American League
Boston Red Sox (105-57) v Chicago White Sox (85-77)
As good a player as Jim Rice is, the Red Sox are blessed with an abundance of quality and so his absence, while felt, should be able to be covered. Nice to see the White Sox in the playoffs again for the first time since 1950 and let’s hope they give their fans a good account of themselves. All the same, they looked overmatched big-time by a Boston unit that looks rock solid and ready to win it all.
Chicago does that and then some against their more-favoured opponents, winning the opener and nearly going 2-0 up. Then the Red Sox look like they’re going to run away with it, getting within six outs of a clinch in Game 4 before Chicago rallies to pinch it and then goes on to take a thrilling Game 5 at Fenway to dash the hopes of Red Sox fans everywhere, not to mention the neutrals hoping to see a replica of the IRL classic.
National League
Cincinnati Reds (97-65) v Pittsburgh Pirates (88-74)
Almost feels like we’ve been here before and, in a way, we were a year ago. We handled the Reds then but our recent form in the stretch run doesn’t give much confidence in a repeat dose. Still, every time this group is faced with a challenge they give everything they have to overcome it, so why should this series be any different?
We have kept Roberto in the group but he’ll take no part in the early games. Rennie is feeling good and ready to roll. With a nod to the future, we have inserted Candy Man into the rotation at Doc’s expense. They’ll be without Dave Concepcion for the remainder, which will hurt them although Rick Burleson is a handy replacement.
They blow us out in the opener with a 7-run 6th and we look set to drop the next one as well before Bill Robinson gets us a 6-5 win with a 2-run shot in the top 9th. Lonborg blanks us to get it back onto the HF advantage and all of a sudden rookie John Candelaria is pitching to keep us alive. He doesn’t let us down, pitching a 3-hit gem as Parker runs amok with 2 homers and 6 RBI to send us back to Cincy for a decider.
We get
Arriba back for Game 5 but, in the end, they are just a bit too good for us and we drop it 4-1. A valiant effort indeed by the lads against a top-notch side.
