Number 27

New Yankees win the 2009 World Series

What do suppose is the best way to break in a brand new $1.5 billion stadium? How 'bout winning the World Series.

Beating defending champion Philadelphia Phillies four games to two, the New York Yankees won the 2009 World Series. This is the Yankees 27th major league baseball championship and World Series Win Number One in the first year of their stadium's existence. Ending a drought going back to the 2001 season, the Yankees got the series win without their owner, George Steinbrenner, being on hand. Mr. Deep Pockets was tending to health issues at his home in Florida which means he witnessed this latest Yankees' championship from the same place we witnessed it: The television.

And how did Yankees Manager Joe Girardi his celebrate his first World Series win as a head coach? Well, he stayed at the clubhouse until around 2:00 AM or so, soaking up his fair share of the hoopla, then washed up and drove himself home. On the way, he came upon a auto accident where a woman had just crashed her vehicle into a concrete barrier. Girardi pulled over to the shoulder and, after a short but somewhat dangerous sprint across a couple travel lanes, reached the woman in her vehicle and subsequently flagged down help. And you thought having just won the Commissioner's Trophy was the only thing on Joe's mind that night. Oh, and the jersey number Girardi wears as manager -- it's the one above. Guess the significance.

BillPhila wins BaseballUnlimited 2009!

You might think with a callsign like "BillPhila" his baseball paraphernalia has blue stars, not blue pinstripes. Truth be told, BillPhila did opt for the three-fer deal and did commit at least two of his entries to a Phillies' win of the World Series. Because of these Philly picks, one of B.P.'s entries finished second to last (29th out of 30) and another finished just about in the middle (16th). But it was that entry labeled "BillPhila2" with which he finished number one.

Having correctly predicted every post-season series match-up, BillPhila2 wins BaseballUnlimited 2009. The BillPhila2 entry got all four the Divisional Series correct, both of the League Championship Series correct and, of course, the World Series correct. Seven series, seven correct predictions. Though others came close, the only entry with a grade of 100-percent was BillPhila2. And for each one of those percentage points, BillPhila will be rewarded one dollar. BillPhila gets the winner-take-all cash prize of $100.

Congrats to BillPhila and thanks to everyone who participated in this year's running of BaseballUnlimited. Be sure to be in the dugout about eleven months from now when we'll do it all over again.

Click Here for the Final Results of the 2009 BaseballUnlimited Contest

Click Here for the All Picks Report