A long time between drinks for Jints fans, with their last playoff appearance back in 1929 - even longer since their sole taste of glory all the way back in 1911. But they come bearing gifts this time around, with a quality squad that is sure to give the Red Sox plenty of trouble. In Buddy Blattner, they have one of the game's premier leadoff men at the moment, and the heart of their order - Irvin, Greenberg and rookie Bobby Thomson - is up there with the best as well. And with a really solid rotation led by Mort Cooper, those bats don't have to score as many as some other teams to give themselves a good chance of winning.
But you don't get the chance to win three Championships on the bounce if you aren't a top notch bunch, and that applies to this Red Sox group in spades. Not an obvious weakness in the entire group and, of course, the game's number one player in Ted Williams.
In the end I believe the Giants' lack of playoff experience will be the telling factor here, but I think it will be a really tight series that goes the distance or close thereto.