Pittsburgh Pirates (107-47) v Philadelphia Athletics (98-56)
Best-of-seven, A's with the home-field advantage.
PITTSBURGH PIRATES S+ PAGE
PHILADELPHIA ATHLETICS S+ PAGE
I won’t lie to you, so convinced was I that the Yankees would win the AL that I have had to do some big-time cramming to familiarise myself with this A’s group.
I am most impressed with what I have gleaned from this exercise.
They might not hit for much average, but the boys from Philly sure do know how to time those big flies for maximum reward, and this may well prove the key for us. With Wells and Moses setting the table for Mize, Johnson and company, we need to make our mistakes on a small scale or else they’re liable to put up some big numbers in a hurry.
On the flipside, they will be throwing three quality 20-game winners at us, with Davis in career-best form and Grove a proven big-time pitcher. So our bats need to get hot and stay hot.
This should prove a massive challenge for us and it should be a fantastic Series for the neutrals.