I think the American League is better than the National League. I think the AL East is stronger than the NL West. I even believe the Red Sox roster is loaded with more star power and young talent than any team in baseball.

But here's something that's quite possible: The Colorado Rockies have forgotten how to lose. With 21 victories in their last 22 contests, they haven't dropped a game in nearly a month. They're on a historic roll that even has Theo Epstein gushing.

Tonight and tomorrow, the Rox are supposed to catch a bad case of the "Fenway butterflies." But will they? They have every reason to be confident. They shelled Beckett and Schilling at Fenway during the regular season, and have yet to lose in October. The Red Sox, on the other hand, just played an exhilarating and very, very long seven-game series with the Indians (the average game was 3 hours and 42 minutes). Isn't there supposed to be at least a mini-letdown after that? The Rockies are well rested and, if they can manage a single win in the Series' first two games, they'll steal home-field advantage and slingshot themselves into a frenzied Coors Field.

Getting to Coors Field, and subsequently, forcing the Red Sox to play National League ball, is where I think the series hinges. Clint Hurdle has already rolled the dice a bit and announced Aaron Cook (DL since August 10) as his Game 4 starter, in place of Franklin Morales. If Cook is his usual, innings-eating self, he'll be a better matchup against the Red Sox, who work the average pitcher to death. Morales, while a better stuff guy than Cook, would be a long-shot to last any more than five innings. Cook throws close to 80% sinkers, pitches to contact and can take advantage of the Rockies' historically clean defense.

The Red Sox, like any offensively-centered AL team, are at a major disadvantage when playing in a National League park, much more so than when the roles are switched. They are going to lose a key bat from their lineup (either J.D. Drew or Kevin Youkilis), and their defense will be compromised even further than it already is with Man-Ram roaming Coors' left-field acreage, as David Ortiz will man first.

I think there's a pattern developing when teams face the Rockies. They can't help but underestimate them. They have a starting pitching staff (and bullpen, for that matter) with almost zero name-brand value, their lineup is full of cast-offs and sneaky-good young guys whose last names are hard to pronounce, and they also have the best hitter in the NL, except nobody wants to give him credit for it, including me.

I see Colorado continuing its ambush. Rox in 5.

Tom Koch-Weser

It’s been a magical run for the Colorado Rockies, but they’ve been sitting around for more than a week while the Boston Red Sox have cooked up some magic of their own. In the course of overcoming a three-games-to-one deficit in the ALCS, Boston’s bats came alive, and that doesn’t bode well for the Rockies.

The Red Sox have the firepower and run production that Arizona lacked, and the Colorado pitching staff faces a bigger challenge than it did in the Rockies’ four-game sweep of the Diamondbacks in the NLCS. The Red Sox are averaging seven runs a game in the postseason, more than eight per game at Fenway Park.

Boston is batting .370 against left-handed pitching in October, so Wednesday night’s opener will be a key test for the Rockies and their Game 1 starter, southpaw Jeff Francis. Both Francis and Red Sox ace Josh Beckett have won a pair of series openers in this year’s playoffs, but in Game 1 of the World Series, the Rockies will go up against a right-hander who has proven to be one of the more dependable and dominant October performers in years.

Colorado’s dangerous left-handed hitters will have to face Beckett twice in the World Series. The Rockies roughed him up during their regular-season meeting with the Red Sox, but that may mean little the way Beckett has pitched in the playoffs.

Boston can hit home runs and play little ball, too, with Dustin Pedroia, Julio Lugo, Coco Crisp and Jacoby Ellsbury in the lineup. This team is better tailored to Coors Field than it would have been a few years ago, though the Red Sox will lose a key bat when the Series moves to Denver. The Rockies are a wonderful story, an exciting team that has played its best, but they have met their match in the Red Sox.

Thom Henninger