It's that time again. World Series Time. And I'm loving it. Not that my Cincinnati Reds made it here. No, they didn't. And, failing that, the Pittsburgh Pirates came up shy of making this a truly remarkable baseball season. I was sorely hoping for a World Series between the Detroit Tigers and the Pirates. But...you get what you get. Neither of those teams had the grit or the stamina to make it to the Big Show.
Between St Louis and Boston, I am somewhat noncommittal. I just want a good series. And may the best team win.
If I have a preference, it leans towards the smaller market team. So, on a scale of one to ten, I am rooting for the Cards, at about the 7 scale.
Join me below the fold for the set up of this showdown...a look at how each team got here. And stick around for the game. Let's talk sports, and baseball.
St Louis didn't just coast into this series. They had some injuries during the season, and had to work around them. They lost the service, at various times, of several of their pitchers, as well as shortstop Rafael Furcal. They traded storied first baseman and hitter Albert Pujols a couple years ago to the Angels, but the team never missed a beat since his departure. (Anyone know where the Angels are?)
The Cardinals have one of the best farm systems in Major League Baseball. They do bseball the old fashioned way...they earn it.
The Red Sox are one of the most storied clubs in MLB history, and I am glad to see them in this series. I would have preferred the Tigers, but I'm not complaining. I hate the Yankees, but truth be told, there is not too much light between the Yankees and the Red Sox when it comes to payroll and a propensity to raid other smaller market teams of their talent. The Red Sox do it just as well as the Yanks do...but they are still preferrable to the Yankees. Fans in NYC don't care about anything except winning, no matter no how. They are shameless, and the owners are fabulously wealthy. It makes for a bare knuckled power grab that harms baseball, but makes New Yorkers feel good.
I'm glad that the Yankees are sitting the series out. Yeah...I'm a hater.
The Sox got here by playing solid baseball over the course of the season. They had a shaky start at the very beginning of the season, but really got it together and played solid ball for the rest of the season. I'm not a BoSox fan, so I can't shed much light upon all of the twist and turns in their season, but I watched the championship series with Detroit. They got the job done. David Ortiz stepped up to the plate when it was needed. They were the hungrier team.
I don't care who wins this series. I am nominally more inclined towards the Cards...just because I am a National League fan, and a Central Division fan. But I would not be disappointed by a Red Sox victory, in the least.
Now...if the Pirates had made it to the series, I would be sticking pins into voodoo dummies of all the Red Sox starters.
Let's talk baseball....
Who are you rooting for in this series, and why? What's the best World Series you ever watched?