Playoffs Pants Party: Braves vs. Astros

As Astros blogger Crawfish Boxes points out, the general consensus about the Atlanta-Houston series is that the Astros should win going away. We understand this, somewhat — we begrudgingly picked the Astros to make the World Series, after all — but it seems awfully lopsided, considering the Braves have a better record, a better lineup and some pitchers who ain't so shabby. This is likely because people are so used to the Braves dropping out of the playoffs early that it's become an involuntary reflex to pick them to lose.

But what do the Web experts think?

• Baseball Prospectus: Astros in five. • Hardball Times: Astros in five. • Beyond The Box Score: Astros. • Rob Neyer: Astros in five. • Bill Simmons: Astros in World Series. (Pretty good for a guy who admits he doesn't watch the National League. Ahem.)

You know, we thought the Web was supposed to bring a diversity of opinion? Anyway, we'll be live-blogging this game starting at 4 p.m. today, so set your browsers to "reload."

Landslide [Crawfish Boxes] Division Series Preview [Braves Journal] Big Black Table Playoff Preview [The Black Table]