Astros, White Sox loaded with players to root for

	Ozzie Guillen's unique managing style has won over a lot of people. Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

Most baseball fans have a minor science devoted to figuring out which team to root for once their real team drops out of the playoff picture. One school of thought says you keep rooting against your natural rivals for however far they go. Or you can perversely root for your rival, on the reasoning that their postseason triumph will at least improve your division's property values. Their success at least gives you the "no one else could beat them, either" excuse.

But that logic may only take you so far into the postseason. Often it's easier, and less insane, to let go of such calculus and wade into the murkier world of aesthetics. Just go by your gut. Find a team to like or to hate. Decide you just can't stand Tony LaRussa's hair, therefore the Cardinals must go down, and hard.

But this Houston vs. Chicago World Series presents a conundrum. My gut has no guidance to give me. Both these teams are perfectly likable.

There is no one to hate.

And this is, by my count, the first World Series since the 1994 player's strike when that's been the case. No team walks in wearing the figurative black cap. Just look. In this World Series we have:

•No tired characters
•No self-important curses
•No team defined by its payroll
•No rally monkeys
•No expansion franchises that aren't old enough to shave, let alone win a World Series
•No bloody socks (guarantee: that image will be in Senate campaign commercials before too long)
•No regular-season wonders that you just know will curdle the moment the big games start
•No churlish sluggers whose mere presence demands "ethical debates"
•No guys named Chipper

Instead we have two teams with sympathetic backstories, populated by likable characters. Some people find outspoken White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen annoying, but he won me over by letting his pitchers throw four complete games against the Angels in the ALCS. All annoying habits are re-classified as "eccentricities" if you have a managing style that wins games and also cuts a half hour off the broadcasts. Let's hope Guillen serves as an example to micro-managers who don't feel as if they've done an honest day's work if they haven't made five pitching changes in a game.

And any Angels fan still holding a grudge about the A.J. Pierzynski play should get over it: You guys were going to lose anyway.

On the Astros side, you could argue the freshness of Houston's first World Series appearance is diminished by the presence of Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens. Yes, those guys have actually seen postseason action before. But imagine how George Steinbrenner, the cliche villain of the major leagues, feels watching those ex-Yankees -- along with Jose Contreras and El Duque on the White Sox -- pitching in the World Series. Two of his former starters will be adding to their ring collection, no matter what.

And the Astros have that Chris Burke guy, the 25-year-old sub who hit the 18th-inning home run against Atlanta in the division series. That's as fresh a face as you're going to get these days.

What really makes this Houston-Chicago matchup promising are the pitching staffs. We can expect games that will be crisp, close and relatively quick. Some people may like the cresting drama of five-hour epics, but, to me, those games are like pretentious novels. Figure out how to say what you have to say in three hours, or don't say it at all.

The Series is still in front of us, and there's plenty of time for a villain to emerge. But as it stands now, I just can't find one. It's great.