2013 World Series Prediction: Boston Red Sox vs. St. Louis Cardinals

In the ultimate slap in the face to Bobby Valentine, the Red Sox are in the World Series, only a year removed winning 69 games.  They'll square off against the Cardinals starting this Wednesday, and I don't see how you can bet against them.

Boston has been the most consistent team all year.  They hit pretty well at every position, have a good to great top-four starting pitchers, and with Craig Breslow and Koji Uehara, the game might as well be seven innings, as both pitchers have been virtually unhittable.

The Sox made a habit of getting no-hit for about five innings/game against Detroit, but still found a way to win the Series in six games.  They got shut down against Max Scherzer twice, but the bullpen gave up a grand slam in each game, and Boston won both games.  They also managed only one run against Justin Verlander, who was brilliant in the postseason, and won the game 1-0.  I just don't see how you combat that kind of timely hitting and never-say-die momentum that they have been carrying through the playoffs.

The Cardinals have been impressive as well.  They have also had some timely hitting, and were able to avoid a collapse after holding a 3-1 lead over the Dodgers, the way they did last year against the Giants.  If not for the emergence of Michael Wacha, I would be even more confident in the Red Sox to win it all, but Wacha has been even better than Adam Wainwright in the playoffs, and deservedly won the NLCS MVP.

If Wacha can continue his recent success, then the Cardinals will have a good chance to win the four games they'll need to win with Wainwright and Wacha each likely to start two if the series goes long enough.

I think these teams are similar, with the Cards having a little bit better starting pitching at the top, and the Red Sox having a little more depth to the rotation.  In tight games, though, you have to have a good bullpen to either stop the bleeding or to cling to a small lead, and the Red Sox have found a winning combination there.

As a Yankees fan, I will be rooting for the Cardinals to win it all, but I just don't see it happening.  I hope I'm wrong, but objectively, I'll give the nod to the Sox to win the series 4-2.

[Editor's note: This post is by John Trifone (@JohnnyT0122), who also contributes at our NFL site: Eat, Drink and Sleep Football (see John's archives).]

MLB Midseason Awards: N.L. Cy Young Award

The NL Cy Young has a lot of guys in the mix for the award at this juncture, with no one really standing head and shoulders above the rest.

Depending on your personal criteria, you can easily make a case for Adam Wainwright who is 12-5 with a 2.45 ERA, Matt Harvey 7-2 with a 2.35 ERA and a league-leading 147 strikeouts, Jeff Locke who is 8-2 with a 2.15 ERA, Patrick Corbin who is 11-1 with a 2.35 ERA, or Jordan Zimmerman who is 12-4 with a 2.58 ERA.

All are great choices with excellent records and ERAs. Some people will favor strikeouts, others favor wins/losses.

Personally, I'm an ERA guy. You can't control your run support, so I don't feel that wins/losses should be held against you for an individual award. While high strikeout totals do impress, I'm also not going to hold efficiency against a pitcher if he gets ground ball outs and throws fewer pitches than a power pitcher.

All that said, I'll give my midseason award to Clayton Kershaw, who is a mere 8-6 but has a 1.98 ERA.
The Dodgers started the season off poorly, and clearly Kershaw did not get a lot of run support early on. He is the only pitcher in baseball with a sub-2.00 ERA, and he has only eight wins.

If Kershaw can remain under two runs per game, it will put him in the company of guys like Roger Clemens, Pedro Martinez, and Greg Maddux, and definitely makes him worthy of the midseason Cy Young.

See A.L. choices: Cy Young leader - MVP leader

[Editor's note: This post is by John Trifone (@JohnnyT0122), who also contributes at our NFL site: Eat, Drink and Sleep Football (see John's archives).]

Adam Wainwright faced live hitters on Thursday

Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright, who had Tommy John surgery roughly a year ago, faced hitters this morning.

"I really don't feel like I've missed a year," Wainwright said, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "It feels like I'm stepping back into something that is comfortable. It feels natural."

Wainwright, who missed all of 2011, was a combined 39-19 with 402 strikeouts in the previous two seasons. His ERAs were 2.63 and 2.42 in 2009 and 2010, respectively.

Currently at No. 24 in our starting pitcher rankings, Wainwright provides plenty of upside (and a little bit of risk) for fantasy owners.