The New York Yankees are looking for their 27th World Series title and the Philadelphia Phillies are trying to repeat their performance from last year, when they beat the Tampa Bay Rays for the 2008 World Series title.  This is the first World Series at the New Yankee Stadium and it should be an exciting series, as both teams are hot right now and have a lot of star power.  Cleveland Indians fans have to be hurting in the game-one matchup, as the starting pitchers were both teammates on the Indians last year.  C.C. Sabathia will be starting for the Yankees and Cliff Lee will be the starter for the Phillies.  It should be a good pitchers’ duel, but both teams have a high powered offense so who knows, it could be a slug-fest.

Alex Rodriguez has been having one of the best postseasons ever for the Yankees and he leads the attack for them, along with the strong bats of Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, Johnny Damon, Robinson Cano, and Hideki Matsui.  The Phillies have their own power-packed lineup with Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Jayson Werth, and Shane Victorino.  This should be a pretty evenly matched series, but I think the Yankees will win it in seven games as they have home field advantage, along with the hottest hitter in Arod, and the best closer in Mariano Rivera.  Game one starts in New York on Wednesday night at 7:57 pm E.T. on FOX.

The 2009 MLB Playoffs are finally here and some exciting October baseball is already occurring.  In the ALDS series you’ve got the New York Yankees already with a 1-0 lead over the Minnesota Twins after a 7-2 victory Wednesday.  The Yankees are off to a great start in their hunt for a 27th World Series Title and this generations’ Mr. October, Derek Jeter, led the way for the Yankees with a big home-run in their win over the Twins.  In the other ALDS you’ve got the Los Angeles Angels facing off against the Boston Red Sox, with game one of that series starting tonight.  The Red Sox have had the Angels number these past few postseasons, as they have ended the Angels season two years in a row and have won 12 of the last 13 postseason games against them.  The Angels have a very dangerous line-up and are looking for revenge this year.

In the NLDS the St. Louis Cardinals are already down 1-0 to the Los Angeles Dodgers after a 5-3 loss last night.  The Dodgers were able to do some damage against the Cardinals’ ace Chris Carpenter but their inexperienced bullpen did a pretty good job keeping the Cardinals in the game.  The Philadelphia Phillies have a 1-0 lead in the other NLDS over the Colorado Rockies after beating them 5-1 in game one.  The Phillies are looking to be the first team to win back-to-back World Series titles since the Yankees who won three straight in 1998-2000.

Here are my predictions for the 2009 MLB playoffs:

ALDS:  New York Yankees over the Minnesota Twins in 4;  Los Angeles Angels over the Boston Red Sox in 5

NLDS:  Colorado Rockies over the Philadelphia Phillies in 5;  St. Louis Cardinals over the Los Angeles Dodgers in 5

ALCS:  New York Yankees over Los Angeles Angels in 7

NLCS:  St. Louis Cardinals over Colorado Rockies in 6

World Series:  St. Louis Cardinals over New York Yankees in 6

Chicago and the United States of America did not even come close to getting the 2016 Olympic games as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) stunned the U.S. with their lack of votes for Chicago.  Chicago didn’t even make it out of the first round of voting, as they only received 18 votes.  Tokyo was third with 22 votes, followed by Rio getting 26 and Madrid getting the most votes in the first round with 28.  In the second round of voting Rio got 46, followed by Madrid with 29, and Tokyo with 20.  Rio easily won the final round of voting with 66 votes compared to Madrid’s 32.

Chicago, which seemed to be favored in getting the games, did everything they could to awe the IOC.  While watching the coverage very early this morning, it looked like the IOC was very impressed with Chicago’s presentation and many were star-struck by the appearance of President Obama.  They applauded after each time Obama spoke, apparently a very rare occurrence during IOC voting presentations.  Each member wanted a photograph and a handshake with the President and everything appeared as if Chicago was going to run away with it.  They certainly pulled the wool over my eyes, as well as everyone involved in the Chicago bid, as they shunned the U.S. and didn’t even give Chicago a chance.

The U.S. didn’t lose the Olympics because of a poor plan or presentation by Chicago, as their presentation was star-studded and their Olympic layout along Lake Michigan was breathtaking.  Most blame the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and their poor relationship with the IOC for Chicago not getting it.  Also, there has never been an Olympic games in South America, a disparity many IOC members wanted to change.

When it comes down to it though, this was a slap in the face to the USOC , the Chicago bid committee, and President Obama.  They pulled out everything in their arsenal and the IOC pretty much ignored them.  There is also a reason South America has never had the Olympics, and that is the high crime rates, lack of infrastructure, and lack of national security.  Chicago is well known for their crime, and had the most homicides in the United States last year, but that couldn’t have been a deterrent as Rio is much more dangerous than Chicago.  Compare the 510 homicides Chicago had last year to Rio in 2006 where they had 2,273 murders.

Chicago has had full support from the White House and the state department, with security being a top priority.  Shootouts between police and drug lords is a common occurrence in Rio, but the majority of it occurs in Rio’s slums away from most of the Olympic areas.  Still, it is not a very safe city, and to those who said Chicago would not be safe enough, they need to check their facts.

Chicago also has most of the infrastructure already in place so the cost of construction would not be as high in Rio.  The revenue generated from television and sponsors would have been much higher had it been in the United States, but that didn’t seem to matter as it turned out most IOC members were not going to vote for America no matter what.  Although I am bias and I obviously think Chicago should have won the bid, I think the Rio will be a good host for the 2016 Olympic Games as long as they can keep their crime away from the games and the tourists coming in for them.  This is a great step forward for Brazil and all of South America to put themselves on display for the world in 2016.

Here is the Olympic layout for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games: