Content by Associated Press. Picks by Covers.com Staff.
Odds courtesy Logans.com.
Boston Red Sox at Los Angeles Angels (-125, 8 ½)
The Los Angeles Angels have lost nine consecutive postseason games to the Boston Red Sox spanning three series and 22 years.
That run includes division series sweeps in 2004 and 2007, in which Boston outscored the Angels 44-16.
Sweeping Los Angeles again doesn't appear likely after the Angels took the last eight meetings from Boston in this year's nine-game season series. They averaged nearly seven runs over the nine meetings while batting .305 with 15 homers - at least one in each game. On the mound, the Angels limited Boston's potent lineup to three runs or fewer in each of the last seven matchups.
New acquisitions Torii Hunter, who hit 21 home runs and stole 19 bases after signing as a free agent last offseason, and Mark Teixeira - batting .358 with 13 homers in 54 games since arriving from Atlanta at the trade deadline - have strengthened the Angels' lineup.
"We're a different team than in years past," reliever Scot Shields, who has been with the club since 2001, said after Los Angeles beat the Red Sox 6-2 on July 29 at Fenway Park. "We have the total package."
Pick: Angels
Los Angeles Dodgers at Chicago Cubs (-154, 7 ½)
The 2008 Cubs are determined to put the past behind them and take the first step toward ending their century-long championship drought when they host Manny Ramirez and the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday in Game 1 of their best-of-five NL division series.
The Cubs finished with the best record in the NL this season to comfortably win the NL Central by 7 1/2 games over Milwaukee. They led the league in runs (855) and had five players with at least 20 homers, but will face a Los Angeles team that allowed the fewest runs in the league (648).
While Chicago cruised to its second straight division title, the Dodgers (84-78) trailed Arizona by 4 1/2 games on Aug. 29 before winning 18 of their next 23 to win the division by two games.
The Dodgers, who are 1-12 in four playoff series since winning the 1988 World Series, lost five of seven to the Cubs this season, but all of those games were played before Ramirez was traded to Los Angeles.
"Since we played them last, they've added Manny and he's quite a player," Chicago leadoff hitter Alfonso Soriano said. "They are a much better team with him so we are going to have be ready to play because it is going to be a tough series."
Soriano and Cubs cleanup hitter Aramis Ramirez are hoping to atone for a dismal performance in last season's playoffs, as they combined to go 2-for-26.
Pick: Over