The Chicago White Sox 1-0 win over Minnesota finalized the matchups for round one of the Major League playoffs. Three of those series will kick off today.

In the early game the Philadelphia Phillies send Cole Hamels to the mound to face the Milwaukee Brewers – who haven’t been to the playoffs since 1982 – and Yovani Gallardo, who has pitched in just one game since tearing up his knee on the first day of May.

In the later games, the Boston Red Sox will play the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the Chicago Cubs will host the Los Angeles Dodgers. The White Sox will head to Tampa tomorrow.

This is a big game for the Brewers. If they can get out to a series lead while setting up CC Sabathia in the rotation I think they’ll have a shot. But the Phillies and Ryan Howard got hot in September and I would expect them to win today and take the series.

Chicago, the NL’s best team all season, taking on Los Angeles, a mediocre team until acquiring Manny Ramirez and others at the trade deadline, is probably the most compelling first round matchup. The Dodgers don’t have much to lose, entering the playoffs with the fewest wins of an NL squad. The Cubs probably are the better team but can they release their hands from their throats long enough to fend off the Curse of the Billy Goat? It’s certain that the 100-year mark of the curse will be constant fodder for conversation. Still, I expect the Cubbies to win.

In the other best first-round matchup, defending champ Boston visits Los Angeles, the AL’s best regular season team this season. Boston fared well in the post-Manny era, but his presence during the playoffs will be missed. The Angels offense will play just well enough to support a strong pitching staff and they’ll hold on to win this series.

Then there’s Tampa against the White Sox. I like Tampa’s pitching staff and they also get Carl Crawford back after several weeks of rehabbing a finger injury. The White Sox are more experienced, but they’ll be missing Carlos Quentin. The Rays offense won’t be as meek as the bats of the Minnesota Twins were. And their young pitchers might fall into the category of not knowing they should be nervous. I’ll take a stab on the Rays in this matchup.

That would set up the following predictions in the Championship series round:

Angels over Rays in six – Too much pitching, too much experience

Cubs over Phillies in six – Balanced Cubs overcome the Curse

Angels over Cubs in a seven game World Series, one of the better ones we will have seen in recent years.

For the record, my brother predicts a Red Sox-Dodgers World Series with Man-Ram showing up his former team. He also predicts that in the aftermath, Fenway Fanatics will lynch Terry Francona and Theo Epstein for trading Ramirez basically for Jason Bay.

I like my prediction better but his scenario would be more entertaining.