October 2, 2006 (New York, NY)- Now that 22 teams have been banished from the post season party, we may now get down to the business at hand, of anointing the 2006 World Series Champion. The proceedings get under way just shortly after 1:00 pm EST on Tuesday when the AL West division champion Oakland A's travel to Minneapolis to face the Twins.



Oddmakers at my favorite have installed the Yankees and Mets as the odds on favorites to clash in the Fall Classic with the Minnesota Twins expected to be the main opposition for the Bronx Bombers in the AL. The Twins will get the action going when they invite the Oakland A's to the noisy Metrodome and the Barry Zito and the rest of his A's mates will need an early wakeup call. Game time is 10:00 PST on Tuesday. Johan Santana starts for the Twins!

Don't expect too many runs when Zito and Santana hook up and the over/under has been set at 7.

The St. Louis Cardinals basically backed into the playoffs winning the NL Central division and avoiding one of the greatest September collapses of all time. The Redbirds flock to San Diego for a clash with the Padres and manager Tony LaRussa will hand the ball to Chris Carpenter in the opener. San Diego will start Jake Peavy and neither of these teams is getting any respect from the who are offering the Cards at 12-1 and the Padres at 10-1 to win the World Series.

The Padres are the slight home favorite although the Cardinals are 18-8 in their last 26 games in San Diego, but just 2-7 in their past 9 road games. Over/under is 7!

The Detroit Tigers are in the playoffs and that should be cause for celebration in Motown. Unfortunately for Tiger fans, what looked like an opening game at home to the A's was squashed when they got swept this past weekend by the inept KC Royals. They now will head to the Bronx Zoo and chances of survival for a young tiger there is not good.

The Yankees will not hand the ball to $19 million per year Mike Mussina, nor $16 million Randy Johnson either. They are paying Chien-Ming Wang exactly $353,175 and have entrusted him with the start Tuesday opposite Nate Robinson for Detroit.

With a click of your mouse, you can wager on this tilt and the Yankees are -205 with the run total sitting at 9 ?.

The Mets and Dodgers will not get it on until Wednesday and while the Mets are favored in game, the Dodgers are sizzling these days. LA, winners of 7 in a row and the past 6 on the road, will send Derek Lowe to the hill. This is the same guy who led the Boston Red Sox to their memorable World Series win in 2004 and he and his experienced mates will be a handful for Mets starter Orlando Hernandez.

The pressure is squarely on the shoulders of manager Willie Randolph and his troops as they try and take a step towards a Subway Series with the cross-town Yankees! The Mets are being offered at 5-1 to win the World Series!

Bob Acton