I'll be upfront and honest with everyone, I'm rooting for the Rays, and for the next week, I promise to take as many potshots at the Red Sox as humanly possible.

Why, you ask? It's simple, the Rays represent the best in baseball, while the Red Sox represent everything that's wrong with the game. It hasn't always been this way. There was once a point in time when the Red Sox were a lot like the Cubs, a team you could in passing root for because of their unfortunate past. But after winning two World Series, and becoming an exact clone of the Yankees - throwing loads of money at free agents and making trades no one else can make because of financial reasons - they've lost their charm.

The Dice-K deal was the backbreaker. Paying over $50 million just to talk with a guy should have made it painfully clear to Red Sox fans that their team had become everything that they had always hated so much about the Yankees.

Meanwhile, the Rays are a scrappy bunch, filled with little-known homegrown overachievers. And on top of all this, their payroll is less than a third of the Sox's payroll. 

If you like baseball, and you like the belief that a team can achieve success independent of massive contracts and mega-trades, then you should be rooting for the Rays.

And now for tonight's game info.

The Rays took 10 out of 18 games in the regular season, but the series was as close as any in the majors. Tampa Bay took the lead in the seventh inning or later in six of their victories, and 11 of the contests were decided by three runs or less.

Tonights starters are Scott Shields for the Rays and Dice-K for the Sox.

Shields, you may remember, started that massive brawl with the Sox back in June by going after Coco Crisp. He was great against the Red Sox in St. Petersburg in the regular season, going 2-0 with a 1.17 ERA, but woeful in two starts at Fenway. He lost both, posting a 21.21 ERA in just 4 2-3 innings.

Dice-K pitched so-so against the Rays this season, going 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA. He lasted only five innings in each of his three outings, striking out 17 but walking 11.

Right now, 57% of FanIQ is going with the Rays, who were a ridiculous 57-24 at the Trop this season. 

Feel free to chat it up here or on the game page.