The World Series!

Tonight is Game 1 of the 2011 World Series.  It is a special year for me: I’ll actually be paying close attention to the Series.  Sure, I follow it every year, but I don’t make sure that I see every game unless my beloved Cardinals are playing, as they are this season.

Back on August 25th, the Cardinals were 10.5 games behind the Braves for the National League Wild Card.  In fact, that night, the Cardinals were playing the Pirates in St. Louis, and they were offering $0.19 bleacher seats for the game.  I thought for sure that it was the end of the season.  I figured they were raising the white flag for all to see.  But then something happened: they started winning.

All the close games that they were losing early in the season were games that they were winning now.  An offense that went dormant at times was coming to life more frequently.  Starting pitching that was iffy early in the season starting playing better.  Something was happening in St. Louis, and the Cardinals were charging forward.

On September 22nd, my dad and I went out to St. Louis to see the Cardinals take on the Mets.  Westbrook was starting the game, and he was on fire early, but then he started laboring.  The bullpen that had been so good collapsed and gave up six runs in the 8th inning, putting the Cardinals behind and seemingly destroying all the momentum they had been building.  In fact, the next day, they lost to the Cubs and found themselves 3 games behind the Wild Card leading Braves with 5 left to play.  Again, I thought the season was done.  But it wasn’t.

The Cardinals then won 4 of their last 5 games, and the Braves ended up getting swept by the Phillies, and losing two more to the Nationals.  The Cardinals went from being 3 games down to 1 game up at the end of play on the last day of the season – a day that will surely go down as one of the best in baseball history, as the Rays and Red Sox also had games that night with playoff implications.  And suddenly, the Cardinals were in the playoffs.

Nobody gave them much of a chance because their first-round opponent was the Philadelphia Phillies, a team that had a stacked rotation, and some guys that could swing the bat pretty well also.  The Phillies.  The team that swept the Braves at the end of the season, a sweep that allowed the Cardinals to storm into the playoffs.  Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, Roy Oswalt.  That’s a scary rotation.  After the first game, a game in which the Cardinals jumped out to an early lead only to see it vanish in now time, most people were still confident that they were going to be swept away.  But the Cardinals prevailed in the series with a 1-0 victory in Game 5… in Philadelphia… against Roy Halladay.

Next up was the division rival Milwaukee Brewers.  Again, they took the early lead in Game 1, only to see it disappear in the blink of an eye.  And again, not a lot of people gave them a shot at winning the series.  They then went out and shut down the Brewers, who also have a strong offense.  It was an improbable series victory; a victory made all the sweeter by the fact that Brewers’ OF Nyjer Morgan, who has been a pain in the rear for the Cardinals all season, tweeted back on September 7th (and I quote directly): “Where still n 1st and I hope those crying birds injoy watching tha Crew in tha Playoffs!!! Aaaaahhhhh!!!”.  I’m pretty sure they did enjoy watching the Crew in “tha Playoffs”.

By the end of Game 6, the bullpen had pitched more innings than the starting pitchers, and had done so with an ERA nearly 5 full points lower.  The Cardinals showed that they had some pretty good bats as well, scoring 12 runs twice… in Milwaukee, the team that had the best home record in all of baseball.

And now, tonight, they begin the World Series against a very dangerous Texas Rangers team.  The difference this time – they have the home field advantage… thanks, ironically, to the Milwaukee Brewers’ first baseman Prince Fielder, who 3-run HR off… wait for it… Rangers’ C.J. Wilson… in the All Star Game, put the National League up for good and earned him All Star Game MVP.

I said at the beginning of the playoffs that my expectations for the Cardinals haven’t been this low since the 2006 playoffs.  All they did that year was become World Series champs, in spite of the fact that they only won 83 games during the season.  Am I saying that they will win their 11th World Series in 2011?  No, I’m not saying that at all.  The Rangers are a great team, and this Series is going to be a battle.  It’s going to be a great Series.  I’ll be shocked if it doesn’t go at least 6 games.  And if the Rangers win, good for them.  Again, they’re a great team and a classy organization.  I can stomach the Cardinals losing to the Rangers much more than in 2004 when they lost to the Red Sox.  If the Cardinals win, I’ll be the happiest guy around… and people will have no problem shopping for me this Christmas.

It’s been an improbable run so far for the Cardinals.  What’s four more wins?