The World Series begins tonight in St. Petersburg, Florida when the Philadelphia Phillies meet the Tampa Bay Rays in a best of seven series.

The Phillies made it into the World Series by defeating the Milwaukee Brewers and the Los Angeles Dodgers in the playoffs. The Rays defeated the Chicago White Sox and the Boston Red Sox to get into the World Series.

The first two games of the series will begin in Tropicana Field before the two teams travel to Citizens Park in Philadelphia for Games 3, 4, and 5. If there is a need for Games 6 and 7, the games will move back to Tropicana Field.

The starting pitchers for Game 1 are lefties Cole Hamels and Scott Kazmir. Hamels has proved that he is a big-game pitcher by pitching great in the playoffs this season. He is the Phillies’ ace and he has the stuff to throw a no-hitter. He gives the pitching edge to his team for Game 1.

Kazmir is another talented lefty but he is not as effective as Hamels. Unlike Hamels, who usually goes at least seven innings or more, Kazmir usually only lasts five plus innings due to his high pitch counts.

The bullpens for both teams will be very important in this series. Both teams have a great bullpen.

The Rays and Phillies also have a strong offense. The Rays are led by Carlos Pena, B.J. Upton, and Evan Longoria and the Phillies’ power is supplied by Ryan Howard, Pat Burrell, and Chase Utley.

This year’s World Series should be very competitive. You can make an argument for each team to win the World Series.

The Rays have the momentum after beating the Red Sox in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series last Sunday night. The Phillies have had a week off and have not played a game since beating the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.

The first pitch tonight should be around 8:35 pm EST and the game will be shown on Fox.