Series odds: Yankees -167
Pitching
The Yankees have the best overall starter in CC Sabathia who was 12-2 after the all star break. After that the Yankees open up to A.J. Burnett, Andy Pettite, and Joba or Chad Gaudin who was very solid down the stretch. It’s been said that the Yankees might go to a three man rotation with Sabathia starting game 4 and game 7.
Series odds: Dodgers -120
Pitching
As of Tuesday morning the starting pitchers have still not been announced although it looks like Cole Hamels will make the start for the Phillies.
Overall the Dodgers have the advantage as they led the Majors not only in overall ERA, but in Bullpen ERA. On the other hand the Phillies were ranked 7th overall and 13th out of their bullpen.
With Jorge De La Rosa now out for this series, which gave the Rockies their only left handed start the pitching edge for starters is clearly on the Phillies side. Here is the probable pitching match ups for the first three starts. This is a major disadvantage for the Phillies mainly because they will face two of the National Leagues best left handed pitchers.
Despite this disadvantage the Dodgers are at they did lead the National League in starting pitchers ERA. They will certainly have the advantage moving forward in a 7 game series, but this is the worst match up I think the Dodgers could have gotten. Wainwright and Carpenter both have post season experience and were a combined 36-12 this year and could pitch 4 of the 5 games in this series.
