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This is a position that the Texas Rangers are all too familiar with. It’s a position they’ve been in through their first two postseason series, and they’ll play the role one more time.

What is that role, you ask? It’s being the underdog.

When the Rangers made it to the postseason, no one expected them to get past the Tampa Bay Rays let alone be the American League Champions. They weren’t supposed to beat the Rays, and they sure weren’t given a snowball’s chance in hell against the defending champion New York Yankees.

Once the Rangers had knocked off the Rays in the American League Divisional Series, the New York media started its onslaught of entitlement. A few of which actually put the Yankees in the World Series before they had even met the Rangers in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series.

After the Yankees came back and won Game 1 after trailing most of the night, most of the fans here in Texas thought every bit of momentum from that game was gone, and the series could be over all too soon.

While some might have counted them out after the first night, the Rangers weren’t counting themselves out, and they proved it over the next five games. Finally putting them down for good in Game 6, Texas sent the defending champions home for the ninth time in 10 years.

Much to the chagrin of the media that didn’t expect a thing from the Rangers or the ones that expected them to lay down and let the Yankees walk all over them, it was the Yankees that watched another team celebrate.

Now, after playing the underdog for two straight series, they’ll be in the position one more time, but this time it comes in the World Series against the National League Champion San Francisco Giants.

The team from the Bay Area finished off a 4-2 series win over another heavily favored team, the Philadelphia Phillies.

They have young pitchers in Tim Lincecum, Jonathan Sanchez and Matt Cain. Three guys who can shut down just about any team they face.

Most will talk about how the Giants shut down the Phillies offense, but even they pale in comparison to either the Yankees or the Rangers. So far this postseason, the Phillies had a team batting average of .215, a 45 point drop from their .260 combined batting average during the regular season.

But, say what you want about the Phillies, the Giants offense wasn’t much better, dropping 26 points from the regular season (.257) to the postseason (.231).

On the flip side of the coin, the Texas Rangers picked up right where they left off from the regular season. They led all of baseball in team batting average (.276), only dropping three points during the postseason (.273).

When Vladimir Guerrero wasn’t hitting, they got big hits from Josh Hamilton, Michael Young, Bengie Molina and Nelson Cruz. But, whey needed Guerrero the most, he came through in Game 6 with a clutch two-run double before Cruz put the game away for good.

They have guys who can come up big at any given time. They have a lineup that has speed up front with Elvis Andrus, power in the middle with Guerrero, Hamilton and Cruz, and role players who can pick up the slack with Ian Kinsler, Molina and David Murphy.

The one thing that you can count on being thrown out are “historic stats” between the two teams like ESPN’s Buster Olney has already done this morning. It’s inevitable that people will find some way to make their team look like the favorite in the days leading up to Game 1 of the World Series on Wednesday night.

But, no matter how many stats we want to throw out and no matter who has or hasn’t done well in the past against this pitcher, we saw how history worked out for the Yankees in the ALCS. They had owned the Rangers in the past, but the past doesn’t always translate to the present.

Where this game will be won is on the hill. The Rangers were ninth in baseball in team ERA (3.93) during the regular season and have been nothing short of dominant in the postseason, putting up a combined 2.40 ERA.

The Rangers are expected to have Cliff Lee in Game 1 followed by C.J. Wilson in Game 2 and either Colby Lewis or Tommy Hunter in Game 3 at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

For the Giants, they are most likely to go with Tim Lincecum in Game 1, Jonathan Sanchez in Game 2 and Matt Cain in Game 3.

Let’s get to the heart of what this World Series is really all about. CBS Sports’ Gregg Doyel spelled this out in a brilliant manner and far better than I ever could. This is a World Series between two mid-majors, if you forgive the college football pun.

The Yankees are out as are the Phillie,s and the Los Angeles Dodgers decided to quit with two months left in the season.

The media isn’t salivating over the pinstripes; they don’t get to talk about their crush on Mariano Rivera, Alex Rodriguez or Derek Jeter for at least another three months and change. They can’t stand that. Who is going to watch a World Series between two teams who actually earned, not bought, their way onto the biggest stage in baseball?

This guy.

It’s a series that will feature some of the best pitching baseball has to offer. It will also feature a guy you can’t help but love (Josh Hamilton), a guy with a beard that continues to get darker by the day (Brian Wilson), a guy who will get a World Series ring no matter who wins (Bengie Molina), and arguably one of the worst, or best depending on how you look at it, haircuts you’ll ever see (Tim Lincecum).

