For a while I thought maybe this would be the year the Twinkies get the Yankees' number. New stadium, possibly the best record for home field throughout the playoffs and plenty of time to get healthy waiting to see who they get. The problem is they have injuries to their horses and might have a problem getting out of the first round. They will probably get the Wild Card team (Yankees).
Tampa will get to the ALCS by whacking Texas and wait for the fallout of the Twins/Yankees and then dispatch them accordingly, probably 7 games if it's the Yankees and 5 if it's the Twins.
Philly's insane with pitching and chomping at the bit to make up for last year. I wouldn't want to be any team facing them and a possible 4-0 finish.
IMO the Yankees did a strong job all year but can't get a friggin runner in from third with less than 2 outs. Girardi micro-manages, a la Joe Torre and I hope he goes to Chicago next year. A-Rod has ditched the choke tag but with Tex and Cano protecting him in the lineup it's not enough. CC will be CC and get a win or 2, Hughes will step up and lose a 1-0 type game and Petite will give up 1 too many runs in another close game. Mariano has tasted too much failure in the last month of the season and the mystique is cracked. (Notice I didn't mention the .500 head case Burnett.)
Tampa over NY, Phillies over anybody and I wouldn't be surprised if they only lose 1 game in the entire post season. They are playing possessed.
Stay tuned for the post-Series riot reports from Philadelphia! :-)