Angels vs. Red Sox

Schedule (best-of-five series)

Wednesday: Boston at Los Angeles, 8 p.m.

Friday: Boston at Los Angeles, 6:30 p.m.

Sunday: Los Angeles at Boston, TBA

Monday: Los Angeles at Boston*, TBA

Wednesday: Boston at Los Angeles*, TBA

All games on TBS; *if needed OFFENSE

The Angels are manager Mike Scioscia old-school, move runners over, hit-and-run, bunt, run hard, all that. The Sawx are GM Theo Epstein new-school, take-some-pitches, get-into-the-bullpen, hit-the-three-run-homer, all that. New-school scored 80 more runs this season, including 34 more runs in the two months after each team's big trade. Advantage: Red Sox

DEFENSE

Torii Hunter gives the Angels a playmaker in the middle of the field, but by most statistical measures, the Red Sox are better. Plus/Minus has the Sox at seven runs above league average, and the Angels at five below. You have to figure the difference is even greater now, with Manny Being Manny replaced by Jason Bay. Advantage: Red Sox

STARTING PITCHING

The overall ERAs are almost identical (4.00 for the Angels, 3.97 for the Red Sox), and each team has three starters capable of dominating. Getting technical here, John Lackey and Ervin Santana are the kind of high-K, low-BB pitchers who should match up well against the Sox, but it's tough to beat Boston's top three. Advantage: Red Sox

BULLPEN

Both teams have dominant closers. Boston's problem has been the middle innings, as the setup men have struggled to get the lead to Jonathan Papelbon. That's been less of a problem lately. Anaheim's bullpen might be the perfect anecdote to Boston's patience, as getting to the Angels' line of hard-throwing relievers isn't an advantage. Advantage: Angels

BOTTOM LINE

Forget the playoff history. The Angels were beaten up last year in October, just like the Red Sox are now with Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell and J.D. Drew all hurting. Angels in four

3 REASONS THE ANGELS CAN WIN

1. It's their time. Nobody has won back-to-back titles since the Yankees' 1998-2000 three-peat, and the Angels are loaded with postseason success and built exactly the way you'd expect a champion to be built.

2. This is the best team they've ever had. They won 100 games for the first time in franchise history, and addressed their only weakness with a midseason trade for Mark Teixeira — the best hitter in this series.