New York Yankees

I'll be up in the early hours of Sunday morning here in England watching the Yankees, hopefully, progress to a World Series date with the Phillies next week with victory in Game Six of the ALCS.

No thanks to the never-say-die Angels taking Game Five at Angel Stadium on Thursday to reduce the deficit to 3-2 in favor of the Yankees.

I had the chance to attend Game 2 of the ALCS this past weekend, in which the Yankees took on the Angels. 

First off, let me say it was the most exciting game I have ever gone to.

Sitting in Section 202 of the bleachers, I had a great view of the game, and an even better scent of all the drunk fans around me.

Better yet was the atmosphere. 

There were many ups and downs to the game. Many fans booed when Joba was taken out, and even more when Damaso Marte was brought in (I booed the loudest). 

But that really didn't matter. 

JC over at Sabernomics hits us with the Hitter and Pitcher projections from The Bill James Handbook 2010.

This segment is taking forever, but I’m having a good time so I’m going to stick with it.  Here we go, part five.

The fighting Philadelphia Phillies eliminated the Dodgers in the NLCS 4 Games to 1 and await the winner of the Yankees and Angels in the ALCS.

The Yankees currently lead the Angels 3-1 and could wrap it up tonight. Let’s not count the Angels out just yet, but with some some heartbreaking extra inning defeats to the Yankees early in the series, I think the Angels can not recover.

So that leaves us with the heavyweight showdown between the Yankees and the Phillies in the World Series. Let’s look at some of the points of interest for the possible upcoming World Series.  

Professional baseball is at a crossroads. I truly believe that. I don't have any data and no one has conducted a study on the sport that I know of. It's just a gut feeling.

There were four references to the 2004 ALCS in one hour of SportsCenter this morning. Your friends who are Red Sox fans have joked about the series on Facebook and Twitter since Tuesday. If you step outside your home or office, there's probably a single-engine plane flying overhead with a "2004 ALCS: You Blew It" message tailing behind.

You had to expect this. This is the Yankees' first opportunity to clinch an American League pennant since the team's infamous collapse against the Red Sox five Octobers ago. It would be weird if it didn't come up.