Byline: Dave Sheinin and Les Carpenter

Washington Post staff writers Dave Sheinin and Les Carpenter were online Tuesday, Oct. 4, at 1 p.m. ET to discuss the latest American League news.

A transcript follows.

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Les Carpenter: Hello, welcome to a combined baseball chat where two of us will try to answer questions while we sit in cities 1,500 miles apart and make sense of the whole thing. Bear with us this is new for us. I'm in Chicago where it feels like about 90 degrees -- exactly what you would expect from October baseball.

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Dave Sheinin: Hey folks... Greetings from Anaheim. You gotta love playoff baseball on TV at 10 a.m. On to the questions...

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Alexandria, Va.: In your opinion, who has a tougher road to the World Series...the Red Sox or the Yankees, and why?

Dave Sheinin: Neither team has it easy in the first round -- both Anaheim and Chicago are tough. But I think the Yankees have the tougher road, simply because they're dealing with at least two and possibly three cross-country flights for this series, and that's rough on old guys (take my word for it). Of course, it's their own fault -- even though the Yankees blame Buck Showalter. If the Yanks had won Sunday, they would've hosted Games 1 and 2.

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Takoma, WA: Are MLB managers tested for illegal substances? I moved out here from Chicago 3 years ago and have to admit Ozzie Guillen has me puzzled. Is he high, or just a kook? Whatever it is, his obnoxious behavior is an embarrassment to Sox fans and to MLB. Go White Sox, but Ozzie -- shut up! (and that includes non-verbal comments as well)

Les Carpenter: Hello Tacoma, former Seattlite here. I think Guillen is a bit crazy but not as crazy as he wants everyone to think he is. He did a wonderful job down the stretch, as the AL Central lead slipped away, of deflecting the pressure away from his players. There was no way you could walk into the ballpark, listen to Guillen for five minutes and not think he was insane. Therefore, most of the heat was on him and not his players.

That said he is a little nuts and it could be an issue as the playoffs go one.

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