Atlanta is at 20-1 to win the World Series while the Giants are at 15-1 in MLB Odds.

Both teams have gotten off to a similar start here in the beginning of the 2011 season with the Braves sporting an -10 record and the Giants sitting at 10-8. When Atlanta makes the trip out west to San Francisco, baseball fans will be treated by some fantastic pitching match ups full of familiar faces from last year’s playoff action.

On Friday, Tommy Hanson will take the mound against Madison Bumgarner, who has gotten off to a shaky start here in 2011. Bumgarner is sporting a 7.36 ERA to go with a 1.98 WHIP and 0-2 record. He will have to pitch much better in this game against the Braves if San Francisco is to stand a chance. Saturday is probably the best match up of the series as Tim Hudson will face Tim Lincecum, who almost threw a no hitter the other day against Colorado. In the series finale on Sunday, Brandon Beachy will do battle against Jonathan Sanchez.

San Francisco is at 12-1 to repeat as World Series champions in baseball Odds.

The Giants rely heavily on a solid pitching staff. The Giants were one of just two teams in Major League Baseball that surrendered fewer than 600 runs on the season. They allowed 583 runs, second only to the San Diego Padres who allowed 581 runs.

The Giants rode their pitching staff through the playoffs and were World Series Champions. They are led by Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain, two young pitchers that have as much potential as any duo in the league. Lincecum is already a Cy Young Award winner and has a bright future ahead of him. He finished the season particularly well and should be able to reestablish himself as one of the best pitchers in Major League Baseball.

The concern for the Giants will come at the plate. The Giants do not have any outstanding hitters and it is difficult to see where their runs will come from during the regular season. While their pitching staff still has the potential to carry them through stretches, they will need to find a way to manufacture runs if they hope to stay on top of the game.

If the Giants can solve some of their offensive problems they should be able to make another run towards the World Series this year.

The San Francisco Giants are one of the favorites in baseball picks this season.

Thousands of fans lined the streets of downtown San Francisco to celebrate the teams’ victory. Many enthusiastic fans even camped out the night before to guarantee a good spot to view the players. Some fans even skipped work or pulled their children out of school to join in the festivities. The Giants‘ players have described themselves as misfits and castoffs, but they were everyday heroes today.

The ticker tape confetti rained on the heads of these hometown heroes and other civic dignitaries under a beautiful sunny sky. Fans and players alike enjoyed the city’s decorations – street lamps covered in orange and black, banners proclaiming the Giants’ World Series Championship title. The only comparison most apt to the splendor of this celebration is to the parade held when the Giants moved west from New York 52 years ago.

The mayor’s spokesman reported that officials believe it is the largest parade and civic event turnout in the city’s history. It is no wonder then that the atmosphere of the parade felt more like a large, all inclusive, street party. Marching bands, floats, and mascots in full costume accompanied the players and dignitaries on the route from Market Street to the Civic Center, where the team accepted a key to the city.

Both fans and players were astonished at the turnout.

In the NLDS series against the Braves the Giants used spectacular pitching and timely hitting to get past the NL Wildcard team in 4 games, while the Phillies wasted no time in defeating the Cincinnati Reds in a 3 game sweep behind the no-hitter of Roy Halladay and complete game shutout of Cole Hamels in game 3.

The championship series is set to be one of the better National League Championship Series in recent years. Philadelphia is hoping to win their 3rd straight NL pennant behind their outstanding pitching staff that features Halladay, Roy Oswalt, and Hamels. The Giants are no slouch in the pitching department either riding their ace Tim Lincecum in recent weeks. Add in pitchers Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez, and Maddison Bumgarner and the Giants have the arms to compete in this 7 game series.

The season series between these two teams was dead even at 3-3, with both home teams winning 2 games and losing only 1. The closely contested regular season games are leading baseball analysts to believe that this will be a close series and come down to a 7th game.

