The World Series: Does It Still Matter?

Just over a decade ago, baseball’s Fall Classic was meaningful.

From 1991 to 1997, ie. Before the Yankees started their dynasty by proving 1996 wasn’t a fluke and minus the strike season in 1994, every World Series was intriguing. There was Joe Carter’s Series-winner in 1993, along with Gene Larkin and Edgar Renteria driving home the championship runs in extra innings in Game Sevens (1991, 1997). In the other Classics, the winning teams won by a single run in the clinching Game Sixes with the opponents leaving the tying runners on base or having them represented at home plate.

You had heroes like the Mark Lemkes, Len Dykstras, Luis Sojos, Chad Ogeas, Jim Leyritzes, Ed Spragues, Pat Borderses of the world, who came up big when you didn’t expect them to. Lots of memorable games to be sure.

The NBA Finals, Stanley Cup Finals, and Super Bowls—which at the time featured blowouts seemingly every single year by the NFC squads—had nothing on the World Series.

But what about baseball’s championship series now?

Too many off-days for the Colorado Rockies (2007) and Detroit Tigers (2006) made them rusty in what turned out to be lopsided Series losses to the Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Cardinals, respectively. Thanks to baseball’s new scheduling system in 2007 when extra off-days were included in the LCS, Colorado had too much rest (and rust) following a four-game sweep against Arizona in the NL Championship Series, wiping out whatever momentum the Rockies gained on the way to winning the senior circuit.

Late start times. So many World Series games end now when many in the East have gone to bed, thanks to the late starts, pitching changes that naturally occur in most every game, and the general length of contests to begin with. In the ridiculous third game of this year’s Series, which ended close to 2:00 A.M. Eastern, the action started at 10:06 P.M. following a 91-minute rain delay. Crazy.

TV networks. Many fans out there are complaining about the postseason coverage by TBS. Never mind how badly the commentators are doing, but why is the postseason on cable to begin with? Oh okay. The World Series is on FOX, but even Joe Buck gets lots of trashing, especially with his comments earlier in the postseason that he preferred reality TV to baseball (interestingly, even he suggested baseball games are too long.)

And this year’s “Classic”?

Bad managing, for starters.

With the Tampa Bay Rays’ backs against the wall, manager Joe Maddon decided to rest his two starters, “Big Game” James Shields and Matt Garza, in the completion of the suspended fifth game.

Shields, who was well rested and had pitched 5.2 scoreless innings against Philadelphia already to give Tampa Bay its lone win in the Series, was instead saved for a Game Six which ended up not being necessary. (Shades of Cubs skipper Lou Piniella saving ace Carlos Zambrano after just 85 pitches in a tie game in the 2007 NLDS?)

Maddon turned to his bullpen, which hadn’t exactly done the job if you counted the fifth game of the ALCS and a couple of the earlier contests in Philadelphia, with the score 2-2 when play resumed in the Phillies’ half of the sixth inning.

The bullpen couldn’t get it done, and the Rays were done.

Then we look at the way the suspended fifth game was handled by the commissioner

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