I think the Yankees can do it. They have had so much adversity, using 51 players so far in what must feel like a "cut and paste" year for them. And yet, they're hanging tough.

The Red Sox, while playing without their closer Foulke, and their ace, Schilling, for most of the year (added to NOT having Pedro Martinez and Derrick Lowe in their rotation anymore), deserve a lot of credit for staying atop the AL East since April 29th. But, how long can shaky pitching be covered up by good hitting and fantastic chemistry? They may be due for a fall.

The Angels, are a very disciplined club who have a chance to steal the AL pennant because of their clutch savior Vlad Guerrero and their terrific closing tandem of Scot Shields and Frankie Rodriguez.

I think the same way of the White Sox as I did of the last few years' Minnesota Twins: when it comes to playoff time, they're not ready to win the big ones yet. Cleveland is another story: they are not as good as they're playing but with so little time left in the season (2 weeks), and with another series with the very weak Kansas City team, they only have a sprint left to win the wild card.

In the National League, the conventional wisdom says the St. Louis Cardinals, but I never liked teams coached by Tony La Russa (or Dusty baker) to go all the way. La Russa's too careful (and Dusty is not careful enough). I'll bet this: none of the divison leaders--Atlanta, St. Louis and San Diego, want the Florida Marlins to make the playoffs as the wild card team. Those three arms, Dontrelle Willis, A.J. Burnett and Josh Beckett are highly flammable in a short series. The Phillies are a patient team and Houston has Clemens, Oswalt and Pettite, also terrific, clutch, pitchers. But, I'm still betting on the Marlins to win the wild card with their pitching.

World Series: Yankees beat the Cardinals in 6.