Every year I write this post, and every year you eat it up. Simple people. Simple people.

CONTEXT

The Texas Rangers and the St. Louis Cardinals will face each other in the 2011 World Series, which begins on Wednesday. The Rangers have advanced this far by defeating the Tampa Bay Rays and the Detroit Tigers. The Cardinals have advanced this far by defeating the Philadelphia Phillies and the Milwaukee Brewers. Both the Rangers and Cardinals managed to defeat their opponents by outplaying them in a short series.

KEY PLAYERS

Texas:

Roster

St. Louis:

Roster

Both the Rangers and Cardinals are filled to the brim with possible difference-makers. The 50 listed above will likely be the most important.

KEY QUESTIONS

Can the St. Louis Cardinals outscore the Texas Rangers?

They can.

Can the Texas Rangers outscore the St. Louis Cardinals?

They can.

Will one of the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers outscore the other four times?

Most certainly yes!

X FACTOR

The Cardinals will play a maximum of four games at home, while the Rangers will play a maximum of three games at home. The home crowds may or may not help. I imagine there are also intangibles somewhere.

CONCLUSION

Both the Cardinals and Rangers are good teams. The Rangers are probably better by a tiny bit. If you re-played the World Series a million times, maybe 55-60% of the time the Rangers would be crowned as champions. This World Series will be played once. One of these teams will win four games. The other probably won't. The outcome will mean everything, and nothing.