Late October is here, which means two things:  slumping stock markets (wow is that true this year) and baseball's World Series.  Since the former has been such a downer lately, I thought we could have a little bit of fun with the latter since there are so many people on BioTwitter who have an interest in the games this year.  

 

This year's series is turning out to be a great one.  Baseball's Cinderella story, The Kansas City Royals, will match up against a talented San Francisco Giants team that is looking for another championship after bringing it home to the Bay Area in both 2010 and 2012.  The Royals are 8-0 this postseason, but San Francisco is experienced and has posted an impressive playoff run as well.  Will the Giants keep their even-year winning streak going, or will the Royals win it all for the first time since 1985?  It's a clash of one of biotech's most important cities against an emerging animal health leader.

 

Given that I live in KC, a lot of friends who are Giants fans have offered friendly wagers over the outcome.  So many that I realized if I accepted them all, I'd be sending Kansas City BBQ to half of San Francisco if the Giants win.  Instead, I thought it might be fun to do something interactive on Twitter where anyone who wants to can get involved in the action.  

 

So here's the bet:  publish a tweet with the hashtag #BioTwitterWS before game 1 on Tuesday saying who you think will win the World Series and why.  Everyone's opinion is welcome.  I'll link to them underneath the respective team below as they come in so that all predictions are recorded and can be seen in one place.  The only requirement (well actually this part is optional, but it is more fun if you do) is that those on the losing side of the bet agree to change their twitter icon to something related to the winning team (a team logo, player photo, etc) for a day or two after the series is over.  

 

So get your predictions in, and best of luck to both teams!