With the extra time off between series both managers will be able to set their starting rotations the way they want them. Chances are the pitching order for both teams in first three games will look like this:

Game 1 – Lincecum vs Halladay
Game 2 – Cain vs Oswalt
Game 3 – Sanchez vs Hamels

Once it gets to game 4 all pitching rotations have the chance to get thrown out the window as one or both teams may feel that the next game is a must win for their club.

Both teams could be accused, and forgiven, for just being happy to be in the MLB Playoffs. Both the Giants and Braves needed the final day of a 162-game schedule to secure their postseason positions.

San Francisco was in a wild, three-team race for top spot on the NL West division with the San Diego Padres and the Colorado Rockies over the final few weeks of the regular season. In the last week, it came down to the Giants and Padres, with the Giants winning a pivotal series with the Padres on the last weekend of the regular season.

This is the Giants’ seventh division title in franchise history and first postseason berth since 2003.

The Braves are in the MLB Playoffs for the first time since 2005, and battled through the entire schedule to get there, exchanging NL East leads with the division-champion Philadelphia Phillies throughout the season.

Atlanta won four of seven matchups with San Francisco this season. The Giants took two of three at home from the Braves in April.

Atlanta will start righthander Derek Lowe, who is 16-12 with a 4.00 ERA. San Francisco wilol counter with righthander Tim Lincecum, who is 16-10 with a 3.43 ERA.

After leading the NL West division for most of the season the San Diego Padres now trail the San Francisco Giants by 2 games. At the beginning of the week it looked like the Colorado Rockies still had a chance to win the division, but they were eliminated last night with their loss and the Giants’ win, making the division race officially a two team race.

Even with the Padres trailing the Giants by 2 games in the division standings they do not have to win this weekend series to make the playoffs. The Padres are still alive in the wild card race with the Atlanta Braves as well.

Currently the Padres trail the Braves by 1.5 games in the wild card standings, so there are two possible ways for the Padres to make the playoffs. The Braves will face the Phillies this weekend, which could be a good thing for San Diego as the Phillies will try their hardest to keep the Braves from making the playoffs.

The tentative pitching match ups look to be outstanding for this weekend’s series between the Padres and Giants. While these pitching match ups could change as both managers will use every pitcher possible to ensure a series win, here are the scheduled starters for this weekend:

Friday – Richard vs Zito
Saturday – Stauffer vs Cain
Sunday – Latos vs Sanchez

Carlos Beltran is back and the New York Mets are excited about it. The Mets begin a four-game road series against Tim Lincecum and the San Francisco Giants, Beltran will make his season debut Thursday night. Against the Giants (47-41) after being out following right knee surgery, Manager Jerry Manuel said the five-time All-Star would play center field and bat cleanup Thursday.

On a rehab assignment with Class-A St. Lucie, Beltran played 14 games reuniting with his teammates Sunday. He said he is not sure how rusty he will be at the plate, although he is pain-free and ready to go. For New York (48-40) last year, Beltran was limited to 81 games due to a bone bruise. With 10 homers and 48 RBIs, he batted .325 for the Mets.

Against Lincecum (9-4, 3.16 ERA), the slugger is 4 for 7 and he has avoided losing a career-worst third straight start last Wednesday in a 15-2 win at Milwaukee. Over seven innings, he allowed one run and struck out 10.

With David Wright going 2 for 11 with eight strikeouts and Jeff Francouer 3 for 16, other key New York hitters have not fared as well as Beltran against Lincecum. With Beltran back on Thursday, Francouer’s playing time will diminish. Angel Pagan will start Thursday in right field. Four games behind Atlanta are the second-place Mets.

Buster Posey, who was 15 for 27 with five homers and 14 RBIs in that stretch and the NL player of the week, the Giants won six of seven matches behind Posey.

In San Francisco’s recent dominance of the Houston Astros, Barry Zito has played a key part. On Wednesday night, Zito looks to help the Giants win their 10th consecutive game against the Astros.

Against the Astros (26-45), Zito (7-3, 3.13 ERA) makes his third start this season. To win both 2010 outings, in 13 innings, the left-hander has allowed three runs and struck out nine. In five career starts versus the Astros, he has improved to 3-1 with a 3.69 ERA.

