It’s been 88 years since these two teams faced off in the playoffs, and this series is shaping up to be worth the wait. The White Sox’s team ERA is more than a run lower than that of the Red Sox, but Boston made up for that by scoring 162 runs, or a run per game, more than Chicago. We’re about to learn once and for all if the old adage about good pitching beating good hitting is true.

The breakdown, piece by piece:

Starting Pitching: Chicago. They may not be the sexiest starting rotation the game’s ever seen, but they get the job done. Mark Buehrle has been one of the most underrated pitchers of the decade, and Freddy Garcia seems to win with sheer guile. Jose Contreras has been the horse of late, but let’s not forget that he can implode at any second, and has done so against the Red Sox on more than one occasion. He starts Game 1 against Matt Clement, who knows a thing or two about imploding himself. Schilling is still the best pitcher of the bunch, but he’s playing at 80%, tops.

Relief Pitching: Chicago. So what if he’s a rookie? Bobby Jenks’ breaking ball is ungodly. It drops nose to toes in a nanosecond. Ask the Indians and Tigers — they’ll tell you all about it. The rest of that bullpen is effective too (Cliff Politte), though hittable (Hermanson, Marte). Still, they’re not as hittable as the Red Sox bullpen has been (Timlin, Arroyo).

Hitting: Boston. The Red Sox had two, TWO, guys drive in more than 140 runs, while four scored 100+ runs. The Pale Hose didn’t have a single player break the 100 run plateau in either category (thought Konerko had 99 RBI). To add insult to injury, both parks are band boxes.

Manager: Boston. Terry Francona just won the World Series. Ozzie “Scarface” Guillen is already talking about quitting if, IF, he wins the World Series. One’s a doer, one’s a talker. Until Ozzie shows some gumption, we’re expecting to see exploding “Scanners” head from him, rather than nerves of steel.

Defense/Intangibles: Push. Chicago definitely likes to run more – Scott Podsednik stole more bases than the entire Red Sox offense combined – but most of those came early in the season. Lately he’s been running like he has a bowling ball chained to his leg. And no one really talks about either team being defensive specialists.

TSR Pick: Red Sox in five. Hey, at least the White Sox will win a couple, unlike last time.

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