Post by Brian on Nov 2, 2023 23:00:26 GMT -8
I started this week hoping for a Game 7 this Saturday to enliven the 2023 World Series, but the Texas Rangers dispatched the Arizona Diamondbacks in five games on November 1. As with every Fall Classic, there were spectacular plays and phenomenal clutch performances throughout the series. The first two games had no errors by either team -- in 20 total innings, no less -- a first in World Series history. The Rangers won their first championship in the franchise's 63 years since it started as the Washington Senators. But record book firsts do not make the games memorable, and two of them were lopsided bores. I've never liked the team at Fox on TV, so I listened sometimes to the ESPN Radio Network on AM 830, coming in scratchy from Orange County to Radio Free Tujunga, as I've always called my home.
Beyond my usual sadness that the National League lost a World Series, I feel sorry for the Diamondbacks, the hot team in the postseason with chips on everybody's shoulder who came up short after Game 2. They swept the Milwaukee Brewers and the Dodgers before defeating the Philadelphia Phillies in the truly wonderful National League Championship Series. Too bad the Snake Team lost the World Series by being swept at home by the Rangers, who won all 11 games they played on road to take every series in the postseason. Yeah, another first.
Both teams in the Fall Classic never stopped playing -- and gaining momentum -- after the end of the 162-game season. The Dodgers, the Baltimore Orioles and the Atlanta Braves won at least 100 games, and all three teams were knocked out in the first series they played after a five day wait as their division's leader. It's hard to find anyone who likes the current playoff system, except for the members of the Rangers and the Diamondbacks and their fans, perhaps.