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• Rank: Which team is the best champion of the past 26 years?

Not this year, Philly fans. Despite a majority of SportsNation foreseeing (or perhaps just wishing for) a Phillies win in Game 6 to tie up the series, the Yankees proved all of SN wrong and won the World Series on Wednesday night.

Does this World Series win seal the deal for the Yankees as the team of the decade? Or does that award go to other top '00-'09 teams such as the Cardinals, Phillies or Red Sox?

Vote and discuss below!

Alex Rodriguez hits two game-tying home runs in the late innings of postseason games. Brad Lidge closes out a game like the Lidge of old (or at least unlike the Lidge of this season). And the Angels make the Red Sox look positively Pawtucket-ish. Clearly, there is some bad postseason karma looking for a new home. Good thing MLB umpires are around.

Capping off a run of mistakes around the league, home plate umpire Jerry Meals, by his own admission, blew a call that prolonged a ninth inning in which the Phillies eventually took a 6-5 lead against the Rockies Sunday night. Then again, perhaps Meals can be forgiven for freezing on a call in a four-hour game played in sub-freezing temperatures.

Buster Olney thinks it's time to bring in mechanical assistance. Back in July, only a slight majority of SportsNation thought replay should be expanded. Has October changed that?

• Vote on NLDS: Will the Phillies close it out? | Vote on ALCS: Yankees or Angels?
• Chat: "Baseball Tonight" analyst Orestes Destrade talks playoffs, 3 ET.

The battery of Michelle Beadle and Colin Cowherd has a better ERA during the afternoon episodes of "SportsNation" TV.

Argue the hot topics of the day and vote on the biggest stories from the world of sports. The show airs on ESPN2 at 4 p.m. and midnight ET.

Note: Broadcast voting results as of this afternoon (ET).

If he trained, would LeBron be a better WR than Braylon Edwards?
You've seen the LeBron in a Browns uniform commercial. You've seen Edwards traded away. Now complete the Cleveland fantasy football picture.

Whom would you pick first for a playoff series?
Derek Jeter had a clutch HR to start the Yankees' postseason scoring. Albert Pujols was intentionally walked anytime the Dodgers saw danger.

Are the Red Sox in the Angels' heads?
The Angels have lost 12 of their past 13 postseason games against the Red Sox. "Last year was last year," said Torii Hunter when asked about it.

Does toughness run in families?
Eli Manning missed practice for a second straight day. Will he play against the Raiders? Dad Archie and brother Peyton have been known to play hurt.

Does Braylon Edwards make the Jets a serious Super Bowl contender?
Edwards, wearing a white No. 17 Jets jersey, caught passes from rookie Mark Sanchez and backups Erik Ainge and Kevin O'Connell in drills Thursday.

What is "SportsNation" TV, and how do you make your voice heard? Read about the new ESPN show that features fan opinions with calls, tweets, polls, rankers and more.

If the Red Sox and Yankees wind up playing in the ALCS, is there a way Brett Favre can throw out the first pitch? Just to see if the world would, in fact, actually implode?

With apologies to debates over whether the Rockies can handle the Phillies' left-handed pitching, or if Clayton Kershaw is ready to be a postseason ace, the prospect of another Red Sox-Yankees clash looms over the postseason as either a return to the best rivalry in sport or as many as seven five-hour nightmares, depending on your perspective.

Are you rooting for another showdown or absolutely anything else?

• Vote: Angels-Red Sox | Dodgers-Cardinals | Phillies-Rockies | Yankees-Twins
• Vote: Pick a World Series winner and how long each division series will last
• Your rankings: Power Rankings | Playoff closers | Big-game pitchers | All-time upsets
• Chat wraps: Buster Olney | Eric Young | Joe Morgan | Rob Neyer | Peter Gammons
• Hall of Fall: Steve Bartman becomes first inductee

Moving on from last night's Favre-less drama in Minnesota, we move immediately to a playoff (now that we're finally allowed to use that word) tripleheader Wednesday. It's a quick turnaround, as the Twins will attest, but SportsNation has been prepping all week by picking the brains of some of ESPN's best baseball writers. Hey, it beats working.

Do you have something to say about sports? Then say it! From the start of the NBA and NHL seasons to Bill Belichick analysis, Top 25 lists and whatever else crosses your idle mind, ESPN blogs gives you the space to share your opinion and analysis.

Engage other fans by commenting on stories, blogging and uploading photos. Your contributions to the community could be featured on SportsNation.

Below are entries from New England sports fans just like you. To respond, sign in or create a profile and start posting.

