz (PHI)
Longoria's postseason has been up and down. He began the playoffs with 2 homeruns in as many at-bats in the ALDS against the Whitesox. After game 1 (3-3, 2 HR, 3 RBI), he fell in an 0-13 slump. In the ALCS against the Redsox, Longoria began struggling, but than emerged powerful, hitting 4 homeruns in consecutive games. His subtotal statistics were .262 with 6 homeruns and 11 RBI and a 1.102 OPS. Pedro Feliz has not had as good a postseason as Longoria. Feliz's batting average in the playoffs is below the Mendoza line, only 5 hits in 26 at-bats. He has no homeruns and only 2 RBI. Longoria is the better player.
Edge: Longoria

Shortstop:
Jason Bartlett (TB) vs Jimmy Rollins (PHI)
Jason Bartlett's postseason is not all too well either with a .243 batting average and only 1 HR. Jimmy Rollins' statistics are almost identical to Bartlett's. He too has a .243 batting average but only has 2 homeruns. Bartlett and Rollins combined have 3 RBI, all via solo homeruns. Rollins is not the team leader he was last year. Bartlett has had his share of defensive struggles of late as well. In a name-game, Rollins would have the edge, but right here it is a tie.
Edge: Tie

Left Field:
Carl Crawford (TB) vs Pat Burrell (PHI)
Though Crawford does not have any homeruns in the playoffs, he does have 6 stolen bases. He has a .303 batting average and 6 RBI as well. The Phillies' Pat Burrell does have some power, hitting 3 homeruns and 9 RBI in 9 games. He has a .300 batting average as well with a .964 OPS. It is very close between the two of them, so I will probably give this a tie. Crawford has the speed the Rays need and Burrell is showing the power the Phillies have lacked in the postseason.
Edge: Tie

Center Field:
B.J. Upton (TB) vs Shane Victorino (PHI)
Upton has had a tremendous postseason and that cannot be denied. He hit 7 homeruns with 15 RBI in the 11 games played with a .304 average and an OPS close to 1.200. 9 of Upton's 14 hits have been for extra-bases and he also has 2 stolen bases. Shane Victorino's arm patrolling center field for the Phillies is a valuable asset to have. He has a lot of speed with his 3 stolen bases. "The Flyin' Hawaiian" has 2 homeruns and 11 RBI for the Phillies too. Upton's power is just too much to compare with Victorino's statistics.
Edge: Upton

Right Field:
Gabe Gross/Rocco Baldelli (TB) vs Jayson Werth (PHI)
Gross and Baldelli have not had the greatest statistics in the playoffs. Gross is batting below .100 and Baldelli is only batting .214. Werth's numbers have not been great either, but certainly better than those of the Rays'. Werth has 1 RBI (via solo homerun) and a .243 batting average. Neither right fielder has been successful but Werth gets the edge here.
Edge: Werth

Designated Hitter (when necessary):
Cliff Floyd (TB) vs Matt Stairs (PHI)
Floyd only has a .200 batting average with a homerun and 2 RBI. The 35-year old outfielder has been on a sharp decline since his spectacular 2005 season with 34 homeruns and 98 RBI. Since, he only has 31 homeruns and 128 in the 3 seasons since. Matt Stairs only has 3 postseason at-bats this year. He is 1/3 with a 2-run homerun. Both have struggled throughout their careers and throughout their playoff games in 2008 (granted, Stairs only had 3 at-bats) but overall it is a tie.
Edge: Tie

Starting Rotation:
Shields/Kazmir/Garza/Sonnanstine (TB) vs Hamels/Myers/Moyer/Blanton (PHI)
James Shields was chosen as the postseason ace for a reason: he is a big game pitcher. His record does not show for it. He is 1-2 with a 3.72 ERA. Not bad for the 26 year old. Scott Kazmir has gone through struggles of his own. Though he is 1-0, he has 2 no-decisions. He finished the ALDS and ALCS with an era of 4.02. Kazmir is a very good southpaw pitcher for the Rays and the 23 year old can only improve. Matt Garza won the ALCS MVP for a reason: he was that good. In 13 ALCS innings pitched, he allowed only 2 runs and had 14 Ks. Andy Sonnanstine was 2-0 in the playoffs with a 3.46 ERA. He is not a power pitcher like Kazmir or Garza, but Sonnanstine has been effective, allowing only 9 hits and 2 walks in his 13 innings pitched. To say Phillies' pitcher Cole Hamels is great is an understatement. He is 3-0 in the 2008 playoffs with 22 Ks in 22 innings pitched. He has a 1.23 ERA, allowing only 3 runs in his performance. Hamels is one of the league's best left-handed pitchers now and because he's only 24, there is a long time for his dominance to be shown around baseball. Brett Myers is 2-0 in the postseason but with a 5.25 ERA. He allowed 7 runs in 12 IP in the playoffs to date. Jamie Moyer has had a postseason to forget. He has pitched in 2 games but for a total of 5.1 innings. He allowed 8 earned runs in those innings with 10 hits and 3 walks. Aside from Cole Hamels, Philly's rotation is subpar. The Rays have a great, young rotation.
Edge: Rays

Bullpen:
Rays vs Phillies
Grant Balfour has had a good postseason with the exception of 1 outing (4 ER in .2 ip). Aside from that one dreadful outing, he allowed 1run in 5 innings. Chad Bradford allowed only 1 run in 6 innings pitched for the Rays as well. Lefties J.P. Howell and Trever Miller pitched a combined 10.1 innings, allowing only 2 runs and striking out 13. Dan Wheeler also had skewed playoff statistics. He pitched 6 innings and allowed 4 runs, but in 1 outing he pitched 1.1 innings and allowed 3 runs. David Price pitched 2.1 shutout innings in the playoffs too. Philadelphia's bullpen has been led by Clay Condrey (1.2 ip, 1 earned run), Scott Eyre (2.1 ip, 1 er), Chad Durbin (2.2 ip, 2 r, 1 er), J.A. Happ (3 ip, 1 er), J.C. Romero (2.2 shutout innings), and Ryan Madson (9 ip, 1 run). Brad Lidge, the Philly closer, has 5 saves and struck out 10 in 7.1 innings. It is too close to call, but Philadelphia gets the egde because of its consistency.
Edge: Phillies

Prediction:
I am predicting the Rays to win the World Series in 6 games. Cole Hamels is too good to beat this postseason and the Rays will take advantage of the rest of the weak Philly rotation. The Rays' offense has slugged their way to victory and will continue to do so.