Baseball fans are one round away from a possible renewal of one of the game's great rivalries. And TSN Insider Steve Phillips thinks that Yankees versus Dodgers is a real possibility.
So much so, that Phillips is picking the legendary franchises to win their respective League Championship Series and meet in the Fall Classic.
The Yankees, who put away the Minnesota Twins in a three-game sweep during their division series, are playing the kind of baseball that has impressed Phillips. But he thinks it won't be easy against an Angels squad that also produced a sweep of the Boston Red Sox.
"I think right now that the Yankees are going to beat the Angels in seven games," Phillips told TSN. "I had it the other way (earlier), but after watching the Yankees, I think the difference in this series is Alex Rodriguez and Mariano Rivera. Rivera is better than Brian Fuentes, and I think that the Yankees steal one late and win that series."
In the National League, the Dodgers will have their hands full with the defending world champion Philadelphia Phillies. But Phillips says that Los Angeles has a key advantage that should help them win the series.
"I think the Dodgers' left-handed pitchers, Randy Wolf and Clayton Kershaw, and in the bullpen, George Sherrill and Hong-Chih Kuo can neutralize the big left-handed bats of the Philadelphia Phillies," said Phillips. "What this means in the end is Joe Torre, former Yankee manager, takes on his old team in a Dodgers vs. Yankees classic World Series."
The last time that the teams met in the World Series was 1981, when the Dodgers topped the Yankees in six games after losing the first two contests at Yankee Stadium. The teams also met in back-to-back Fall Classics in 1977-78, with the Yankees winning each time in six games.