These are two good teams with a bunch of guys who you won’t hate nearly as much as those who hate the Yankees.

There is no Alex Rodriguez type arrogance, there are no Nick Swisher type barrages of ‘f’ bombs to explain their feelings about facing Cliff Lee, and there will be no home made signs that say “Can’t we just sign both Lee and Hamilton,” caught by the TBS cameras while in New York.

The Rangers and Giants don’t have the best players money can buy. These two teams have the kind of talent that makes a World Series worth watching.

The glass slipper could be the most overrated symbol in all of sports. But, we love to root for the underdog don’t we? Well, at least most of us do.

For both cities, this is as big as it gets because neither city has much to root for when it comes to football. The Giants and Rangers are saving the NFL fans who are suffering by having to watch two lackluster football teams. The Cowboys and 49ers are a combined 2-9 so far this season. Yeah, it’s not been a good year for them.

Whether you think the networks will hate this World Series, you can bet that both AT&T Park and the Ballpark in Arlington will be sold out for every game that takes place at each respective stadium. These fans are chomping at the bit for Game 1, and they are ready for a World Series Championship to be brought home to their town.

For the Texas Rangers, this will be the defining moment for their franchise. They have been through an ownership change, they’ve been through slumps, the ineffectiveness of Scott Feldman and Rich Harden and jubilation when they acquired Cliff Lee from the Seattle Mariners.

This is a solid group of guys. Every single one has come up with a big hit during this postseason, every single one has done what the team required of them to get this far.

They’ve knocked off the best the American League had to offer. Now, they are just four wins away from their first ever World Series title.

The team’s mantra, “It’s Time,” has held true all season long. They have one more hurdle to clear and they’ve come too far to lose now.

The Texas Rangers, and their fans, believe it’s their time. They’re ready to celebrate in Arlington, a celebration that, for the first time, won’t have anything to do with the Dallas Cowboys.

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After 162 regular season games and two rounds of playoffs, there are only two teams left standing: the San Francisco Giants and the Texas Rangers.

With these two unlikely league champions set to square off in the 2010 World Series on Wednesday night, there are certainly plenty of disappointed fans in New York and Philadelphia.

While many casual baseball fans and network executives at Fox were hoping for a 2009 World Series rematch of the Yankees–Phillies, as a series featuring the Rangers and Giants may not be good for Bud Selig and Fox’s ratings; it will, however, ultimately be good for baseball.

It’s good for Rangers fans who have been waiting for this moment since the team’s inception as the Washington Senators in 1961; it’s good for San Francisco Giants fans that have been waiting for a World Series title since they were still playing baseball at the Polo Grounds in New York back in 1954.

It’s good for a fan of any small market team that isn’t supposed to make it this far, with juggernauts like the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies standing in their way.

This year’s World Series will give the casual fan the opportunity to become familiar with players not named Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez or Ryan Howard. Instead, the names Cody Ross, Nelson Cruz, Colby Lewis and Matt Cain will become recognizable. Also, guys like Josh Hamilton and Tim Lincecum will finally get the national media attention they deserve.

It’s not as though there won’t be plenty of intriguing story lines in this year’s World Series: Cliff Lee versus Tim Lincecum in Game 1 has the potential to be one of the best World Series pitching duels in recent memory, feel-good stories like the triumph of Josh Hamilton over substance abuse and the emergence of Cody Ross as an unlikely playoff hero are sure to garner the attention of sports fans everywhere. The list goes on.

In the MLB, there is no salary cap and there is anything but a level playing field in terms of payroll. When the New York Yankees annually spend 250 percent of the $84 million median payroll of the entire league, things are anything but fair.

In addition to the Yankees, the Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies all spend nearly twice as much as the league median. It’s no surprise that three of these four teams are perennial championship contenders.

Enter the San Francisco Giants and the Texas Rangers.

The Giants did have a $97 million payroll, good enough for 10th in the league, but considering $18 million of that is tied up in Barry Zito, who didn’t even make the playoff roster, that’s $79 million on the team that beat the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies in the postseason, which happens to be $5 million lower than the league median.

The Rangers’ story is even more intriguing. At the beginning of the 2010 season, the Rangers’ organization was bankrupt and actually owned by Major League Baseball. Their opening day payroll of $55 million ranked 27th in MLB, ahead of only the Pirates, Padres and Athletics.

