Setting The Table: The ALCS

The next-to-last stop in the Cleveland Indians' quest for the World Series will be the toughest challenge faced by the club so far: heading into the venerable, hitter-friendly confines of Fenway Park to face the Boston Red Sox in a 7 game series to determine who will represent the American League in the World Series against the newly-crowned NLCS champion (which should be, barring a startling reversal of momentum, the white-hot Colorado Rockies, who haven't lost a game since, like, July).

The current set-up of the games that will be played:

Fri.., Oct. 12 / Fenway Park / C.C. Sabathia vs. Josh Beckett
Sat., Oct. 13 / Fenway Park/ Fausto Carmona vs. Curt Schilling
Mon., Oct. 15 / Jacobs Field / Jake Westbrook vs. Daisuke Matsuzaka
Tue., Oct. 16 / Jacobs Field / Paul Byrd vs. Tim Wakefield (?)

If necessary (which is almost a foregone conclusion, if you ask me), Game 5 will be played at The Jake, with Games 6 and 7 happening back at Fenway.

As for what to expect ... a lot of great, (hopefully) close games, played with heart and guts by both sides. This will be a bumpy road: even if the Tribe manages to move ahead, there will be losses to endure as the Sox are a tough and worthy opponent: a whole different kettle of fish than the recently-eliminated New York Yankees, in retrospect. While New York's starting pitching weaknesses were glaringly exposed against the Tribe's surging bats, the Red Sox are just as deep in quality arms as Cleveland (perhaps even more so, with the addition of Matsuzaka this year) and they pack a dangerous offense nearly as bruising as the legendary Bronx Bombers (and arguably far more intense at the plate: watch what happens whenever Dustin Predroia or Kevin Youkilis strikes out).

As of this writing, I honestly can't pick a winner for this series. On paper, the Red Sox are a superior ball club to the Indians in nearly every category across the board. That said, the Indians do have a shot as long as the pitching holds up and the offense is capable of exploiting any opportunities that arise (the two-out rally was a very effective weapon against New York last weekend). Basically, a lot of what will win this ALCS will come down to "who benefits the most from the breaks." With a little luck, perhaps, we'll also see two or three of the best (read: most white-knuckle inducing) pitching contests of the year, particularly when Beckett and Schilling are on the mound.

Here we go again ...