I won't be speaking to a lot of my sports colleagues in the office for the next week. They are Yankees fans, and I am the lone Phillies fan in the office.

For the first time in my lifetime, the Phillies and Yankees are meeting in the World Series. There were several times the teams could have met in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but it never happened.

Now, it is here, and I can't wait for Game 1. I know all of the Yankees fans are talking like they have already won the World Series. Talk all you want, but it's not going to happen.

It's going to be a repeat for the Phillies. They are going to beat the Yankees in five games.

You think I'm crazy. But it's going to happen. It's fate, karma, whatever you want to call it.

My theory: The last time a Philadelphia sports won back-to-back championships was the Flyers in 1974 and 1975. And they did it the same way. Each year, they swept the quarterfinals in four games, won the semifinals in seven games and the Stanley Cup in six games.

The Phillies are following the same pattern. They took the National League division series in four games, and the NL Championship Series in five games. They won the World Series in five over the Tampa Bay Rays last year, and will do the same to the Yankees.

Silly, I know. But it's going to happen.

High hopes, baby!

If you have any comments (and I know you will), post them below, or e-mail them to me at schott@dailygazette.com.