Luckily for small market teams, this season further proves that no amount of money is guaranteed to buy a championship. The Yankees can go out and spend money like they own the mint, yet couldn’t get past a team that spent only 27 percent as much money.

It’s good for baseball to see some parity in a sport that is often criticized for being dominated by big market teams. Regardless of who ultimately prevails, a fanbase will be rewarded with a long overdue championship.

This year’s championship will either go out to lifelong Giants fans and former players like Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Juan Marichal or to Rangers faithful and players including Nolan Ryan and Jim Sundberg.

Hardcore baseball fans love an underdog. It’s what keeps so many people pulling against the New York Yankees year in and year out.

This year’s World Series features two of them.

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Just in case you didn’t know, a 2009 World Series rematch between the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies is not happening.

To many baseball fans surprise, both powerhouse ballclubs lost in the Championship Series. Some might say the Phillies and Yankees lacked the heart, as making the postseason is basically part of the regular schedules.

Regardless of the reason, a loss is a loss no matter how it happened, who was injured, why so many players were slumping or if a team had too many days off. 

So now the 2010 World Series starts on Wednesday in San Francisco, CA.

The city’s Giants will host the Texas Rangers for the first two games of a seven-game battle where only one team will leave as champions. The other team will leave with nothing, as nobody gets introduced as the “team that lost in the 2010 World Series.”

Will I watch the 2010 World Series?

Yes, but not if something better is on or I go out. Also, I am a huge baseball fan so whether I watch or not doesn’t speak for much of the norm.

The best matchup of the series and only one other teams fans might watch is on Wednesday night. Game 1 features the Rangers’ Cliff Lee vs. the Giants’ Timmy Lincecum, who are both legitimate Cy Young-winning pitchers.

Why will New York Yankees fans watch Game 1 of the 2010 World Series?

Cliff Lee is a free agent after the World Series ends and all of baseball is drooling just at the thought of acquiring Lee.  Yankees Universe wants him, CC Sabathia is his buddy and fans will get excited with the realization that they get what they want.

Who do I predict to win in this battle on the mound?

Picking a winner between Lee and Lincecum is a toss-up because if both are throwing heat, which has been the trend it could fall either way. Since Texas and San Francisco barely face each other in the regular season, if ever makes both the pitchers become even more devastating.

If this winds up being the case, my guess is Cliff Lee would win. The Rangers are better hitters than the Giants. Also, Lee has been in the postseason before, pitching for both an AL and NL team.

To be more specific Texas has Josh Hamilton in their lineup, and a hot-hitting Hamilton is lethal no matter who is pitching. The guy is a machine and was just crowned the ALCS MVP. Imagine where Hamilton would be if he didn’t do all those drugs, because it doesn’t seem possible to be any better.

Lincecum is six-plus years younger than Lee. It is only Lincecum’s fourth season as a professional, and this is his first postseason ever. Also called the Freak, Lincecum has been dominating in the playoffs thus far, striking out 14 in the NLDS.

Mind you, Big Time Timmy Jim has won two Cy Young awards in his first three seasons. As many claim Lincecum is the best pitcher of the last two seasons without question.

What I have noticed watching this postseason is hitters make contact with Lincecum, but not with Lee. Lee shutdown the two best hitting teams in baseball, Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees so the Giants will presumably be no threat.

The World Series is a different monster, as it’s one of the biggest stages in all of sports. It’s a stage that Cliff Lee seems to be nothing but flawless on, and I don’t see that changing on Wednesday night in Game one.

Who Do I Predict Will Win Game 1?

Texas Rangers win 3-1, and Cliff Lee gets the win, one RBI and a home run (kidding about the home-run, but you never know with this guy).

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Before the first pitch is thrown Wednesday night in Game 1 of the 2010 World Series, there will be plenty of talk about the lousy ratings this year’s match-up will draw. It is likely there will be more talk about the ratings game than there will be about the baseball game.

While neither team boasts a huge payroll, or a dazzling history of postseason moments, there are still plenty of reasons to be excited for the 2010 Fall Classic.

Cliff Lee

In his seven career postseason starts, Cliff Lee is a perfect 7-0 with a 1.26 ERA. In this year’s playoffs with the Rangers, Lee is 3-0 with a 0.75 ERA, while averaging a staggering 11 strikeouts per game.

