Why I Want To Play The Yankees. It is not essential that the Red Sox play the Yankees en route to winning the World Series, but for myriad emotional, psychological and historical reasons, I believe it is necessary.

Can I be hurt more than I was last October? I'm not sure. ... I bought the current Sports Illustrated with Tom Verducci's "5 Outs To Go" story on the Red Sox and Cubs. I read some snips posted at SoSH and I felt so empty and angry after reading them, who knows when (or if) I'll read the entire article. If the Sox win 8 more games this year, I'll read it in November.

Anyway, it's clear to me that Yankee fans are scared of losing to us. They know it almost happened last year (only one of the most stupid decisions in all of baseball history prevented it) and it could damn well happen in the next week. They have never felt what that would be like -- it's going to be a rude awakening.

Email me with your predictions and in a little less than 52 hours from now, I'll post the results.

I'm also curious if people have an opinion on which is better: clinching both the ALCS/WS at Fenway (which would mean beating the Yankees in either 4 or 5 games) or clinching the ALCS in Yankee Stadium and the WS at Fenway (both would then be in a Game 6 or Game 7).