By C.J. SULLIVAN & DAVE HOLLANDER

HOLLANDER:  We drew straws and I won. So I’ll pick who wins the National League first, then you can do the no-strategy league after I finish.

The Mets have won their division already. They jumped into first in April and now have the best record in all of baseball. Not hard to pick them as NL East Champs. St. Louis, predicted by many to rule the NL like the Mets have, battled injuries to stave off a wonderfully entertaining Cincinnati team. Barring a total collapse, the Redbirds should hold off the Reds in the NL Central and advance to the post-season. 

Who makes it after that is anybody’s guess. Here’s mine: In the NL West, Grady Little has tried his best to choke away the Dodger lead. Forty-year-old Greg Maddux helps the Dodgers’ chances as does a breezy remaining schedule against the Pittsburgh and Chicago. But they play San Diego three more times and San Francisco the last series of the season. Likewise, San Francisco plays San Diego in a key series. The thought of Barry Bonds in the post season is both humorous and nauseating but it’s looking like a real possibility. In fact, I like the poetry of it. Look for San Fran to steal the NL West.  

After the Western teams have beat up on each other in September, Philadelphia will earn their way into the Wildcard spot. Despite four more games against Florida, the Phillies see cream puffs like Washington the last week of the season. Ryan Howard has gone berserk and Brett Myers—with the help of a court order— as restrained himself from allegedly hitting his wife long enough to stabilize their pitching staff. Plus, Chase Utley and the spirit of Aaron Rowand provide the necessary will to win important games.

Because they can’t play a team from their division in the first round, the Mets will play the NL West Champs, San Francisco. The Mets might lose a game, if that. Bonds will lose his temper under the merciless taunts from the Shea faithful. Mets hitting will feast on mediocre Giants pitching.

Philly will surprise St. Louis. Ryan Howard and Chase Utley will add to their legend status in Philly. Tony LaRusssa will be seen once again as bitter—in pain and frustration— with his players as another underdog sends him home from the playoffs early and disappointed.

The Mets-Phillies series will be epic; not because it will go seven games. It won’t. The Mets will make quick work of Philadelphia averaging eight or nine runs a game while Philly and the mighty Ryan Howard are stymied. The epic dimension will stem from the way the fans in Philly turn on their valiant team. The blame will flow venemously in Philly while champagne and momentum will overflow at Flushing in preparation for the Fall Classic.

SULLIVAN: Picking the American League winner is not as easy as it looks.

Joe Torre has to be the manager of the year to hold the Yankees together during an injury-plagued season. The five game sweep against the Boston Red Sox last month put the Bronx Boys over the top and they will most certainly win the AL East. 

Boston is dead and gone and all they have left is Big Papi moaning like a little fat kid that he should be MVP. Sorry, Big Fella, that award should go to the Yankee Captain, Derek Jeter, who keeps his mouth shut in good times and bad and just plays the damn game.

The AL West should be Oakland’s, barring a horrific collapse or an L.A. Angel resurgence. Not likely. And Oakland, once again with a small pay roll and a smaller fan base proves that small market teams can still compete—at least for the first round of the playoffs. Then they get crushed like small rebel forces attacking a larger army.

Now it gets complicated in the AL Central. The Tigers looked like the best team in baseball most of the season, but they are now in free fall. Jim Leyland better put down his cigarettes and work some of his old magic or his crew of Bengals are in danger of not even making the playoffs.

The Twins and the White Sox are closing in fast with the Twins having the hottest hand. My call is that the Twins will win the AL Central and the White Sox will get the Wild Card. The Tigers will be heart broken and Detroit will weep.

So then what? The Yankees will have the best record and will draw the wild card. Lucky for them. They will handle the White Sox. The Twins will beat Oakland and we will have a Yankee-Twin final.

At first look you may like the Twins’ chances; they have three great pitchers. But the Yankees peaked at the right time. They also have some kind of fear factor in their favor against the Twins. Come what may it looks like the Yankees will make the Fall Classic as the AL rep for the World Series.

If you are a Yankee or Met fan you must root for this outcome. New York needs a Subway Series and a better one than 2000 when the Mets snuck in with a weak team and still gave the Yankees a fight. 

HOLLANDER: Bring it on! You’re so right that this Mets team ain’t no Bobby Valentine and Benny Agbayani road show. In this Subway Series you won’t see Timo Perez loafing around the bases on a Todd Zeile two-out double in the sixth inning of scoreless Game 1. No sirreee. 

This Mets team has the most exciting base runner in the majors, Jose Reyes; the most complete centerfielder in baseball, Carlos Beltran, and the human walk-off, David Wright. Add the power and experience (not to mention classy ethnic diversity) of best friends Carlos Delgado and Shawn Green and, forgive me Yankees fans, you’ve got a modern day murderer’s row. Tom Glavine, Pedro Martinez and El Duque—three guys with a World Series ring apiece—hold just enough left in their tanks for one last glorious hurrah.  

I agree that Joe Torre deserves Manager of the Year and a colon massage from Steinbrenner for the masterful job he’s done. I don’t think anyone could’ve handled all these high priced headliners, the potentially devastating injuries to the heart of the order and the all-out weirdness of A-Rod with such unassuming deft. Congratulations Joe … but sorry.  It’s the 20 year anniversary since the Miracle of 1986. It’s the birth of Sports Net New York. And it’s the Year of the New York Metropolitans.  

SULLIVAN: Now this goes against every cell in my body but my friend and Yankee fan, Mike Connor, has recently accused me of being a Met homer so I will write with measured neutrality.

I agree that there will be a Subway Series. The Mets should have an easier time in the playoffs than the Yankees will against the better teams of the American League. So it looks like the no. 7 train—for the fifth time will carry World Series crowds out to Shea.

I am throwing in my lot with the Yankees winning the AL. Their lineup is amazing and their pitching—the lone weak spot—is jelling. It looks like Mystique is back in the Bronx and putting on a show.

For the Yankees to get by their AL opponents Mariano Rivera must be healthy. Rivera is the most valuable baseball player of all time—an incredible feat for a relief pitcher. No man has won more games - and big ones—than Rivera has for the last 11 seasons. He is the Cy Young/Walter Johnson/Sandy Koufax of this era.

So for the Yankees to win they need Rivera to be healthy—so he will be. Now we have our 2006 Subway Series and while I will be rooting for the Mets to win the Yankees will prevail.

The Mets were only 6-9 against the AL and have not faced many good teams as they tore through the NL. Also the Mets are weak, pitching wise. Through the years Tom Glavine has not been very good against the Yankees. We all know that the Yankees are Pedro’s Daddy. Maybe El Duque can come through, but incredibly, I think the Yankees will beat the Mets because of pitching.

The Yankees have home field advantage and it kills me to write this, but I think they will win in seven. Now I will go and weep.