It has been a very interesting post-season. Starting off, the St. Louis Cardinals came from behind to take the Wild Card in the last few games of the season; that was a close race. Then the Tampa Bay Rays overtook the Boston Red Sox and won the Wild Card on the last day of the season. That was exciting– that race almost ended up requiring a tie-breaker game to decide it. On the last day of the season the Red Sox were leading into the ninth inning, then they brought their closer out, and he blew the save. Meanwhile, the Rays were playing the Yankees (who had already won the AL East) and losing by seven runs. Then in the eighth inning they scored six, in the bottom of the ninth Evan Longoria hit a game-tying homer, and the game went into extras. In the bottom of the eleventh Longoria homered again, giving the Rays the victory, moments after Boston lost. That’s how the Rays won the Wild Card. Wild finish! They would go on to face the Detroit Tigers, while the Texas Rangers battled the Yankees. The Rangers won their series, and the Rays lost to the Tigers.
Meanwhile, over in the National League, the St. Louis Cardinals were slated to play the Philadelphia Phillies, arguably the best team in the major leagues right now, due to their formidable lineup and even more impressive pitching rotation. That rotation will probably go down in history as one of the best ever. And St. Louis won, in five games. Nearby, the Milwaulkee Brewers were playing the Arizona Diamondbacks. I don’t care for Milwaulkee, so I was hoping the D’Backs would win. However Milwaulkee took that series in five games. So there was some interesting irony in the end, that two division rivals faced each other for the NLCS. Milwaulkee and St. Louis had already played each other five or six times during the regular season, so this was something of an old hat.
The Rangers and the Tigers went six games. All but one game was decided by one run; several of them went into extra innings. Finally, the Rangers were leading 3-2 and game six began. It was a blow-out. The Rangers won 15-5. The Tigers fell apart early and began making errors– at one point two outfielders crashed into each other and the ball dropped, allowing several Ranger runs to score. Nelson Cruz hit his sixth home-run of the NLCS, setting a record for most homers ever hit by one person in the NLCS, and winning the mvp award.
The St. Louis/Milwaulkee series was also interesting. The games fluxuated a lot more between the two teams, with first one then the other scoring a lot of runs. St. Louis was leading 3-1 and were at home, but Milwaulkee stole a game from them and then they headed to Milwaulkee for the last two games. That was a little scary, but the Cardinals came out in fine fashion last night, hitting a bunch of homers and winning the game 12-6. They chased the Brewers starter early and never looked back.
And so it’s a St. Louis/Texas World Series. I’m pretty excited about it. I like both teams and they aren’t the “typical” winners, like the Yankees. Both teams have a lot of great players, including strong Christian players who are leaders on and off the field. For St. Louis, there’s Albert Pujols who is arguably the greatest baseball player ever; certainly the greatest of our time. He has incredible talent offensively and defensively and an amazing eye for the strike-zone. If you throw him something hitable, he will hit it. Better not to try.
Then for the Rangers there is Josh Hamilton. He has a pretty inspiring story of how he struggled with drugs and has come all the way back. He is a strong Christian and is always talking about his faith. One thing I really like about him is that when the Rangers won their division last year, Hamilton celebrated with Ginger-Ale instead of champaign.
I was also surprised this morning to read a quote from one of the Brewers players. One reason I don’t like the Brewers is that they are division rivals of the Cubs; another reason is Prince Fielder, their slugger. He is pretty much the opposite of Hamilton and Pujols– he is a great hitter but very negative and not a good leader, I feel. I would far rather see Hamilton and Pujols in the spotlight. But I found out recently that another of the Brewers best players, Corey Hart, is a new Christian, and I was impressed by this quote from Ryan Braun that I read this morning:
“They’ve [the Cardinals] been playing phenomenal baseball. They were clearly the better team in the series, and ultimately, I think the team that deserved to win, did win.”
That is a very cool thing to say after losing the NLCS. And it downplays the Brewers own run a little bit; they had an impressive run in the last month of the season. I don’t think anybody expected them to win the division by as much as they did. I respect the Brewers more than I did, and I appreciate the gracious way they are taking their loss.
But when it’s all said and done, I do think the Cardinals are a little better team. For one thing, Pujols is a better all-around player than Fielder; for another, Tony Larussa is one of the smartest managers in baseball, and for a third, I think the Cardinals have a really good, well-rounded lineup. The only questionable element is pitching. Their starting pitching (besides Carpenter) can be a bit iffy at times, but the bullpen was magnificent in the NLCS.
I think it’s going to be a great ‘Series. This time, I honestly don’t know who to root for. I like remaining loyal to the National League, but I like the Rangers a lot, too, and I’m obliged to them for knocking out the Yankees.
