Since ESPN and all other sports outlets have essentially already given the Yankees their rings, I thought I should point out one important fact — they haven’t won yet. In fact, I am not even sure that they will. What baseball fans all over the country (except Yankee-hating Boston fans and Philly fanatics) are forgetting is that the Philadelphia Phillies are not just a team that will lay over and die. They have been in this spot before, might I mention more recently than the New York Yankees. And there is no reason they can’t win this.

The Phillies returned this season fresh off last season’s World Series win to finish first in their division. They beat both the Cardinals and the Dodgers to get back in the Fall Classic once again.

With the Phillies’ strong lineup, stellar starting pitching and defending-champion status, it seems highly unlikely that anything, even the Yankees, will get in the way of them maintaining their title.

The Phillies are not one-hit-wonders. They have been in the postseason before, and they have experience facing good American League teams. With their third straight postseason appearance, this Philly team is reminiscent of the late-’90s Yankee team, with the trio of Utley, Rollins and Howard akin to that of Williams, O’Neill and Jeter.

No World Series team can compete without offense, and the Phillies definitely have hitters to match the Yankees’. While most people focus on touting the Yankees’ lineup, with stars like Rodriguez and Teixeira clouding fans’ vision, many forget how talented the Philly squad is.

Ryan Howard had 45 homers and 141 RBIs in the regular season, Chase Utley had a .509 OPS, Jayson Werth had 36 home runs in the regular season, as well as seven so far this postseason, and Shane Victorino had a career-high 13 triples. In addition, the Philly batters do not give up. They give tough at-bats, fouling off pitch after pitch. Unlike the Yankees, the Phillies have hitters like Rollins and Victorino who play small ball and get on base, instead of just aiming for the fences.

Although the Phillies’ offense is stellar, it would be nothing without its counterpart: pitching. Though they’re not paying a total of 243.5 million dollars for pitchers like Burnett and Sabathia, they do have quality pitching that can get the job done. Cole Hamels and Joe Blanton both performed well in the regular season, with ERAs in the low fours. But when the Phillies picked up Cliff Lee and Pedro Martinez during the summer, their rotation was set. Both Cy Young award winners can face off against the Yankees and win, since they have done so time and time again in the past.

People can talk all they want, but no one can tell me that playing in the new Yankee Stadium is any different than playing at Citizens Bank Park. Instead of a postseason crowd comprised mostly of corporate members and celebrities (because who else can afford to see the game in New York), Citizens Bank is filled with real life fans, whose support definitely gives the Phillies a home field advantage. This is clear by Philadelphia’s postseason record before this series, as they were 11-1 at home. This isn’t just a coincidence — there must be something in the sweet Philly air.

The Philadelphia Phillies are a strong unit, but I don’t think they could have gotten this far and been this good without their manager, Charlie Manuel. Though he’s not the best with the Xs and Os, Manuel is the kind of manager that players want to play for. He has faith in his players and lets them ride out tough situations. Unlike Girardi, who would take out Pettitte when he’s pitching a shutout in the eighth inning, just to put in a reliever who would blow it, Manuel sticks with his guys through and through.

This kind of attitude is the strongest advantage the Phillies have over the Yankees. Most of these Phillies have been playing together under a manager who believes in them for the last three years, and they only get better with each coming season. There is no steroid drama, pitcher-catcher controversy or the mentality that each year you can just buy what was wrong with your team last year. No, these Phillies are the real deal, and they’re here to stay. And if any team can compete with Yankees and come out on top, it is undoubtedly the Phillies.