Quick– what was the best World Series in MLB history? What was the best World Series you saw on television, heard on radio, or saw in person? Not so fast compadre; one strict rule applies before you grab your 40 for $1.50 Walmart pen and start furiously writing down your all time Series match-up lists.
You must eliminate any Fall Classic that makes the list simply because your team won, or because you attended a game, or that was the week you had your very first sexual experience with at least one other person in the room.
The 2010 World Series dominated by the San Francisco Giants was fantastic and attending those home games will forever be one of the top 25 highlights of my life (see pp above for another of the “top 25s” on my list). But the Giants-Rangers World Series was not a classic of the genre and likely wouldn’t make an informed list of the top 10 Series of all time. (I’ll talk about the three best Series in MLB history in an upcoming blog.)
The first five games of the St. Louis Cardinals/Texas Rangers Series, however, have overflowed with exciting baseball and enough juicy subtext and sidebar stories to keep the ESPN Sports Center and MLB TV guys chattering away for hours. This Classic has actually been an honest-to-god classic so far and could very well make the top 10 World Series’ of all time.
That’s a hint. If you’re not watching these games you are missing something special. And special doesn’t come around very often. To bring you up to date so far with just a couple of tidbits…
> the Series started with electrifying back to back 1 run games;
> Game 3 was a 16-7 Cardinal blowout during which Cards 1st baseman Albert Pujols became only the third player in history to hit three home runs in a Series game (Babe Ruth did it in 1926 & 1928, Reggie Jackson in 1977);
> Game 4 featured a masterful performance by Rangers’ starter Derek Holland as St Louis was shutout and held to only 2 hits;
> Game 5 was a nightmare for the Rangers’ defense but a bigger nightmare for Cards’ Manager Tony La Russa. Twice when La Russa called his bullpen in mid-game his bullpen coach Derek Lilliquist heard the wrong name over the phone and got the wrong pitcher warmed up. Astoundingly, that miscommunication ended up costing La Russa the game.
Rangers up 3 games to 2.
Rain has caused Game 6 to be rescheduled from Wednesday night to Thursday night. I’ve already told the President and the Governor to not even think about texting me during the game, and two 55 gallon drums of guacamole are en route to the house from the Costco regional clearing facility in central Alabama.
This is something not to be missed…
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