As a member of the Phillies, Lee won both games he pitched in last year’s World Seriesas the Phillies fell to the Yankees in six games. If Lee is able to lead the Rangers to a championship, while keeping up his video-game statistics, it will be hard to argue against Lee as the best postseason pitcher of all time.

Lee will face Tim Lincecum in Game 1 Wednesday night in San Francisco.

AT&T Park

In the five postseason games the Giants have played at AT&T Park this fall, the atmosphere has been electric from the first pitch. Sometimes the West Coast fans gets a bad reputation for not being as devoted to their baseball teams as the East Coast, but Giant fans are giving the West Coast serious credibility when it comes to this argument.

Potentially getting to watch four World Series games in this beautiful ballpark is reason enough to be excited for the World Series.

Cody Ross

Since the beginning of the playoffs, Ross has been winning the hearts of baseball fans across America. After being cut by the Marlins in August, the Giants took a chance on the right fielder. After possibly being out of work in late August, Ross is now the NLCS MVP.

In ten postseason games, Ross is batting .324, with four home runs and eight runs batted in. Ross went deep twice against Roy Halladay, the likely National League Cy Young winner, in Game 1 of the NLCS. It will be fun to see if Ross continues his hot streak into the World Series

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise

The last few years, Major League Baseball has produced some serious underdog stories. Between 2006 and 2008, one of the teams playing in the World Series had posted a losing season the year before: The 2006 Tigers, 2007 Rockies and the 2008 Rays. On the flip side, each of these teams faced off against squads that were no surprise at all: The Cardinals, Red Sox, and Phillies respectively.

However, this year is a different story. Neither one of these teams were serious World Series threats heading into this season. While both teams finished with winning records last season, neither one of them were in the postseason. The Giants have not been to the playoffs since 2003, and the Rangers since 1999.

In many preseason previews, neither the Rangers or Giants were even picked to win their respective divisions. Even after both teams clinched playoff births, few experts or fans were picking either team to make much noise.

I used to think the NFL was the only league in which a team could go from worst to first in a matter of one season, but Major League Baseball has shown recently to expect the unexpected.

Plain and simple, the Giants and Rangers are two great baseball clubs who have beaten the Yankees, Rays, Braves and Phillies, four teams with a combined 379 wins in 2010. While the Rangers and Giants may be lacking postseason tradition, huge payrolls, and pinstripes on their jerseys, they make up for this with great players with unmeasurable heart, which is reason enough to watch this series.

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Almost seven months, 2,430 regular season games, an entire postseason completed and it all almost ended exactly where we were a year ago. Almost.

With this past weekend’s games resulting in the conclusion of both the ALCS and NLCS series, baseball fans worldwide were almost faced with a Yankees versus Phillies rematch for the World Series. It also would have marked the third straight season the Phils reached baseball’s most coveted destination. We almost watched as the Yankees competed for their 27th World Series title. Almost.

We almost ended the season following those ever so familiar faces of postseason heroes, who have made a living crushing the competition when the season mattered the most. The likes of Derek Jeter, Cole Hamels, Ryan Howard, Alex Rodriguez…the list goes on and on. Almost.

Instead this year baseball fans will be tuning in to a series so new, for once, they really do not know what to expect. Sure the ratings certainly won’t be as high. How could they be? The Yankees and Phillies are located in two of America’s largest sports markets with fanbases of unmeasurable quantities.

Sure it would have been exciting to see CC Sabathia take on a Phillies lineup chock-full of talent, again. Sure it would be exciting to see if Cole Hamels and the rest of the Phillies All-Star rotation could hold off the Yankees erasing last season’s shortcomings. Sure it would be exciting to see if A-Rod, Jeter, Posada and company could do it again.

However, what is more exciting is the unknown this year’s Series most certainly presents.

With the stage set and the world of baseball tuned in, we turn the focus not to the ever so recognizable faces of the New York and Philadelphia ball clubs, but to the faces of baseballs new generation.

With a sport already widely considered “boring” or “too slow” it surely does not help when the same faces pop up every fall. In a sports world where the call for youth and personality has never been stronger, isn’t it time baseball got with the program?

Look at hockey with the emergence of Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby and Steven Stamkos in recent years. Basketball? Try Kevin Durant, Tyreke Evans and even LeBron James. Even football with the likes of Chris Johnson, DeSean Jackson and company has seen a shift to focusing on the players of the “new school.”

