With the divisional series now complete, the league championship series are ready to begin.

Two familiar faces, the Yankees and Phillies, are the favorites to repeat as pennant winners and set up a World Series rematch.

Thankfully, there are two newcomers, to offset the potential Yankee-Phillie overload.

The Giants haven't reached the NLCS since 2002; the Rangers never have made it this far.

Inside we take a look at the key matchups. (All times EST)

It’s never too early to start looking towards Draft Day 2011, is it? 

Let’s kick off our offseason rankings taking a look at my Top 15 catchers for 2011.

Keep in mind that these will be updated throughout the offseason, depending on player movement and finalizing my projections:

The moment the Texas Rangers' Cliff Lee hurled his last strike Tuesday night; he not only killed the Tampa Bay Rays' postseason dreams, but also gave the New York Yankees an official ALCS opponent for Game One on Friday night.

The Yankees will fly down to Texas to face the Rangers in the seven-game ALCS series, which for one team will lead to the World Series.

In all honesty, predictions were betting the Rays would beat the Rangers in the ALDS, but in a five-game series, there is no room to stumble.

Well NY sports fans, this is the time of the year we have all been waiting for. MLB playoffs, NHL season getting under way and the NFL season is in full swing. Granted, the Mets haven't been respectable since June, the Yanks are doing what they do best: winning games in October. They swept the Minnesota Twins to move onto the American League Championship Series, awaiting the winner of the Tampa Bay Rays/Texas Rangers series.

Bobby Cox exited Turner Field Monday night for the last time as the Atlanta Braves' manager.

His emotional exit was seared into the memories of baseball fans worldwide, and no doubt a tear trickled down the cheeks of many, both male and female alike.

The San Francisco Giants beat the Atlanta Braves Monday night to advance to its first National League Championship Series since 2002. Outfielder Cody Ross had two RBI, including the game-winning single in the seventh inning.

The Giants have to be thrilled to have ousted Atlanta, having proved along the way that their excellent pitching staff is in top form this October. Now, however, Bruce Bochy's crew must turn to take on a much fiercer offense and more worthy opponent than the depleted Braves: Charlie Manuel's Philadelphia Phillies.

Normally when a new manager is hired in Major League Baseball, his first task is to assemble his own coaching staff, but in the case of Don Mattingly and the Los Angeles Dodgers, things may be a bit more complicated than they look.

Josh Beckett suffered through one of the worst seasons of his career.  All you have to do is look at the numbers to understand just how bad it was:

6 Wins
127.2 Innings
5.78 ERA
1.54 WHIP
116 Strikeouts (8.2 K/9)
45 Walks (3.2 BB/9)
.349 BABIP

Before we get into specifics, Beckett has coincidentally alternated good and bad years dating back to 2005.  It’s odd, for sure, but it actually is a fact.  Just look at his ERAs:

For the first time in my life, I am ashamed to call myself a Cincinnati Reds fan. I have endured 15 straight years without a playoff appearance, twelve of which have been losing seasons. In 2000, Ken Griffey Jr. was traded to the Reds. He was supposed to be the missing piece to a team that had just missed the playoffs the year before, after going 96-66. Instead, Griffey spent time on the disabled list during every season in Cincinnati.

Hello everyone, and welcome to this game four live blog of the Giants vs. Braves. The first two games have been one-run thrillers and tonight could very well be the same. Should the Braves lose this will be Braves manager Bobby Cox's last game!

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