MLB Playoffs full of surprises: Anything can — and does — happen come October
In 1927, the Yankees won 110 games in the 154-game regular season and then swept the Pirates in four at the World Series. Babe Ruth said after leading the way: “We won the World Series before it even got started.”This is not 1927.
It’s not any year since then, either. The 2006 Major League Baseball postseason is gradually going down as one of the most surprising and befuddling in history, and what happened Saturday night at Comerica Park in Game 1 of the Fall Classic is just the latest example.
A storybook Tigers team had a full week to rest up for its World Series opponent that had survived the ultimate Game 7 test two nights earlier in New York, and it was Cardinals rookie Anthony Reyes pitching into the ninth inning instead of rookie Justin Verlander as St. Louis opened with a 7-2 victory on the road.
It is the story of Major League Baseball for almost this entire decade, and especially this month, when there not only wasn’t a Subway Series that many expected, but instead came surprise after surprise. Before red-hot Kenny Rogers takes the mound again on Sunday night against Jeff Weaver, a 8-14 pitcher entering the playoffs, it is worth revisiting how anything has happened since the final Sunday of the regular season.
The Cardinals entered Game 1 with fewer regular-season victories (83) than any team in World Series history except the 1973 Mets (82). The Tigers, like the Cardinals, struggled badly in the second half. Both teams entered the playoffs on a dubious note, with the Tigers being swept by Kansas City in the final regular-season series and thus handing the NL Central to Minnesota while settling for the Wild Card.
It didn’t matter.
Especially not now, after the way they eliminated the Mets and after manhandling the Tigers on the road in Game 1 of the World Series. There will not be a third consecutive World Series sweep by an AL club. There was no discussion late Saturday of that supposed dominance by the Junior Circuit.
Sunday’s forecast does not call for sun. Get ready for some rain and snow and just a few more surprises in the 2006 World Series.
The World Series is finally here, with seven games (or less) between the Detroit Tigers and St. Louis Cardinals to decide who takes home the 2006 pennant. Get your World Series odds in the sportsbook and bet on the next world champion!
Tigers vs Cardinals World Series Prediction: Tigers in six games.
