Don't look now, but the Rockies are in the World Series. The team and the players themselves probably didn't expect to be in the position they are in, but after they finished off a sweep of Arizona with a 6-4 win Monday night, it wouldn't surprise anybody to see them as World Series champions. At least, it shouldn't surprise anybody at this point because really, would anything Colorado did at this point be a shock?

The Rockies have won 20 of 21 overall beginning with a 13-0 shutout over the Marlins back on September 16. That hot streak has carried themthrough the end of the season, into a one game playoff (a win over the Padres) and straight through the NL Division and Championship series. The only loss during that span was a loss to Brandon Webb and the Diamondbacks on September 28. Colorado is the first team to sweep its way into the World Series since the inception of the Wild Card format in 1995.

Matt Holliday had the crushing blow in the bottom of the 4th hitting a 3-run homerun to knock out pitcher Micah Owings. The Rockies scored six times in the frame all with two outs. Clutch hitting has been the norm for this team with runs and hits being collected in every situation. It doesn't matter how many outs there or what the count is, the Rockies players think they can succeed, and almost invariably over the last month they have.

The most boggling thing about this run has been the production that has come from a team as a whole. On the broadcast on Monday a graphic showed that 11 different Rockies had had the game-winning RBI over their late season run. From Willy Taveras and Kazuo Matsui at the top of the order to Brad Hawpe and Yorvit Torrealba at the bottom, everybody has been producing which has made it impossible to slow down the offense. Combine that with some stellar pitching coming from the starting rotation and the bullpen, and you have the National League champions.

Now the only thing that has a shot of slowing down Colorado is time. As of a result of the short series, the Rockies will have to wait over a week before the start of the World Series. The upshot is that they get to rest and set their rotation while either the Indians or Red Sox will have no such luxury. Of course, the downside is that the Rockies are so hot, they'd rather play everyday. Who knows how the long layoff will affect the team, and if they can sustain the momentum after the delay. A long layoff seemed to hurt the Tigers in last season's World Series, but I'd be unwilling to bet against the Rockies for the rest of the year.

Matt Holliday hit a monster three-run homer as part of a six-run fourth inning to lead Colorado to victory. He was named NLCS MVP for his efforts.

It's the Rockies' World, These Guys Just Play In It:
The Indians dominated game three of the ALCS and now hold a 2-1 lead in the series. Boston's Tim Wakefield (and not Josh Beckett on short rest) will go against Paul Byrd in the pivotal game four. A win for Cleveland all but seals an AL pennant. A Boston victory makes it a best-of-three situation and restores homefield for the Red Sox. I'm not sure which team the Rockies would rather face, but Major League Baseball must be rooting hard for Boston since a Cleveland vs. Colorado Fall Classic would likely be a ratings disaster. That scenario though would score one for the underdogs with two small market teams playing for the biggest prize in the sport.

Jake Westbrook was the winning pitcher in Game 3.