The MLB Playoff Standings are at a standstill. With no action taking place these past few days, the St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox will once again bring baseball to life. Both teams were the best in both leagues and they finished with the same record. This is something a World Series has not witnessed since 1999 when the Atlanta Braves and New York Yankees met in the Fall Classic. This year, the Cardinals and Red Sox World Series will prove who was the best team of 2013.
Boston Red Sox: (97-65) 7-3 in Postseason
The Red Sox will have home field advantage, which could favor them greatly. They only lost one game at home in the 2013 postseason, dropping Game 1 of the ALCS against the Detroit Tigers, but eventually winning Games 2 and 6 in front of their home crowd. There was no Game 5 in the ALDS against the Tampa Bay Rays as the Red Sox were able to put the series away.
Boston won using their hitting. They ranked second in baseball with a .277 team average and 178 home runs, which was sixth in baseball. They could not hit for average in the ALCS, but their four home runs were all huge as Mike Napoli finished with two while David Ortiz and Shane Victorino each hit huge grand slams. Their starting rotation ranked fourth in baseball, tied with the Braves, with 67 wins. However, their 3.84 ERA was average at best, ranking 11th in baseball.
St. Louis Cardinals: (97-65) 7-4 in Postseason
Though the Cardinals' pitching is better than their offense, St. Louis had the fourth best batting average during the regular season, hitting .269. However, the long ball was their weakness as they ranked 27th in baseball with 125 home runs in 2013. However, when your pitching posts the third best ERA in baseball and your starting rotation is second with a 3.42 ERA and No. 1 with 77 wins, there is not much to worry about.
The Cardinals strutted their young pitching in the postseason. Michael Wacha's ERA is invisible, pitching 21 innings, allowing just one earned run in three starts this postseason. He has won all his starts posting a 3-0 record with a 0.43 ERA. Adam Wainwright, who is the ace of the staff, has a 2-1 record with a 1.57 ERA in the 2013 postseason.
It will be a traditional matchup of pitching versus hitting in this World Series. Though the focus in Boston might be their offense, their pitching is strong enough to keep the team close. As for the Cardinals, they pack dynamic offensive players who can quickly put runs on the board. It is hard to consider any of these teams underdogs since they matchup evenly. However, because the team is younger, the Cardinals have to be the underdogs in this battle.