If there’s going to be an upset on the AL side of things, the Rays appear to have the best shot at it in the ALCS. But questions about ace Scott Kazmir’s two bad recent outings and closer Troy Percival’s ongoing health issues cloud things.

Then again, the Rays have won despite injuries all season, and as much as we don’t like to go against Mike Scioscia, that’s what we’re going to do. If anyone knows Scioscia’s tendencies, it’s his former bench coach — Joe Maddon. And besides, when do both favorites ever get to the World Series these days? The Rays’ magical mystery tour takes them all the way to the pennant.

The NL is a slightly different — and weaker — animal. Only the Cubs can crack the game’s top four teams. Their challenges will be 1) harnessing the emotions that could spring from falling behind early at Wrigley Field, and 2) facing the ramifications if Carlos Zambrano and Rich Harden aren’t quite right health-wise.

Otherwise, they have enough — the best run differential, the best offense in terms of runs scored and on-base percentage, the deepest bullpen — to hold off potential upsets by the Dodgers, Phillies or Brewers.

The Dodgers are hard to handicap at this point, mainly because we just aren’t sure how much they will get from Rafael Furcal and Jeff Kent — both of whom returned just days ago. Closer Takashi Saito also has been unimpressive (at least until his last outing) in a handful of appearances since coming off the disabled list.

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If the mix is right, here’s your potential NL sleeper — and in fact, if they weren’t playing the favored Cubs in the first round, it says here they would move on to the NLCS.

Who will meet the Cubs there? The Brewers have Sabathia, Ryan Braun and a wave of emotion flowing for them. But it’s hard to remember a playoff-qualifying pitching staff that was in worse shape.

The Phillies have standout players in Cole Hamels, Brad Lidge, Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins, but the total package doesn’t always equal the sum of its parts. One post-season series win — which would be their first since 1993 — could be their max.

So a Cubs-Rays World Series? Think about it: We’ll have the story line of Tampa native Lou Piniella going against his old team (and come to think of it, ditto for Cubs pitching coach Larry Rothschild). We’ll have Chicago native Cliff Floyd going against his former team. A potential Rookies of the Year duel between Geovany Soto and Evan Longoria. Iwamura vs. Fukudome. The world will get to discover the goofy catwalks of the Trop.

And if all that’s possible, why not the Cubs winning it all?

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