Call me late to the game and I’m not going to disagree with you. This probably needed to be posted Sunday morning shortly after Shane Victorino became a hero forever in Boston with a late game Grand Slam to basically send the Red Sox to the World Series. However, here we are, Tuesday morning and I’m just getting this out. Whatever, here goes.
For 86 years, Sox fans were denied a World Series Championship. In 2003 they lost in the ALCS in the most gut-wrenching way possible, then flipped the script in 2004 to end the “curse.” I have to admit it was pretty damn cool. It was almost like people had come out of hiding after decades of losing to celebrate the victory. Then the Red Sox did it again in 2007 and immediately the fan base became spoiled brats. Two championships in 4 years in baseball is pretty amazing and it seemed like we’d be winning every couple of years. And then we got greedy. Theo made a couple of big money, big fame splashes in Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez that backfired pretty horribly. By no means am I blaming the past few years on Theo, Crawford or Gonzalez, but I’m also not saying they didn’t play a part in what could be categorized as a disaster.
Enter Ben Cherrington, A major trade with the Dodgers and a few high character free agent signings and the Red Sox are back on top. The funny thing is I kind of saw this coming this year. I liked the signings, liked the manager and liked the removal of the dead weight now in LA. The media and the experts thought they were dead in the water. Most expected them to finish 4th in the AL East, miss the playoffs and begin a rebuilding process. Hell, part of me agreed with that. While I knew they were good, all of the deals they signed this off-season were short deals that could bridge the gap to the young guys who weren’t that far away. I even wrote about it before the season. In a few years, the young guys would be up, the veterans would be reinvigorated and the Red Sox would be back on top. Yet here we are, six months later and tomorrow the Red Sox will take on the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series.
These two teams met in 2004, yet the situation is very different. I had no doubts the Sox would win that year. It really was destiny and it took only four games to bring home the championship. Since then the Sox and Cards have won a World Series and this series figures to be pretty great. Really good pitching and explosive offenses means this series should be intense. Can the Red Sox keep Carlos Beltran in check? Can they hit the Cardinals pitchers better than they hit the Tigers staff? Will Big Papi break out of a very real slump that was masked by that grand slam he hit in game 2? Lots of interesting story lines that will come about in the next few days. I like the Red Sox chances in this one though, with home field advantage and an offense that may have a few more weapons than the Cardinals.
Prediction – Red Sox win in 6 and the MVP is Jacoby Ellsbury (reaching I know!)
