For the first time since 1999, the best teams with the top records in the American and National Leagues have made the World Series and now the Red Sox and the Cardinals will duke it out for the championship.
The St. Louis Cardinals were the number one team in the National League, while the Red Sox had the best record in the American League this season and now they will meet in the world series and the last time it happened was with the Braves and Yankees. Boston's bearded band of brothers will go against the burgeoning talents of a remarkable St. Louis Cardinals rookie class in the best-of-seven World Series beginning on Wednesday at the Red Sox home of Fenway Park.
The two best teams in Major League Baseball, representing two of the most rabid fan bases in the sport, renew their rivalry in a fitting championship climax. Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said the Red Sox reminded him of his own club in critical ways. They last met in the 2004 Fall Classic with the Red Sox ending an 86-year World Series title drought with a four-game sweep of the Cardinals, who had beaten them in seven games in their other two championship showdowns of 1946 and 1967.
Only one player on each side - slugger David "Big Papi" Ortiz of the Red Sox and premier catcher Yadier Molina of the Cardinals - carry over from the 2004 teams. Power-hitting Ortiz and Mike Napoli helped carry the Red Sox past the Detroit Tigers, while extraordinary 22-year-old rookie pitcher Michael Wacha shut down the Los Angeles Dodgers twice for St. Louis, who like Boston won their pennant in six games.
Roaring crowds of red-clad fans packing each home park should be treated to a highly competitive series.Both clubs have strong starting rotations with Boston featuring Jon Lester, John Lackey and Clay Buchholz, while the Cardinals counter with a group led by Adam Wainwright and whiz kid Wacha. St. Louis might have advantage at the top of the rotation, with Wacha having allowed just nine hits and one run over his last 29 2/3 innings, but the resourceful Red Sox managed to get through the fearsome troika of Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer and Anibal Sanchez in eliminating the Tigers.
The bullpens of both teams have been formidable with Boston thriving with the late-game efficiency of closer Koji Uehara and set-up men Junichi Tazawa and Craig Breslow.
Uehara, named the American League Championship Series most valuable player, pitched six scoreless innings in that series, notching one win and three saves. An uncanny strike thrower with a devastating, diving splitter, Uehara has not walked a batter since early August. The Cardinals bullpen is loaded with hard-throwing rookies with Trevor Rosenthal serving as the closer, touching 100 mph with his fastball, aided by fellow first-year players in Carlos Martinez and Kevin Siegrist.
Riding to the rescue were a posse of rookie pitchers led by Wacha, who have made a strength out of a pitching staff that could have headed in the wrong direction.
(Reuters Quotes)