World Series Prediction: Giants over Rangers in seven games

Who needs the Yankees to make the World Series interesting? San Francisco and Texas are two fascinating teams with distinctive styles - and it will be worth watching.

The Giants make me chuckle. Righthander Tim Lincecum doesn't look like he's graduated from high school yet but overpowers hitters with an absolutely amazing changeup. And I think his changeup will neutralize the power bats in that Texas lineup.

Everyone wants closer Brian Wilson and his beard in their Wolfpack right now. And the Giants closer has proven he can get more than three outs if needed.

How will they score runs? Who knows. Catcher Buster Posey needs to have a good series, though. And that La Velle-shaped third baseman needs to step up too.

The Rangers are enjoying a near Phoenix-like resurgence. Just over a year ago, they were broke and couldn't sign their first-round pick. MLB had its grips on Texas' budget. There was a messy bankruptcy and an attempt by Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to buy the club. In the end, the team was awarded to Chuck Greenberg and Rangers legend Nolan Ryan.

Great timing. Everyone wants to get their minds off the Cowboys down there.

Texas scored 80 more runs than the Giants during the regular season. Their offense has a nice blend of speed and power, and outfielder Josh Hamilton is just a monster in the middle of that lineup.

One thing that hurts Texas is that Vlad The Impaler must play in right field at AT&T Park in order to keep his bat in the lineup. Texas will cringe every time former Rochester Red Wings outfielder Andres Torres and his teammates shoot balls in that direction. Vlad can still throw, but his mobility has ceased to exist.

Lefthander Cliff Lee is putting up all-time numbers in the postseason, and the possibility of him starting three games in this series makes for quite a challenge for the Giants. The rest of the Rangers staff isn't too shabby either. Colby Lewis has stepped up.

Catcher Bengie Molina looms large in this series - no, not that way. Molina played with the Giants for half the season before being traded on July 1 for Chris Ray and a minor leaguer. There's your scouting report on the Giants.

That could make it tougher for the Giants hitters to have success in this series. But wait, they already are averaging just three runs a game in the postseason. In fact, San Francisco scored more than four runs just 27 times after the All-Star break - but still went 44-29 to run down the Padres and win the AL West.

While the combination of Lee and the Texas offense screams at me to pick the Rangers, Lincecum's changeup, Wilson's tenacity and a daily lineup used to battling in close games prompts me to pick the San Francisco Giants to win the World Series in seven games.