Listen to Game 1 of the 2013 World Series as the Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Cardinals play at 7:30 p.m. ET. It's live, free and available online. This is perfect for those in an office and away from a television as ESPN Radio will provide the coverage.
This should be a pitchers' duel. Adam Wainwright and Jon Lester, both World Champions, take the mound for the Cardinals and Red Sox, respectively. Both pitchers have been great, but they are not impossible to hit. They have 2-1 records after running into some bad luck in the League Championship Series. The talk has always been about these guys winning, but let's look at Wainwright's and Lester's losses in the 2013 postseason.
[CLICK HERE for FREE RADIO STREAM]
Lester was helpless. He setting down the Detroit Tigers in Game 1 of the ALCS. He made on mistake to Jhonny Peralta, who drive in the only run of the game. Lester excited trailing Anibal Sanchez 0-1. The Red Sox could not get any runs on the board and as a result, Lester took the loss, despite pitching 6.1 innings of one-run baseball. Fortunately, the Red Sox bounced back in the series, winning four of the next five, allowing the Tigers to squeeze in a victory, which took the series back to Fenway Park.
Wainwright also caught a case of bad luck as the Cardinals could not get any offense going in his outing against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 3 of the NLCS. After winning Games 1 & 2 behind practically unknowns, the Cardinals did nothing to support Wainwright. He surrendered two earned runs over seven innings. It was Hyun-Jin Ryu who won the pitchers' duel that evening in Los Angeles. The Cardinals' offense was stymied by the young lefty as they only had three hits off the Korean in that game.
21 of the last 25 teams to win Game 1 have gone on to win the series. This series opener is huge. The Cardinals have the pitching advantage, but the Red Sox have a deeper lineup, possessing speed and power. The Cardinals' young pitching has brought them here, so there is no reason to believe they will suddenly digress.
If the Red Sox win, it will be their third championship in the last 10 years. If the Cardinals win, it will be their third World Series in the last eight years. Without a doubt, despite the Red Sox's lackluster years at the beginning of the decade, Boston and St. Louis are cities enjoying their baseball experience as their teams are winning and bringing championships back home.