Finally we have not only a series featuring a Giants club who has not reached a World Series since 2002, where they infamously choked away a 5-0 lead in Game 6 eventually leading to a championship for the Angels, but a series featuring a Ranger’s club who has previously never won a single playoff series.

That, ladies and gentleman, is excitement.

Along with the change of teams and scenery comes that calling for the new “era” of baseball. Replace CC Sabathia and Cole Hamels with two-time Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum and the Rangers young ace C.J. Wilson. Derek Jeter for Elvis Andrus, A-Rod for Pablo “Kung-Fu Panda” Sandoval, Posada for Buster Posey. What are you left with? A Series full of under-25 players starving for their first taste of postseason glory.

One thing is for sure, for the first time in a while, nothing is for sure. Baseball finally got the facelift that has been needed for years. A changing of the guard that not only shook up this season, but will have implications on many seasons to come.

Don’t let the ratings fool you, this World Series will be the best one played in recent memory. And to think we almost had a repeat season. Almost.

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It really is a mesmerizing ballclub, not because the wildest crowd in San Francisco swings orange towels to erupt in a crazed frenzy, and not because the Giants closer Brian Wilson wears a beard to initiate a catchy mantra that has fans chanting “FEAR THE BEARD,” but they are an amazing ballclub because the Giants comprise of all the components to produce an epic classic.

Even in this culture where baseball is seen as an uneventful sport, the Giants captivated our attention with postseason dominance and a glamorous cast. With all the star power in these playoffs, the Giants clinched the National Championship Series, defeating the Philadelphia Phillies 3-2 in a compelling, dramatic masterpiece at Citizens Bank Park.

In the end, as elated as the Giants were, the guys darted into the clubhouse and celebrated a remarkable win. It was a mammoth celebration inside the clubhouse, as the players popped the corks and were drenched with champagne to rejoice in triumph. The storyline eventually emerged as a miracle, and the Giants managed to outweigh the Phillies and accomplished the improbable, one nobody expected this postseason.

Once it all ended, the Giants gathered collectively in the infield, hugging and celebrating wildly over winning the pennant. Instantly, a nerve-racking, horror night turned into a mournful night at the ballpark where an enthusiastic crowd went silent. Never mind the nightmarish scene in the bottom of the third from Jonathan Sanchez. Never mind that the benches emptied and heads exploded when the left-hander had no outs in the third, and unintentionally hit Phillies second baseman Chase Utley on an errant pitch.

From there, the Giants rushed to the mound as well as the Phillies to provoke an altercation in the infield. Even though Sanchez lost composure and yelled at Utley, the Giants somehow avoided a nightmare when manager Bruce Bochy yanked Sanchez only two batters into the third inning as the game rapidly started to unravel. With the score tied 2-2, Jeremy Affeldt was summoned and cleaned up a disastrous episode.

It was the smartest transition to call on the bullpen, successful in rescuing the Giants from a jammed inning when Affeldt fanned two Phillies in two perfect innings of relief. It wasn’t long before Bochy summoned another reliever to keep the contest within scoring distance, and decided to call Madison Bumgarner to the mound, putting tremendous pressure on the 21-year-old left-hander who escaped with two scoreless innings.

Much of the night, Bochy gambled and juggled with his bullpen and even brought in his starter Tim Lincecum. It was a reckless move, given that he had thrown 104 pitches two nights before. In the closing moments, Wilson, the most underrated closer in the game, ended the Phillies season. This time, he viciously stared at Ryan Howard and struck out the Phillies star looking on a fastball. These days, however, Howard’s inability to drive in runs remains obscure.

“I wanted it to be like that,” Wilson said. “I want to face their best hitter and (be) one pitch from possibly losing.”

But either way, the credit still goes to the Giants.

It wasn’t pretty, but they still prevailed. It wasn’t expected, but it was possible. And it happened.

In clarity, the Phillies produced 97 wins in the regular season for the most wins in baseball, and the Giants defeated arguably the best team in baseball. The Phillies won the National League pennant last season, and the Giants delayed a charming moment. In this series, the power vanished, the home runs descended, the vulnerability increased and the Phillies stumbled. It happened instantly in the eighth inning for the Giants, a moment they witnessed glory when Juan Uribe belted a home run to take a 3-2 lead.

