With the AL championship series set between the Yankees and Tigers, and still waiting to see who faces the Giants at this time, what are all of your thoughts on the match-ups, and what's happened so far?

I also have what might be a silly question. How does the rest of the country view the Giants? I follow them on a daily basis, and get to know the players personalities, quirks, trends, etc... and after 162+ games it starts to feel like they are more like buddies, part of the family, rather than athletes. So when I look at my own team I see a bunch of guys I like, but they don't seem so big and scary like other teams. The Reds were certainly scary. But I'm wondering if I was a Reds fan, I would feel the same about the Reds?