Tagged As: World Series, Sports, MLB Playoffs

The World Series this season is going to be interesting as the Philadelphia Phillies take on the Tampa Bay Rays. It is the battle of the have nots and the have not in a while.

The Rays have a team that has performed masterfully on the mound and at the plate in both postseason series so far. The inexperienced Rays managed to keep their team ERA down to 3.62. Starting pitchers Matt Garza and James Shields were able to survive the dangerous bats of the Boston Red Sox with relatively few runs allowed. Garza won the ALCS MVP for his 2-0 record and 1.38 ERA during the series.

The bats have been alive all postseason long for Tamp Bay. Rays tickets to Tropicana Field have seen a team that set an ALCS record with 16 home runs (the prior record was 13). B.J. Upton may not be known as a power hitter after this past regular season, but the bat that managed to hit 24 home runs out of the ball park in 2007 has made a comeback and leads the team with seven dingers in the series.

The Philadelphia Phillies have not exactly struggled themselves. The team dispatched the Brewers easily in four games and the Dodgers in five. That 7-2 postseason record is quite impressive as the team that has been slowly gaining ground in the National League has made it to the championship series.

The Phillies tickets for their home games at Citizens Bank Park seem pretty safe, but Philadelphia will have to play better on the road, where they were 3-2 in the playoffs. Since the American League won the World Series, they get home field advantage.

The Phillies struggled offensively in the first two playoff series. This seems like an odd thing to say since the strength of the club is its batting lineup, but the team only managed to hit .259 in these first nine games. Those bats- specifically those of Ryan Howard, Pat Burrell, Chase Utley, and Jimmy Rollins-will need to be far more explosive to make sure that the new upstart Rays do not make this a short World Series.

World Series Tickets