Playoffs Pants Party: White Sox vs. Angels

We had someone tell us earlier today that the presumed exhaustion the Los Angeles Angels Of Anaheim — a name we will insist on typing out completely throughout this series — are facing after playing three games in three days in three different cities is overstated, that these are baseball players, that this is what they do. We don't necessarily buy this argument, mainly because we're exhausted from the non-stop deluge of games, and we barely move from the couch.

But we're kicking off tonight regardless, with Paul "Surfin'" Byrd battling Jose "Bring Us Your Tired And Your Poor" Contreras. The views on this series from around the Web:

• Baseball Prospectus: White Sox in six. • Hardball Times: White Sox in seven. • Joe Sheehan: Angels in seven. • Baseball Musings: White Sox.

For a team everyone thought was going to lose in the first round, the White Sox have become pretty big favorites. And now that the news has broken that the injured Bartolo Colon has been left off the Angels' roster, we can see it skewing even further in that direction. If the White Sox don't end up pulling this off, they can't say they didn't have every opportunity.

Enjoy McCarver and Buck, everybody. Get ready for LOTS of old footage of Shoeless Joe Jackson. Hey, beats the Rally Monkey.

Colon Out For Playoffs [South Side Sox]