It's almost as if it were a tale of two cities for the two teams meeting in the World Series this year.

The Boston Red Sox cruised from start to finish for a playoff birth while the Rockies had to play an extra game just to qualify for the postseason.

The Rockies still have not lost a game this postseason and have won 21 of their last 22 games.

If they sweep the World Series they will become the first team under the current format to go undefeated in the postseason. 

The Red Sox swept the Angels and made a dramatic comeback in the American League Championship, prevailing over the Cleveland Indians in seven games.

The teams are nearly polar opposites, and there are many questions surrounding how this series will play out.

Despite Colorado's enormous tide of momentum they have not played in nine days. Will this hurt the Rockies?

It's hard to say but after much thought I don't believe it will for several reasons.

The biggest of these is the Rockies have not been winning by outslugging teams, they have been winning with pitching and defense.

Since offenses are most affected by time off it stands to reason that the time off could be beneficial.

Former UT star Todd Helton has just four hits in 26 at-bats in this postseason with just one extra base hit, while potential rookie of the year Troy Tulowitzki has just five hits in the postseason.

If either of these guys hit the way they are capable, it would be an enormous lift to the Rockies.

On the other hand, the Red Sox have a distinct edge in experience, as it will be Colorado's first World Series appearence.

Boston showed character in coming back against the Indians, and the key in the comeback was the unsung players.

Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis and J.D. Drew came up with a number of clutch hits throughout the series.

If they maintain their hot streaks in the World Series in addition to what Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz bring to the table then the Rockies will have their work cut out for them.

The Red Sox are battle tested while one has to wonder if the Rockies will finally be overwhelmed by the moment they will enter Wednesday night.

The first game will feature Jeff Francis pitching for the Rockies while Josh Beckett will take the mound for the Red Sox.

Beckett's worst start of the season came against Colorado during an interleague series when he allowed six runs on 10 hits in just five innings. 

The Rockies won that game and went on to take two out of three games against the Red Sox in that series.

As Dane Cook has told you 768 thousand times, there is only one October. Even though both teams present good cases to win, there can be only one pick.

The Rockies seem to be a carbon cutout of the 2003 Florida team that few gave a chance of defeating the New York Yankees, and I believe their pitching will present problems for Boston.

Despite being a 96-66 team this season, the Red Sox struggled against left-handed pitching winning just 20 of 44 games started by southpaws.

I think that will play a big part in this series, as the left-handed Francis starts the opening game for Colorado.

I expect them to steal the opening game and maintain their momentum to win it all.

The pick-Rockies in Six

Now I know I dropped both League Championship Series, leaving me at 3-3 on my postseason picks, but I feel I will turn it around with this pick.

Sports Editor Cliff Chartrand evened the score with me by picking each LCS correctly, and he likes Boston to take the series in six.