ANALYSIS: The NLCS begins Thursday night with the Philadelphia Phillies hosting the LA Dodgers. It’s been 25 years since these two clubs last met in the playoffs. During the regular season, they were 4-4 against each other, with both teams sweeping each other at home.

The Dodgers will come into Philadelphia after sweeping the heavily favored Chicago Cubs. While the Phillies were able to easily close out the Milwaukee Brewers in four games. The young Dodgers offensively will be lead by Manny Ramirez who was acquired in a trade from Boston in July. Ramirez absolutely tore up the National League after his arrival. He has been absolutely unstoppable, and his presence in the lineup has paid huge dividends for the young Dodger hitters. Ramirez and third baseman Casey Blake bring veteran leadership and playoff experience to a very young Dodger squad.

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The Dodger starting pitchers have been anchored by ground ball pitcher Derek Lowe. In his last 10 starts, Lowe was 6-1 with a 1.42 ERA. In that stretch, Lowe has only given up two home runs to the 243 batters he faced. This should be huge when he pitches in very home run friendly Citizen Banks Ball Park. Look for Manager Joe Torre to use a 3-man rotation of Lowe, Chad Billingsley and Hiroki Kuroda. The Dodger bullpen has been fantastic of late, with fireballer Jonathan Broxtan taking over as the closer.

The Phillies offensively feature a very heavy left handed lineup. That should give the right handed heavy Dodger staff loads of problems. MVP candidate Ryan Howard (48 home runs, 146 runs batted in) and Chase Utley (33 homers, 104 RBIs) bat from the left side; Jimmy Rollins (38 doubles, nine triples, 47 steals) and Shane Victorino (.293 average, 102 runs, 36 steals) are switch-hitters.

The Phillies staff is lead by lefty Cole Hamels, and features hard throwing righty Brett Myers, and crafty veteran Jamie Moyer. Hamels is 2-0 with a 2.28 ERA against the Dodgers this season, and will most likely pitch in the opener. The bullpen is lead by closer Brad Lidge, who has been absolutely unhittable this season. He has brought his "gas can" to the mound in past playoff series when he was pitching for the Astros. But he looked pretty sharp against the Brewers, so we don’t think he will revert to his old ways.

SELECTION: This is an incredibly close matchup with the Phillies opening up as a -120 favorite to win the NLCS. I’m going to take a shot with the Dodgers. The Dodger starters are all groundball pitchers who throw strikes, and I think they will shutdown the Phillies hitters. Furcal, Martin, and Loney, will continue to get on base and Ramirez will stay hot and continue to get clutch hits. Dodgers win the series 4-3 and will represent the National League in the World Series.

L.A. DODGERS +100 to win the NLCS