Dean and Greenberg, Lolich and Brock. Party like it’s 1968. Or 1934, depending on your team/league peferences. For only the third time in baseball history, the two teams from Detroit and St. Louis, cities with great baseball tradition, will match up in the World Series.* The Series will treat the baseball fan to two of the most beautiful new stadiums in the current renaissance of ballpark construction.
The Tigers should be favored, having come out of a much stronger division and the dominant league. On the other hand, the last two teams that limped into the postseason with 85 wins or less, yet made it to the World Series, played seven against a superior opponent (the 1973 Mets, who lost, and the 1987 Twins, who won).
That game last night was outstanding. I would say it was the third best Game 7 in LCS history, after 1992 (NL) and 2003 (AL). It did not match up to the great seventh games in even recent World Series history (2001, 1997, 1975), but maybe the Cardinals and Tigers will yet have one of those in store.
And that catch and double play by Endy Chavez–where does that rate in alltime postseason defensive gems? Quite high! When he came up to bat in the half-inning after his tie-preserving catch, with the bases loaded and two out, the script seemed set. But, alas for Mets fans, Chavez did not hit a grand slam or even draw a tiebraking walk.
* Fans of numbers (and isn’t that what all baseball fans are?) will note that this third match-up comes four years too late. But there was a mission to be accomplished in 2002.
