MVN: Most Valuable Network

Here is my breakdown of the two teams with me giving an edge to each team:

Catcher - EDGE - Red Sox. I think Jason Varitek is a solid dependable guy who while maybe not having the best offensive year provides some veteran leadership. Jeff Mathis and Mike Napoli are both still learning the ropes but both can call pretty good games.

First base - EDGE - Even. Both Kevin Youkilis ("The Greek God of Walks") and Casey Kotchman ("The Greek God of Mono") provide good OBP numbers, they walk and they have some pop. Both can pick it at first base. While Youkilis has a little more experience in the big leagues, I can't pick either in this category.

Second base - EDGE - Even. Dustin Pedroia is a candidate for rookie of the year. Howie Kendrick, when he wasn't injured this year, singled and doubled consistently for the Halos.

Shortstop - EDGE - Angels. Orlando Cabrera has excelled with the glove, the bat and the basepaths for the Angels, emerging as the leader of this team. Jose Lugo has stolen some bases and provided decent defense.

Third base - EDGE - Red Sox. Mike Lowell, at age 75, has had a monster year for the Red Sox. Meanwhile because of the injury to Vlad, Maicier Izturis will take over at third base. Izturis is a solid defender, not as good as Lowell. Izturis will bring some good at bats and had some clutch hits for the Halos this season, so look out.

Left field - EDGE - Even. Garret Anderson turned it on in the second half of the season and drove in 65 runs in the season's final half - or as I like to put it, he caught fire three weeks after I dropped him from my fantasy team. Manny Ramirez has been slowed by an oblique injury but remains a dangerous hitter - at least in my eyes.

Center field - EDGE - Even. Gary Matthews Jr. is out with an ankle injury so the Angels have installed Reggie Willits in his place. The Angels lose some defense here but gain some patience at the plate. Willits is an on-base machine and a threat to steal. His counterpart, Coco Crisp, provides some speed and is a solid defender in centerfield.

Right field - EDGE - Angels. Vladimir Guerrero's triceps are limiting him to DH so the Angels won't have as strong an arm as Chone Figgins replaces him. But they will get a speedster who nearly hit .400 over the last four months of the season and is the Angels' biggest base-stealing threat. Meanwhile, J.D. Drew was just caught looking at strike three.

Starting rotation - EDGE - Even. John Lackey, Kelvim Escobar and Jered Weaver are a potent 1-2-3 punch. Meanwhile, Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Curt Schilling are just as deadly. In fact, did you know that once Curt Schilling pitched a game with a bloody sock?! (In case you had not heard about it.)

Bullpen - EDGE - Red Sox. While both bullpens were a mess toward the end of the season, with both Eric Gagne and Scot Shields getting lit up, I will give the edge to the Red Sox simply because Jonathan Papelbon has seemed more consistent and dominant than Frankie Rodriguez at the end of games.

Bench - EDGE - Angels. I am giving the Angels the edge here because all season long, when someone went down, someone else stepped up. Guys like Robb Quinlan, Kendry Morales and Erick Aybar all made meaningful contributions. The Red Sox bench is loaded as well with guys like Jason Ellsbury (who can run) and Alex Cora.

Manager - EDGE - Angels. I am giving Mike Scioscia the edge here and that's no knock on Terry Francona. But Scioscia manages to make the pieces work even when you wonder that the hell he is doing. Scioscialism, as I like to call it, works.

Intangibles - EDGE - Red Sox. Obviously, home field plays a large part in this discussion. The Red Sox have three games at home while the Angels only have two. And the Halos had the best record at home this season in the majors and were actually below .500 on the road. Having said that, the Angels need to at least split the first two in Fenway to make them feel they can win there if they have to go back for a Game 5.

Here are some other things to note before the first pitch is thrown:

UMPIRING - The Angels will not have to worry about two umpires who have bedeviled them in the playoffs in 2004 and 2005. Jerry Meals, he of the too-wide strike zone in Game 2 of the ALDS between the Angels and Red Sox in 2004, will not be umpiring any of the division series. Neither will Doug Eddings whom all Angels fans know and hate for his non-call/call "I should've sold it call" in Game 2 of the ALCS between the Angels and White Sox in 2005. Instead, the umpires calling balls and strikes between the Angels and Red Sox are: Gary Darling, Dan Iassogna, Brian Runge, Ted Barrett, Tim Tschida and CB Bucknor.

BROADCAST TEAM - Rory Markus and Terry Smith will continue to call games in Southern California on ESPN 710. Nationally, Dan Shulman and Dave Campbell will call it for ESPN.

Meanwhile on TBS, Ted Robinson and Steve Stone will call the Red Sox-Angels series on TBS. Which relieves me because I was worried TBS might have the Red Sox play-by-play guy Don Orsillo calling the series. (Come to think of it, even though he is a Red Sox guy, Orsillo still might be better than Steve Physioc.)

Anyway, it will be tough to overcome the home field advantage against the Red Sox but I have a gut feeling the Angels will scrap together enough runs and pitching to pull it off. Angels in five.

War Angels.