It’s the end of October which means pumpkin spice lattes, cooler weather and baseball is in the air… The playoffs have been wild and we expect the World Series to be no different.
World Series of Old
Reigning World Series champs:
LA Dodgers
Most titles:
NY Yankees (27)
- From 1920-1964, the Yankees went to the big dance 29 times and won 20. Babe Ruth joined the team in 1920… so that helps.
- The Yankees won all the world series from 1936-1939 and 1949-1953.
1st WS:
1903 (this is what’s called the Modern WS era)
Notables:
1904 & 1994 were the only years the World Series weren’t played. Every other year including global pandemics, WWI and II, earthquakes, etc. 1904 was boycotted due to there being no rules or governing body and the formation of the AL (which pissed off the existing league). 1994 was plagued by a player strike over salary caps.
The 1991 World Series is known as the GOAT. Between the Twins and the Braves, 5 games were decided by a single run, 4 games decided by the final at-bat and 3 games went to extra innings. Also both teams had lost their division the year prior. The final game went to extra innings and the Twins pitcher, Jack Morris, pitched a 10 innings shutout.
Every World Series winner listed out.
World Series Scandals:
1919 Black Sox
- The White Sox won the 1917 world series and were the heavy favorites to beat the Reds in 1919. However, 1B Chick Gandil and gambler Joseph Sullivan convinced 6 other players to throw the games including Shoeless Joe Jackson. Each player was promised $100k for participating. The 8 players pitched badly, hit badly and made errors. Jackson still denied playing badly on purpose on his death bed but before the WS was the best hitter and had terrible stats during the series. He did hit the only homer of the series. The 8 players involved were called the ‘Black Sox’ and were banned for life. The White Sox would not win another WS til 2005.
1985 The Call
- During a matchup between the Royals and the Cardinals, the Royals got the benefit of a very controversial call in Game 6 of the world series (that they were losing 3games – 2) when Ump Don Denkinger called a runner safe on 1B. The Cardinals were up 1-0 in 8th, when Jorge Orta hit a slow roller to the 1B who threw it back to the pitcher covering 1st. He clearly was out but Denkinger called him safe. The Royals went on to win that game 2-1 and won Game 7 11-0. DJs in the St. Louis area even gave out the umps phone number and home address where he was getting death threats. Denkinger went on to umpire til 1998 for 3,824 regular season MLB games.
2017 Sign Stealing
- The Houston Astros were found guilty of sign stealing and banging on trash cans to communicate with batters what the pitches were going to be. This systematic stealing started as early as 2016 but was noted by White Sox relief pitcher Danny Farquhar in Sept of 2017. The team used video cameras to read signs from pitchers and then players in the dugout would bang on trash cans to indicate the pitch to the batter. In October 2017, the Astros won the World Series. In the 2019 ALCS is where everything came to a head when Jose Altuve hit the walk-off HR to take the team to the World Series again but kept his shirt on and told his team to not rip his jersey off. Opponents pointed to this concealing a buzzer under his jersey – this was never proven but tempers were still high. The team was indeed found guilty of sign stealing and punished in Jan 2020. The MLB fined the team $5MM and they lost their 1st and 2nd round draft picks in 2020 and 2021. The GM and Manager also got suspended for a year and were then dismissed by the team. However their World Series win was not taken away.
When will this year’s World Series play?
The World Series will begin on 10/26 – 11/3 (if needed) – best of 7 on FOX. Thursday 10/28 and Monday 11/1 are scheduled to be the break days (for travel).
Who will win?
According to Vegas at the beginning of the season, the Dodgers were favored to win (+400), as of this week the Braves are now the favorites (+210). During the regular season, the Red Sox had the longest odds to win the World Series (+2000) of the teams left, meaning if you bet them before playoffs started and they win, you get the most money.
In MLB history, only 112 teams have won 100 games during the regular season. This year we had 3 teams do that (Rays 100, Dodgers 106 & Giants 107). Only the 2019 season had more teams with 4 over 100 wins. And before you think that’s because we play many more games, the 1906 Cubs team only played 10 less games than the teams this year.
The Championship series:
- The Astros vs Red Sox for the ALCS
- HOU leads 3-2
- If Houston wins at home tomorrow, they will go to the World Series
- The Braves vs Dodgers for NLCS
- ATL leads 3-1
- If ATL wins tonight, they will go to the World Series
The last time each won the WS: Dodgers 2020, Red Sox 2018, Astros 2017, Braves 1995
Who’s better?
- AL has won 66 of the last 116 WS (57%). The most common matchup is the Yankees vs Dodgers which has happened 11xs.
- All 16 teams that were around for the 1903 WS are still in existence today. They are in different cities or called different things but they exist.
- Cubs have the record for longest WS drought at 108 years (1908-2016).
- Mariners have never even been to the WS game
- The Mariners, Padres, Rockies, Rangers, Rays and Brewers have never won the WS
- The Angels, Diamondbacks and Nationals are all 1/1 and the Blue Jays and Marlins are 2/2 in WS appearances
- Most wins in a regular season is held by the Mariners in 2001 and the Cubs in 1906 each with 116 wins.
- This only counts full seasons.
Players to know:
- Carlos Correa – SS – Astros
- He becomes a free agent after this season so we will see if he stays in H-town or someone else scoops him up.
- Albert Pujols – 1B – Dodgers
- You might recognize his name from a Weekly Update a few weeks ago when the LA Angels traded him to the Dodgers.
- Eddie Rosario – LF – Braves
- He has tied the Braves postseason record with 12 bases made this offseason
- Chris Sale – LHP – Red Sox
- Max Scherzer – RHP – Dodgers
- Kyle Schwarber – 1B – Red Sox
- His grand slam during Game 3 made the Red Sox the first team to ever hit 3 grand slams in a single series in the postseason
- Justin Turner – 3B – Dodgers
- He actually hurt his hamstring during last night’s game. He is out for the rest of the postseason.
These are in addition to the guys that I have on the Famous Names to Know page. Justin Verlander, Clayton Kershaw (both of whom are injured and not playing in the post season), Mookie Betts and Cody Bellinger.
Girl Questions?
- Are DHs allowed in the WS?
- Originally no. Until 1976 then the World Series allowed a DH in even numbered years only.
- The current rule (since 1986) is that when playing in the AL stadium, a DH can be used. When in the NL, it cannot.
- What does winning the pennant mean?
- Winning the pennant actually means winning your division so the ALCS or NLCS games.
- Is there a mercy rule?
- Actually no, despite what we used to play with in little league, there is no mercy rule in the majors. It is common courtesy to not run up the score but technically there is no rule.
- The largest come from behind win is down by 12 runs. This happened 3 times: Tigers in 1911, the A’s in 1925 and the Indians in 2001.
Don’t forget if you don’t know the lingo and acronyms, check out the Vocab page.