During the nine-game winning streak in the series, the Giants (39-30) have outscored the Astros 53-20. At Minute Maid Park, San Francisco, 7-0 against Houston this season, will try for a seventh consecutive victory.

Against Houston’s scheduled starter Brett Myers (4-5, 3.34), that could be a challenge. In seven home starts, Myers has a 3-0 with a 2.89 ERA. after giving up four runs in 6 2/3 innings of a 5-2 loss at Kansas City on Thursday, years, a right-hander, will look to avoid a third straight defeat overall.

Over the last 11 games, San Francisco’s Aubrey Huff is batting.410, after a two-hit effort in the series opener.

With an RBI on Tuesday for the Astros, Michael Bourn went 2 for 4. Astros have lost nine of 10. Bourn is 5 for 42 with 15 strikeouts in his last 11 games, despite a solid effort in the series opener.

In Houston’s system, Catcher Jason Castro, the 10th overall pick in the 2008 draft is regarded as the top prospect, went 1 for 4 in his major league debut Tuesday.

During a sweep of its Bay Area rival last month, Oakland Athletics did not have to face San Francisco ace Tim Lincecum. Things won’t be so fortunate for them this time. Tim Lincecum, in the opener of their interleague set at AT&T Park, will look to continue his dominance of the A’s and help the Giants start avenging that disappointing series Friday night.

While winning all three games May 21-23, Oakland (32-30) outscored San Francisco 10-1. With Lincecum (5-2, 3.20 ERA) on the mound, the A’s, 42-35 in the Bay Area series, have swept four of the last 10 series, however, to do it in San Francisco for the second time in three years might not be easy. In four starts against Oakland, the right-hander is 3-0 with a 1.23 ERA.

“I’ve been kind of erratic with my mechanics and my timing and my motion, and this was a big step forward, I’ll take what I get “, said Lincecum, after giving up five walks in each of his previous four starts.

Reliever Jeremy Affeldt said, “They’re going to have to face a different team when it comes to confidence”.

After falling 7-6 at Cincinnati on Thursday to conclude a 4-3 road trip, San Francisco looks to avoid a third consecutive loss. The Giants stranded 13 runners and grounded into three double plays with the bases loaded, although Aubrey Huff and Aaron Rowand each homered.

With the Cincinnati Reds, on Wednesday night, the Giants will try to help the left-hander, Jonathan Sanchez, in his third straight start and earn his third victory in as many matchups.

Since May 19, the Cy Young winners in San Francisco, Barry Zito and Tim Lincecum are 0-3 with a 6.00 ERA in their combined eight starts. Sanchez is just outside the NL’s top 10 in ERA and strikeouts (68), although he (4-4, 2.63 ERA) hasn’t drawn as much attention. in nine of his 11 starts, Sanchez has allowed three earned runs or fewer but he’s failed to win much partly because the Giants (32-25) provided him just 14 runs in his first nine outings, none in his four losses.

On Tuesday, the Giants beat Cincinnati 3-0 for their fifth win in six games. In that victory, Juan Uribe homered after driving in four runs in Monday’s series-opening 6-5 win. Including nine in Uribe’s last five contests, he has a team-best 38 RBIs. Against Aaron Harang (4-5, 5.43), the veteran infielder, however, is 1 for 6.

Harang hasn’t gotten much help from his teammates just like Sanchez. In his first 10 starts, he was given 18 runs but also had a 5.98 ERA. In his last three games, the right-hander has received 21 runs and has gone 2-0. In his last two outings, he has a 2.45 ERA even though he threw 98 pitches over a season-low four innings Friday in a 4-2 loss at Washington. In 12 career starts against the Giants, Harang is 4-6 with a 3.62 ERA but was 1-0 with a 1.93 ERA in two matchups last season.

While Sanchez hasn’t won three consecutive starts since a career-best, four-game run in 2008, Harang hasn’t earned three straight wins since taking four in a row in 2007.