Fan blogs

Trying to be OK with it:
"It was just sad to see the Red Sox swept out like that. Especially when Papelbon blew it for us in the last inning. It's disappointing to watch or listen or get caught up for 162 games and have your season taken out from underneath ya, with what seemed like way too quick. Also, to have to do it with your colleague sitting next to ya as a Yankee fan, practically laughing his spit right in your face. I took it with class and am praying the Yankees go down. What are ya going to do? I will still be a fan next year." -- azorean milli

Pats running up the score? Whaaat?:
"That term was invented by the sportscasters from the record-breaking, undefeated '07 Pats just doing their job. When you pull Brady after such a dousing vs. the Titans, or anyone for that matter, it's not running up the score. When you go for it on a fourth down no matter what the score, it's called effort and practice in real life. Stop whining!" -- JeffBW

Photo galleries

Say cheese, Boston! Have a great photo of yourself cheering at a Celtics game or posing in your best Bruins sweater? Post it to your profile and share it with other fans.

Message boards

Can't talk enough about your teams? ESPN message boards are the place for you.

Pros: Bruins | Celtics | Patriots | Red Sox
Colleges: Boston College | Boston U | Harvard | UMass

Widgets

ESPN Widgets are portable applications that you can place on Facebook, Myspace, your iGoogle home page and many of the other most popular sites on the Internet. Stay up-to-date with breaking stories and the latest scores and stats on your favorite teams.

Pros: Bruins | Celtics | Patriots | Red Sox
Colleges: Boston College | Boston U | Harvard | UMass

Sports Passport

Chronicle all the sports venues and events you've attended (good and bad). We make it easy by providing a calendar with the games. You add the notes and pictures and rate the experience. Start tracking your games.

"SportsNation" TV's Michelle Beadle and Colin Cowherd love to talk trash with "SportsCenter" anchors when they cross paths in the cafeteria.

Argue the hot topics of the day and vote on the biggest stories from the world of sports. The show airs on ESPN2 at 5 p.m. and midnight ET.

Note: Broadcast voting results as of this afternoon (ET).

Does the Yanks-Sox series matter this weekend?
The Yankees have wrapped up a postseason berth, and the Red Sox lead the wild-card race by eight games. Is anything more than pride at stake here?

What do you think of Michael Vick's expectations?
Vick said that he had expected to join an NFL team as a starting quarterback when he was released from prison. Instead, he's a backup for the Eagles.

If you had to choose, would you say boxing is dead or alive?
MMA has made great inroads with fight fans. And yet, HBO sold 1 million pay-per-views for the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Juan Manuel Marquez bout.

Are complaining Cowboys fans party poopers?
The Cowboys, who sold about 30,000 $29 party passes for 15,000 spaces last week may limit the standing-room-only ticket sales in the future.

What do you take away from South Carolina upsetting No. 4 Mississippi?
Were the Rebels overrated, or are the unranked teams in the Southeastern Conference underrated and underappreciated nationally?

What is "SportsNation" TV, and how do you make your voice heard? Read about the new ESPN show that features fan opinions with calls, tweets, polls, rankers and more.

• Vote: How will the Dodgers-Giants series play out in San Francisco?

Baseball sticks by our side all summer long, suffering with us through the heat and humidity, serving up background noise for backyard barbeques. And what do we do when Labor Day arrives? Send it packing for the trophy spouse that is football. We're bad people.

USC-Ohio State and the first NFL Sunday are the weekend headliners, but baseball isn't going away without a fight. Clinging to a two-game lead in the NL West, the Dodgers visit the rival Giants, while the Rockies get the woeful Padres. And fighting for the wild-card, both the Rangers and Red Sox face potential spoilers with winning records in the Mariners and Rays, respectively.

All of which raises an excellent question, as posed by commenter ElGrizzly. If you're a Rockies fan, are you rooting for the Dodgers to sweep and give Colorado acres of breathing room for the wild card, or are you rooting for the Giants to sweep and put the division title up for grabs? Where's Monty Hall when you need him?

• Dodgers still No. 4 in this week's SN Power Rankings | Submit your rankings
• Chat: Jerry Crasnick talks about pennant races and more, 12 ET.

• Vote: Which teams will come out on top of the wild-card races?

As Yankees legend Yogi Berra might put it, nobody cares about the Yankees playing the Red Sox anymore; it's too popular.

The rivalry that is probably simultaneously baseball's most popular and most reviled was renewed over the weekend, and the Yankees maintained plenty of breathing room in the AL East by taking two of three. There were a number of important series over the weekend, most notably a big one between the Rockies and Giants that wraps up tonight and which drew more than 130,000 fans to Coors Field for the first three games. But the spotlight was where it always seems to be when Boston and New York are involved; heading into the weekend, only 27 percent of voters rated the Giants-Rockies series as the most significant, compared to 39 percent for the Yankees-Red Sox series.

As much as griping about them is almost as much fun as griping about Brett Favre, is the devil you know more interesting than the Devil Rays or Angels you don't in the playoffs?

• SportsNation gives AL wild card the nod as baseball's best race.
• More than half of voters still picking against the Rockies in NL wild-card race.
• Monday's chat: Buster Olney talks MLB at 1 p.m. ET.