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Baseball's answers are coming this month
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Published: October 7, 2009
In 1903, the year that the Wright brothers took off at Kitty Hawk, baseball's two big leagues momentarily buried their less-than-brotherly feud and created a championship playoff.
The world hasn't been the same since, in the air or on America's baseball grounds.
The Wright brothers won a rightful place in history. They probably saw the big picture, but they couldn't foresee a $20 charge for a 26-pound suitcase on US Airways. One way.
Baseball couldn't envision the institutional power of the World Series, which opened on Oct. 1 with the Pittsburgh Pirates click-clacking their spikes into Boston's Huntington Avenue Grounds, home of the Pilgrims. This was four years before Pilgrims became Red Sox and 12 years before Fenway Park sprang from the nearby marsh.
The Pirates beat Cy Young in the first game, with 16,242 watching, but the Pilgrims eventually captured the best-of-9 showdown. The teams didn't play on Sundays. One game was postponed by rain, another by cold weather.
There was a sufficient quantity of hot blood, evidenced when the Boston owner made the Pittsburgh owner pay for his ticket. A brawl -- the Boston first baseman hit the Pittsburgh player-manager with a throw -- interrupted the final game for 30 minutes.
Despite all the roadblocks -- especially a gambler's attempt to bribe Boston players and the absence of US Airways shuttles -- the original World Series ended on Oct. 13.
If this Series goes the distance, it will end on Nov. 5 in an American League park, possibly Fenway. But why fret over breath clouds with magic in the air?
They still allow wool mitts and stale coffee at the ballpark. Besides, the deal might turn up two Southern California pennant winners. Freeway Series? Wildfire Series?
Star is poised to emerge
Some experts see the playoffs as wide open, their memories fixated on the 2007 Colorado Rockies. The Rockies won 13 of 14 and a one-game playoff just to qualify, then took seven straight to reach the Series. The bubble burst during a Boston sweep, but the spirit survived.
This time, Colorado was 10 games under .500 on May 29 and fired Manager Clint Hurdle, called an aggressive genius in '07 and a confrontational relic two years later. The Rockies promoted bench coach Jim Tracy. Colorado was 15½ games out of first place on June 3 but the went 72-38 and swiped the wild card.
The dire numbers: Colorado was 27-28 against left-handed starters. The Phillies have Cole Hamels, Cliff Lee and J.A. Happ -- deft lefties all.
If Philly's defending champs advance, they will meet a wobbling team that righted itself during the first round. St. Louis leads the NL in expectations among the prediction class mainly because it employs the sport's finest player (Albert Pujols) and two imposing pitchers (6-6 Chris Carpenter and 6-7 Adam Wainwright). Their combined record (36-12, 2.46 earned-run average) contrasts with the Cardinals' fat-and-happy closing run (2-8, with a .218 batting average the final week and a rare Pujols slump).
That can't approach the slide by the Dodgers' Manny Ramirez, who hit one homer after Sept. 9 and was 1 for 14 the final weekend, drawing boos from residents of Manny-wood.
The AL boils down to two basic issues. Can the Angels alter their role as Boston's battered playoff doormat? Can Alex Rodriguez, the great slugger nicknamed Mr. April in deference to his October implosions, fuel the Yankees' drive for their first title since 2000?
A month from now, the answers will seem as clear as the balm on a manager's quivering lips, but history unfolds slowly, in bad hops and good wood. There's a grand chance someone will make history. The title of Mr. November remains unclaimed.
lrawlings@wsjournal.com.
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