Rangers vs. Yankees, the showdown was supposed to be. The dark horse was meant to be the Nationals, until they pulled out.

And suddenly, Cliff will be playing back at Citizens Bank Park, rather than Yankee Stadium, Nationals Park, or Rangers Ballpark. I suspected that Cliff Lee wouldn't be going to New York, after the way they treated his wife (and I've heard that when the wife isn't happy, nobody's happy), and I figured that he would be going to the Rangers, since they were the up-and-comers and he had made it to the World Series with them. Instead, he went to the team he had gone to the World Series the previous year.

Now let's see anyone beat the Phillies now, with a rotation that is dominated by aces: Halladay, Lee, Oswalt, and Hamels. And maybe Blanton will be pitching every fifth day, but that means that thy would only lose one fifth of their games, added on the the three or four the rest of the rotation would lose.

So now the inevitable prediction for the 2011 World Series is Phillies-Red Sox.

But of course, the best teams in the offseason don't always make the World Series: See San Francisco Giants and Texas Rangers.