Baseball Playoffs Begin

PHILADELPHIA (AP) Baseball's division series starts today with Colorado at Philadelphia, the Los Angeles Angels at Boston and the Chicago Cubs at Arizona. <br/><br/>NL wild-card winner Colorado travels

Wednesday, October 3rd 2007, 11:48 am

By: News On 6

PHILADELPHIA (AP) Baseball's division series starts today with Colorado at Philadelphia, the Los Angeles Angels at Boston and the Chicago Cubs at Arizona.

NL wild-card winner Colorado travels to Philadelphia for the Phillies' first postseason game since 1993. The Rockies, who've won 14 of their last 15 including Monday night's one-game wild-card playoff, start 17-game winner Jeff Francis. Left-hander Cole Hamels takes the mound for the NL East champions this afternoon.

In Boston, the AL East champion Red Sox start 20-game winner Josh Beckett against the AL West champion L.A. Angels, who are going with 19-game winner John Lackey. Both are young veterans used to the big stage. Beckett was 2003 World Series MVP for Florida after pitching a shutout against the Yankees to win it. Lackey was a rookie when he won Game 7 of the 2002 World Series.

And later tonight, a pair of 18-game winners hook up when NL Central champion Chicago Cubs travel to Arizona to play the West-champion Diamondbacks. Carlos Zambrano gets the ball for the Cubs against Brandon Webb for the D-Backs.

The last postseason series is the AL matchup between Central winner Cleveland and the New York Yankees, the AL wild card. That starts tomorrow in Cleveland. The Tribe is 0-6 against the Yanks this season. All the first-round matchups are best-of-five.