“I feel good when I hit the ball,” Uribe said. “I know the ball go [when hit to right field].” 

It wasn’t a chaotic dispute that took place, but a moment of solidarity and no one exchanged punches.

Fairly, the Giants are no longer tortured, but near-invincible after Saturday night. They are now the National League champs, winning their first pennant since 2002. There will be thousands waiting at the beautiful ballpark in San Francisco, to embrace a refreshing moment for a franchise that has channeled emotion and assurance.

Who ever thought the Giants would reach such a climax, after having to play for a playoff berth on the last day of the season. What they have overcome is truly unbelievable, considering that the Giants almost missed out on all the excitement and fun this postseason.

“I can imagine the streets of San Francisco,” Wilson said.

Yes sir, the streets are wild near the shores of the bay.

Amazingly, the Giants are seeking to win their first World Series since 1954.

It’s possible.  

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Last night the season of the beloved Phillies came to an end when the San Francisco Giants defeated the favored Phillies in Game 6 of the NLCS.

Already fans are complaining, “The Phillies should be in the World Series! or The Giants got lucky! This isn’t fair!”

My response is that it is fair.

Don’t get me wrong, being a huge Phillies fan I’m very disappointed that they lost.

However, I’m not going to say that the Giants don’t deserve to be there.

We all know that the Phillies are the better team on paper, but in reality, it doesn’t mean anything.

We play the games for a reason.

If the best team on paper made the World Series every year, there would be no point for the regular season or the postseason.

That’s not baseball.

Philadelphia fans should know this since they experienced a similar story when the Phillies won in 2008.

This year’s 2008 Phillies were the Giants. 

Halfway through the season, the Giants were just a game above .500 (41-40).

Down the stretch, they turned around and stunned everyone by outlasting the San Diego Padres and winning the NL West.

Suddenly, they shock the entire nation by defeating the reigning National League champions.

Who knew that waiver pickup Cody Ross, and the rookie Buster Posey would be great?

As a respectful baseball fan I won’t talk down on the Giants, but instead tip my hat off saying, “Hey, you were the better team and deserve to be in the World Series.”

As Philadelphia fans, we can’t look at this in a negative way, even though it’s hard.

We have to say, “We’ll get them next year!”

In baseball, we witness miraculous triumphs and unbelievable underdog stories that are unpredictable.

It’s the beauty of the sport.

We have seen these events happen before when the 2004 Boston Red Sox overcame the curse that no one ever thought would be broken, or when the Phillies won the World Series in 2008.

This is what baseball really is.

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All that can be said about this Giants team in 2010 is, “Wow!”

The funny thing is, to be perfectly honest, I had a feeling coming out of spring training the team would do something special.

I told my friend to look out for the Giants this year. We were the best team in spring training and on paper and on the field had the best pitching in all of the Majors.

Even though I’m not a gambling man, I wanted to go put down a futures bet for the Giants to win it all. With 20/1 odds, there would be a nice payday if things worked out.

In investing or gambling, the goal is always to identify positions of leverage through superior knowledge or value.

In the Giants case, they would have great pitching along with strong potential from additions like Aubrey Huff, Mark DeRosa, Buster Posey, as well as the return of 2009 studs like Pablo Sandoval, Bengie Molina and Juan Uribe.

Say what you will, but there was only a tiny chance the Giants couldn’t best their record for 2009, 88-74.

The team was a better one going into 2010 then it was coming out of 2009, and some credit surely has to be paid to Brian Sabean and the brass.

Moreover, Sabean kept insisting the Giants did have the payroll to play with the big boys of New York and Boston.

Whether Texiera was ever going to come here when he could hit innocent fly balls for home runs in Yankee Stadium is another question.

So the Giants were better than 2009, had money to spend if it came down to it, a GM that was willing to roll the dice and a manager who had already led a team to the World Series.

The odds-makers had it wrong. The Giants should have been slotted anywhere from 4/1 to 10/1. 20/1 was absurd and therefore represented superior value.

I got as far as looking at flights and even thought about driving to the border and hitting a sports book near Reno.

But alas, I got lazy and never did.

Winning a sweet payout would have been nice if the Giants go on to win it all.

I do believe that this is the year.

I’ve had dreams about them doing it this year. The four-hit game Buster Posey had in Game 5 of the NLCS I dreamed about six weeks ago.

