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The New York Yankees already got to celebrate a division title. But there are much bigger things to come.

So if you’re thinking it’s going to be an easy series for the defending World Series champs, you’re mistaken. But the Phillies do have the better starting pitching — and their lefties match up very well against the Rockies, who hit right-handers better.

The Phils won the season series 4-2 by taking two of three in each ballpark, and are the pick to advance here — shaky bullpen and all.

The Dodgers and Cardinals both had terrible final weeks of the regular season — the former just before clinching the division, the latter on the heels of doing so. Which team can ‘flip the switch’ quicker and move on?

The Dodgers had the best record in the league virtually all season, have home-field advantage through the NLCS, arguably have the best bullpen in the NL field, and for all the knocks on their rotation, led the NL in ERA. The lineup can be deep and dangerous when at its peak, too.

The Cardinals didn’t lead the NL in much of anything when it came to team statistical categories, and finished only seventh in runs scored and fourth in ERA.

But they have the individuals who can take a team even further than it should go in the postseason: Tony La Russa, Dave Duncan, Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright, Matt Holliday, and of course, Albert Pujols.

So we’ll take the Cardinals in a mild upset, setting up an all-red NLCS. And sorry, Philadelphia, but repeats haven’t been big in this decade, and we’re not picking anybody to get to the World Series with that many question marks in the bullpen.

Who wins it all? The Phillies broke the pattern last season, topping the upstart Rays. The Cardinals, Marlins and Diamondbacks pulled World Series upsets this decade, making the NL look better than it really is.

But the fact is, the AL elite are better than the NL elite, and the AL East is much tougher than the NL Central. The Cardinals were given very fortunate gifts on the way to their 2006 championship. It says here that’s not going to happen again.

We’re about to come full circle. The first decade of the new century will end the way it began: With the Yankees on top of the baseball world.

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