I'm Predicting The World Series Champ Will Wear Blue
Posted
Mark Howe-mhowe@timesuniononline.com
Welcome to the inaugural “How In The World Can He Pick That Team” column. Hey, my opinion is as good as anybody’s, so let’s talk about who will be crowned World Series champion next month. Yeah, baseball in November. Everyone understood why it was in 2001, but this year? The season started in March, and we have the strong potential for World Series games in November? Seems unnatural somehow. The Wild Card games, since their inception all the way back in 2012, feature at least one team coming into the playoffs red hot. In the American League version this year, well, someone had to win those spots. The Yankees come in having won three of their last 10 games, while the Astros are three games better than that after having a shot at their division title as late as Friday. In a series, I’d like Houston. I’m going with New York only because of the home-field advantage. The National League Wild Card is a crapshoot, and everyone who follows baseball has known it would be for a month or two now. Yes, the Cubs deserve a better fate than the No. 5 seed, but if this were the 2011 season, the Cubs would be outside looking in with their 97 wins. So there’s that. This matchup is all about handling pressure for one game. The Cubs have thier well-documented curses, and the Pirates want to make some noise beyond the Wild Card game. The question is, which team will blink first? Starting pitchers Jake Arrieta for the Cubs and Gerrit Cole for the Pirates are likely to take a low-scoring game into the late innings. In fact, if this game goes just nine innings, it almost seems like a ripoff. Because Pittsburgh is prone to making mistakes defensively, I’m taking Chicago in 11 innings, with the Pirates leaving two runners on to end the game. In the National League Division Series, Los Angeles will have way too much starting pitching for the Mets to handle. If New York can steal a win in Dodger Stadium, then this series might go five games. Still, the Dodgers will face the Cubs. A constant source of amazement is how the Cardinals won 100 games this year, with all the injuries and the lack of offense. If St. Louis fails to win the first two games at home, the series will not return to Busch Stadium. The Cubs are playing well now, and only some sort of curse can stop them from winning this series. Toronto had too much offense for any one pitching staff to contain for a full series. Then again, Texas is as hot as any team out there right now. Blue Jays in four. A Yankees-Royals American League Championship Series will be like traveling back in time for Kansas City fans of an older generation. Twice the Yankees beat the Royals in the ninth inning of the decisive Game 5 of the ALCS (in 1976 and 1977) and then KC lost in four games in 1978. The Royals’ sweep in 1980 was so sweet after those three series. I will always be fully convinced had the Royals come home to a hero’s welcome after the ‘80 ALCS, they’d have won the World Series. Instead, they hung out in New York waiting for the Astros-Philadelphia series to end, trying to save a few bucks by not flying to the east coast twice in a week. But, I digress. Johnny Cueto will be the pitcher Kansas City needs him to be, and I’m taking the Royals in five. That’ll be the end of the line for the Royals. Toronto will win the AL pennant, probably in six games. The Cubs-Dodgers series will be epic, if only for the party that will be set off when Chicago wins Games 1, 3, 4 and 5. The pitching will be outstanding, but Clayton Kershaw will be left to answer questions about yet another less-than-stellar postseason. From there, the World Series will see the two teams with the best combination of offense, defense and pitching in the postseason. The World Champion will be the Blue Jays simply because of the home-field advantage they’ll enjoy. If somehow the Cubs would win the first two games in Toronto, then batten down the hatches in Chicago. I just don’t see that happening, though. But then again, I’ve been wrong before.