I’m either a little psychic or a little crazy.

Anyway, the most important thing about following the Giants is definitely not gambling. It’s not even entertainment.

It’s the camaraderie, friendship and love that having the common bond of San Francisco Giants creates and facilitates.

And the team, fans and ownership here all deeply and truly hold dear and embody this value.

So in a sense, we’ve already won.

But let’s not let that stop us from going down to Texas and wrangling us some Ranger meat!

Go Giants and enjoy the video!

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Words can’t describe this moment, a team with no real star beating the two-time NL champion. Throughout the playoffs the Giants have been the dark horse to reach the World Series, and now they are here.

Do they have a shot against the Rangers’ high octane offense? Yes. You can never write the Giants off. With that, here is why the Giants have a real shot at winning the 2010 World Series.

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The stage is set for the 2010 World Series as the San Francisco Giants will host the Texas Rangers on Wednesday night.  This will mark the first time that the National League Champions possess home-field advantage since the 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks.  For the Giants, this is not that big of an advantage.

After the 2002 All-Star game ended in a 7-7 tie in Milwaukee, Major League Baseball decided that the following year’s Midsummer Classic winner will be awarded home-field advantage in the World Series.  Before this decision, home-field was alternated between the two leagues each year.

Since the All-Star game began the determinant for home-field advantage in the World Series in 2003, the American League has won all of them up until this year.  In those seven Fall Classics, the home-field American League has a slight 4-3 edge over the National League.  Being at a disadvantage for seven straight years, the NL Champs did pretty good for themselves. 

This brings up the question if home-field advantage is any real advantage at all in the World Series.

The current home-field advantage format of 2-3-2 began to be used regularly in the 1924 World Series.  Since then, this format was followed in every year but three.  The 1943 and 1945 World Series followed a 3-4 format due to World War II travel restrictions and there was no World Series in a strike-shortened 1994 season.

In those 82 World Series, the team with home-field advantage has won 47 of them, which is slightly better than 57 percent.  When something results in success just over half of the time, it is not very advantageous.

For Major League Baseball to grant home-field as a reward to the winning league in the All-Star game, they must believe that it gives a team some sort of edge.  It is very likely that they were analyzing a highly unbalanced recent trend.

In the 28 World Series since 1981, the team with home-field advantage has won 21 times, which is a monstrous 75 percent.  This trend is just that, as the previous 30 World Series from 1951 to 1980 saw the team without home-field advantage win the championship 20 times, or two-thirds of the Fall Classics.

Historical outcomes with fluctuating trends aside, it is important to explore the extra pressure that comes with home-field advantage.   When a team starts the World Series at home, they are practically put in a must-win situation right off the bat. 

While every game is crucial in a short series, it is particularly devastating for a home team to fall behind 0-2 and then go on the road for three games.  In fact, there are only three teams in major league history to win the World Series after losing the first two games at home- The 1985 Kansas City Royals, 1986 New York Mets and 1996 New York Yankees.

For a road team in the first two games of the series, there is significantly less pressure.  Winning both games puts them in the driver’s seat to a world championship.  Winning just one of the first two games actually gives the road team a sort of home-field advantage for the remainder of the series.  They now can look at the rest of the Fall Classic as a five-game series with three home games. 

Even if the road team loses the first two games, they still have a better chance to win the World Series than if they dropped the first two at home. 

Since the 2-3-2 format in 1924, seven teams have won the World Series after losing the first two on the road (as opposed to three who lost the first two at home)—the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers, 1956 New York Yankees, 1958 New York Yankees, 1965 Los Angeles Dodgers, 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates, 1978 New York Yankees and the 1981 Los Angeles Dodgers.

The notion that the ever so important Game 7 is the whole point to home-field advantage is not very accurate.  Historically, even game sevens of the World Series have been split very evenly amongst the home and road teams. 

Since 1924, the home teams have a slight 17-16 edge over the away teams in the 33 game sevens played.  In addition to this, there has not been a Game 7 in the Fall Classic since the All-Star game’s increased importance in 2003.

Although it is a welcome change to start the World Series in a National League park, home-field advantage will not be much of an advantage at all for San Francisco.  While the fact that they are hosting the first two games is not that important, winning at least one if not both certainly is. 

While today is a celebration for the National League Champion San Francisco Giants, come Wednesday, the pressure will most certainly be on.

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