Oct. 6

Is this the dream series ... or what?

In June 2001, when baseball was secretly looking to contract four teams, the Twins were obviously one candidate. So were the Angels. The grand scheme was to contract the Angels, then move the A's to Anaheim. And here these two teams, with owners dying to sell them, are in the ALCS -- the two best teams in the American League.

This is a compelling series between talented underdogs who also happen to play like guerrillas.

It's fortunate for the owners that the Basic Agreement was signed before the playoffs. The compelling statistic that over the past five years teams in the bottom half of payroll had won only five postseason games has now been doubled by Minnesota and Oakland -- and the Angels may end up in the bottom half this season as well. That must make the Yankees, Mets, Mariners and Red Sox really happy as they hand out their revenue-sharing checks.

The important issue is that this is a compelling series between talented underdogs who also happen to play like guerrillas. David Eckstein and Doug Mientkiewicz in the ALCS? How great is this?

During the season, the Angels were the better team -- because of their division and schedule, arguably the second-best team in the league after the A's. And we saw how much the Twins cared about Oakland being better. Which leads to another point: Could we stop hearing about that HO-scaled circus ballpark in Minnesota? It's an embarrassment, right down to the seats being angled wrong. Oh, by the way, the Twins were 2-1 in Oakland, 1-1 at home in winning the Division Series. Could we also stop hearing about the great fans in Minnesota? Twins fans managed the smallest per-game attendance of any team that finished above .500.

The Twins are in the ALCS because of their players, who are very good. The Angels are here because of a very good, intrepid team. The Angels won't be able to use their contact hitting and aggressiveness to exploit Minnesota's defense the way they could the bumbling Yankees, but then the BaggyDome turf shouldn't impact the Angels' defense like it did Oakland's.

So the series should come down to:

1. Which middle bullpen fares better
2. Which mid-lineup hitters are hot
3. Who pitches the best between Kevin Appier, Joe Mays and whoever Anaheim puts out there for its No. 4 starter.

The mind says Anaheim is the favorite, but every time I see Corey Koskie I believe the Twins cannot lose. This is owner Carl Pohlad's worst nightmare. For what he and MLB put these players through last winter, justice is the World Series in one of the two worst parks in baseball.