The White Sox beat the Cleveland Indians 1-0 on Opening Day (April 4) and closed the year with a 1-0 win over the Houston Astros last night, clinching the team's first World Series since 1917. With the Red Sox ending their 86-year World Series drought last year, it's clearly the Cubs turn in 2006 (winless since 1908). The White Sox ended the year by winning 16 of their final 17 games, including an 11-1 mark in the postseason. They tie the 1999 NY Yankees, for the best postseason mark since the league expanded its playoff structure in 1995. As for the Astros, the 1-0 shut out was fitting. The team was shut out a MLB-high 17 times during the regular season, including five times by the score of 1-0. The Astros were once again pathetic at the plate in Game 4. They sent 28 consecutive batters to the plate after tying Game 3 at five-all on Tuesday without getting a hit and were nearly as bad Wednesday. Houston had just five hits in Game 4, going 0-11 with RISP. In fact the Astros finished 10-48 (.208) with RISP for the Series. Houston was shut out over its final 15 innings of play (stranding 18 runners) and became the first team to ever get swept in its World Series debut.If it's Thursday, it MUST be the ACC!

The ACC takes center stage for the FOURTH consecutive Thursday night, as Virginia Tech hosts Boston College. Tech ranks first in the nation is scoring defense (9.0 PPG) and second in total defense (235.5 YPG). However, Boston College's defense is no slouch, ranking 6th in scoring at 14.0 PPG and eighth in total defense at 272.7 YPG. Va Tech is 7-0 SU and 6-1 ATS on the year and ranked third in all the polls plus the BCS, while Boston College is ranked 11th and 13th in the polls (12th in the BCS) at 6-1 SU and 4-3 ATS. No team has been any closer than 17 points to Va Tech since its 20-16 season-opening win over NC State but Boston College has been a dangerous 'dog' in recent years, going 7-3 SU and ATS in the role of an underdog since 2003. Va Tech is a 13 1/2-point favorite and the total is 45.