Race for the 2013 World Series!

Who will take over from the Giants this year?

Forget the wildcard series - while the drama of the one-off game is thrilling and wonderful to watch, the nature of the game itself isn't a reflection of the month of baseball up ahead - 5 to 7 games to decide the best team in baseball.

The race for the 2013 World Series begins proper tomorrow when the first pitches are made in the race to be world champions.

The "divisional" series are as follows -

NATIONAL LEAGUE
Los Angeles Dodgers at Atlanta Braves
Pittsburgh Pirates at St Louis Cardinals

AMERICAN LEAGUE
Tampa Bay Rays at Boston Red Sox
Detroit Tigers at Oakland Athletics

The Dodgers, Braves, Tigers and Athletics kick off the series on Thursday afternoon (Friday morning NZ time) with the Pirates, Cardinals, Rays and Red Sox kick off the next day - the Rays and Pirates fresh from their wildcard drama.

The Red Sox and Pirates have undoubtedly been the stories of the season

Saltalamacchia's grand slam against the Yankees

The Red Sox have made a dramatic turn around under John Farrell - from last to first in the American League East - and their form in the latter part of the season has been hot, hot, hot. The Rays will be a tough and familiar foe - at long last, their much vaunted bullpen gets a chance to play for the World Series after all these years of just missing out.

One wonders though whether destiny is on Jack Lester, Jacob Ellsbury, Jarod Saltalamacchia and their Red Sox this season with plenty to play for, i.e. a city still reeling from the Boston Marathon bombing earlier this year.

McCutchen has been key to Pittsburgh's revival 

Meanwhile, the Pirates have continued their huge improvement in the last two seasons on the back of Andrew McCutchen and AJ Burnett, posting their first winning season in 21 years and booking a wildcard spot. They duly won their wildcard game against their divisional rivals, the Cincinnati Reds at home to rapturous scenes.

Funny that the same season the Pirates do well, the Steelers are having an absolute shocker.

While the Red Sox are a more seasoned championship chasing team, this will be quite a new experience for the Pirates even with the quality they have in the squad - they face a big task against familiar opponents, the St Louis Cardinals, who pipped them to the division title and are a seasoned championship side.

Who else will be contenders? The Dodgers have emerged out of a weak NL West division - last year's World Champions, the San Francisco Giants had an awful season, finishing last - but the Braves have probably been one of the best sides in the National League this season even without Tim Hudson who suffered a horrific injury.

The Athletics are looking good too and hopefully the Moneyball story will finally come true for this unheralded franchise which has to share the post-season action with the Raiders NFL franchise. They host the Detroit Tigers who will be out to make up for the disappointment when they choked in the World Series last season - they still have Justin Verlander and Miguel Cabrera and will be a tough side to beat.

My tips?
Boston Red Sox to beat Detroit Tigers for AL title
St Louis Cardinals to beat Los Angeles Dodgers for NL title

Boston Red Sox to beat Los Angeles Dodgers for World Series