Now down to the final four, the League Championship Series. 

There will be no "Freeway Series" or a battle of Chicago.  It seems that the city of Chicago was only trying to battle themselves out of the playoffs.  Milwaukee's hopes went out the window when C.C Sabathia didn't pitch the first, second and third games of the divisional series. 

The Angels had the unfortunate task of trying to take out the Red Sox, which looks to be impossible for them once October rolls around.

The National League Championship Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers vs. the Philadelphia Phillies has some history to it.  This is the fourth time they have met in an LCS.  The Dodgers took two and lost in the World Series to the Yankees in 1978 and 1979.  Then the Phillies won in 1983 and lost the World Series to Baltimore.

Both teams look almost identical.  They both have a very strong pitching staff.  Derek Lowe and Cole Hamels, the respective aces of their teams, will be facing off in game one. 

Manny Ramirez will be a key bat for the Dodgers, naturally.  He is the all-time postseason home run leader with 26 homers.  In the NLDS, he batted .500 with two home runs and three RBIs.  Rafael Furcal was another catalyst for the team batting .333 and scoring four times.

The Phillies offense, on the other hand, was quieted by the Brewers.  Shane Victorino was the best part of the offense, batting .357 with a grand slam.  Pat Burrell also contributed with two home runs.

The Phillies better get their bats going.  If things continue, the Dodgers may be looking at the World Series after having a slow start to the regular season.

The American League Championship Series features two AL East rivals, the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays.  Even though the Rays won the regular-season series, this is where it really counts. The BoSox have won two championships since 2004.

The Rays took care of the White Sox in four games.  The White Sox hit the most home runs this season, but  the Rays were able to limit them to only four while they hit six, including three from B.J. Upton.

Home field advantage should help the Rays. With the bats of Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria and the speed of Carl Crawford and B.J. Upton, the Red Sox may have their hands full.  Then again these are the Red Sox and this is the postseason so none of that seems to matter.

Right now the Red Sox seem to have the formula for winning in the postseason.  Plugging in players such as Jason Bay, who is batting over .400, and Mark Kotsay, who is hitting .300, helps fill the void of trades and injuries.

Jon Lester, who has turned into the ace of the Boston's staff, has kept runs off the board.  He is the probable starter for Game 3.

With everything laid out in from of them, its now time to see who wants it more. Some managers have been here before and for others this is new territory.  Joe Torre and Terry Francona have been this far.  For Charlie Manuel and Joe Maddon this is a whole new playing field for them.

Baseball legends are made in mid-October, and 2008 promises to produce some of its own.