With the first week of baseball playoffs nearly wrapped up, there have been a couple surprises.  Here’s a quick look at what’s going on in the World Series.

Some people might be shocked by the Dodgers sweep of the Cardinals.  There were certainly plenty of people (including myself) that predicted the Cardinals’ power-pitching duo would ultimately prevail.  It wasn’t to be as the Dodgers dominated St Louis in nearly every aspect of the game to pull off the sweep.

Saturday night’s game that clinched the series for the Dodgers was an easy 5-1 victory.  The star of the game had to be pitcher Vicente Padilla.  In his first career postseason appearance, the pitcher retired 19 of 21 hitters over seven innings.  Closer Jonathan Brozton then struck out Rick Ankiel to wrap up the win.  The team is now awaiting a winner to be declared between the Rockies and the Phillies to continue their postseason play.  That series is currently tied at 1-1.

In the AL Division Series, the Angels managed to pull of a sweep of the Red Sox.  It was a particularly satisfying win for the team as it marked the first time in franchise history that the team pulled off a postseason sweep.

They rallied late in the game to pull off the 7-6 victory on Sunday night.  They were trailing the Red Sox throughout the game, and were still down 6-4 when Jonathan Papelbon retired the first two hitters in the ninth.  However, the BoSox then made a decision that may just haunt them as they get used to the idea that they won’t be continuing through to the next round.  They intentionally walked Torli Hunter with runners on second and third.  With two outs, Vladimir Guerrero stepped up to the plate.  He had been waiting for a big October hit and this turned out to be it.  With a two-run single off of Papelbon that brought home the win.

The Angels will now go on to face the Yankees who also made quick work of their first round.  They swept the Twins, finishing them off on Sunday night with a 4-1 victory.  It seems that Alex Rodriguez has broken his playoff curse, as he put on a pretty impressive performance that helped deliver the Yanks to the ALCS.

As the series rolls on, BetUS is offering odds on all of the upcoming games.  Be sure to check it out before the new games get underway.