NL Championship Series Starts Tonight With Diamondbacks And Rockies

When this baseball season began, the popular picks to reach the World Series in the National League were the New York Mets and the Los Angeles Dodgers, but after the smoke cleared on the season, two unlikely teams are in the championship series.

The Arizona Diamondbacks should not be a surprise to anyone that they are playing in this series, after all, they did finish the regular season with the best record in the National League.

Colorado, for anyone that has been paying attention to baseball over the past month, should also not be considered a surprise, all they did was win 18 of their last 19 games coming into this series.

The two teams will again test the old adage that good pitching beats good hitting in the playoffs. Arizona comes in with one of the top two pitchers in the NL, last year's Cy Young winner Brandon Webb, while the Rockies are the hottest hitting team on the planet.

Something will have to give, be it the Cinderella season that the D-Backs are having, or the improbable finish for Colorado.

Although this series seems east to handicap, there are some intangible factors. The Rockies have an unknown ace in Jeff Francis that has been spectacular on the mound this year, and Arizona has clutch hitting from their young line up.

The series will be shown, starting tonight, on TBS, and if the odds makers have any idea about the outcome, then it will be the Rockies who will move on as they are a small favorite at -135. The Diamondbacks are getting a price of +115.



2007-10-11