Well...this is certainly not what I expected. If, at the beginning of this season, someone had said to me, "Hey, Baseball Freak, I think the Rangers and the Giants are going to be the two teams in the World Series this year," I would have most likely laughed at them and caught the first bus out of San Francisco or Arlington (not sure what I'd be doing in either place). Honestly, who would have predicted this? What analyst on the face of this planet, while pondering the potential matchups for this season's Fall Classic, was on enough LSD or heroin to mindlessly scribble "Rangers/Giants in October" before passing out? Who in their right mind would ever guess that two of the only teams not to have a championship title (for the Giants, they haven't won a World Series since they were in New York) would finally both be competing for their first? Sure, it's been a strange, eventful season, and plenty has happened that has been surprising: A-Rod hitting home run number 600, 5 no-hitters (including 2 perfect games), and a slew of rookies bursting onto the scene and making some noise. But this is a little too much.
First of all, if I hear anyone say they "saw it coming" that either of these teams would make it to The Show, I'm going to hit them. You didn't see this coming. Until the past 2 or 3 days, nobody saw this coming. This was unseeable. I know that's not a real word; that shows the magnitude of this event. For God's sake, THE TEXAS RANGERS ARE FACING THE SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS IN THE WORLD SERIES!!! What?! Is that sentence even possible?! Are we bending the rules of time, space, and reality here?! The mighty Yankees and equally powerful Phillies BOTH fell to the underdogs, neither even forcing a full series on the way out?! WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!?!?!
Second, even though I'm predicting the Rangers to win it all in 6 (I can't help it, I'm an AL guy), the truth is that this may be the most unpredictable, outrageous series yet. It's two teams that nobody expected to even move past the first round, let alone get past the two teams that have the last 2 championships to their names. It's two teams with excellent pitching, each with one ace and a reliable rotation/bullpen behind them, and roughly equal batting (though I'd say the Rangers, being in the American League, has a better focus on hitting, there are plenty of Giants capable of launching some timely bombs). It's two teams that don't have any titles to their name, or at least for the city they're in now. So how do you determine which team is going to win? These predictions being made by analysts, statisticians, and the Jewboy writing this post are mostly either based on league/team/hometown preferences or sheer guessing. Who's to say that Tim Lincecum won't toss a no-hitter, or that Cliff Lee will pitch every game he doesn't start from the bullpen? How do we know that Grandpa Vlad Guerrero won't suddenly keel over, or that Aubrey Huff might actually show a flash of the power that helped him lead his team in every offensive category? Isn't it entirely possible that Ian Kinsler and Buster Posey collide at home plate and explode into a fantastical show of lights and fireworks, delighting the crowd and making everyone forget about the silly little game being played? Hey, this series happening is already pretty unrealistic, so why not REALLY get strange here?
I need to lie down...the room is spinning...see you all Wednesday.
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