CHICAGO CUBS
VS.
LOS ANGELES DODGERS
From what I understand, the Dodgers are an amalgamation of homegrown minor league talent from their superior farm system, and former members of the Boston Red Sox. Which means some of them have a lot of playoff experience, and some of them have almost none.
The Cubs hold the statistical advantage in this series, particularly on offense. They have the best run differential in baseball, and scored more runs than all but one team. Chicago also has a sizable lead in rpi, ranking fourth, compared to the Dodgers' 18th. I don't know exactly what that means, but it sounds ominous.
If there's one area the Dodgers look like they might be able to best the Cubs, it's on the mound. Chad Billingsley and Derek Lowe both have sub-3.00 ERAs following the all-star break. For the Cubs, Zambrano has looked as terrible as he's looked invincible. Dempster has had a superb season, yet for some reason remains untested in the eyes of the media.
This series is getting a lot of mention as an "upset special". If Billingsley and Lowe can best the Cub aces, then the Dodgers could take this. In similar hypotheticals, if the Dodgers manage to win more games in this series than the Cubs, I think they might just win it.
CUBS IN 4.
PS - Here's the preview tease of this series, as featured on ESPN.com
If you scroll down, on the SAME PAGE below the fold, you'll find this:
Just how scary are the dodgers? Apparently not very.
