5 Most Compelling Potential 2015 World Series Matchups
It is so nice to dream.
Baseball, more than any other sport based on parity and the randomness of its playoff system, lends itself to fans believing the best is possible for their team. During this time of the year, a handful of days before pitchers and catchers report to Arizona and Florida for spring training, optimism is always highest.
As are World Series fantasies. Whether the team is a 2014 cellar-dweller like the Texas Rangers, a newcomer to the expectations party like the San Diego Padres or a perennial contender like the Los Angeles Dodgers or Detroit Tigers, the new season offers realistic chances to play in the 2015 Fall Classic.
Unveiling this year’s crystal ball and gazing through the summer, we can play matchmaker. What teams are likeliest to meet at the end of October? Which players, managers and executives provide for the best storylines? What are the dream matchups for Major League Baseball and its fans?
No matter how you want to categorize them, there is plenty room to dream of the World Series possibilities.
Chicago Cubs vs. Boston Red Sox
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Could you even imagine? Seriously? This would be rookie commissioner Rob Manfred’s absolute fantasy.
The history. The curses. Fenway Park and Wrigley Field. Front-office rivalries and a little bad blood. And maybe the highest-rated World Series in the history of baseball.
Before we get ahead of ourselves, neither of these teams seem ready to make a deep October run. The Cubs are still young, inconsistent and are coming off a season in which they won 73 games and finished 17 games back in their division. The Red Sox won 71 games last season, and while they added a bunch of recognizable names to their 2015 roster, they still don’t have a rotation good enough to win it all, though that could change sometime soon or by the end of July if they decide to part with enough talented youth in a trade.
Still, this is cool to think about since both teams are expected to be competitive enough for the first time in the same season since 2008, the last time both made the postseason.
While Boston defied its curse in 2004, the Cubs still carry their black cloud. A chance to rid themselves of it against a franchise that knows the feeling well would equal exceptional coverage and ratings for MLB in Manfred’s first season at the head of the league.
On the field, it would be first-year Chicago manager Joe Maddon trying to defeat a former rival, and new Cubs ace Jon Lester pitching the biggest games of his life against his former club.
Off the field, it would be Cubs President Theo Epstein going against the franchise he GM’d through their own curse and to two titles during his tenure with the Red Sox. It would also mean Epstein and the Red Sox facing off, bringing their possible bad blood to a boil.
How glorious it would be.
Detroit Tigers vs. San Diego Padres
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An old contender and a new contender. A traditional front office and a young, swashbuckling one. An aging club with a closing window and a young one with an opening gateway.
While the Tigers are getting old and injured, they still are favorites to win the American League Central for a fifth consecutive year. And assuming that watching division rival Kansas City come within one swing of winning the World Series last year was enough to refocus Detroit’s veteran roster, they will be a team on a mission with a realistic chance to make their third Fall Classic in 10 years.
As for the Padres, they are the chic, hip pick. General manager A.J. Preller has been called a rock star by his biggest offensive offseason acquisition, Matt Kemp. Preller signed James Shields earlier this week and still could land Cuba’s next big-time import, Yoan Moncada.
While all the moves and shakes—Wil Myers and Justin Upton among them—have made the Padres relevant, they still play in a division with the consecutive division champion Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants, a club that has won three World Series in the last five years. Getting past both of those teams and playing their way into late October is a long shot, but baseball in September and October has a penchant for the unexpected.
Chicago White Sox vs. St. Louis Cardinals
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The Cardinals seem to make the World Series whenever the San Francisco Giants take an odd-season breather, and the White Sox, aside from the Padres, may very well be the most improved team in baseball.
The White Sox improved by 10 games last season, picking up 73 wins in a division that had three other teams win at least 85 games. After acquiring Jeff Samardzija, David Robertson, Adam LaRoche and Melky Cabrera this offseason to piece with guys like Chris Sale, Jose Quintana, Jose Abreu and Adam Eaton, the White Sox seem bound to improve by double-digit victories once again.
The thing is this: Even if they improve by another 10 games in 2015, 83 wins does not make a playoff team. But if we are to think the Kansas City Royals, who lost James Shields, and the Detroit Tigers, who are aging, injury prone and without Max Scherzer, are not as good as they were in 2014, the White Sox could improve by as many as 15 games. And 88 wins, as the Royals and Giants will tell you, is good enough to win it all.
The Cardinals’ offseason started tragically when right-field prospect Oscar Taveras died in a car accident in the Dominican Republic. That prompted the Cardinals to trade young and promising starting pitchers Shelby Miller and Tyrell Jenkins to the Atlanta Braves for Jason Heyward, a defensive dynamo with something to prove with the bat in a contract year.
The Cardinals still might have some work to do in their rotation since Adam Wainwright is coming off arthroscopic elbow surgery, John Lackey is 36, and Michael Wacha made just 19 starts because of a scapular stress fracture. Still, this team seems the favorite in the National League Central and one rotation-improving trade could make them dangerous in October.
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Washington Nationals vs. Seattle Mariners
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Love pitching? With arms like Felix Hernandez and Scherzer, this is your World Series. Like stars? This has those, too, with guys like Robinson Cano and Bryce Harper.
The Nationals might be the best team in baseball, one that would surprise nobody if it won 100 games. The Mariners are a team on the cusp, and adding Nelson Cruz to a fairly complete club should be enough to lift them into the playoffs for the first time since 2001. And as the Kansas City Royals showed us last fall, first-timers can make deep runs in the postseason.
The Nationals are stacked. Their rotation is probably the best in the game, and they have virtually no holes in their lineup. They also carry the October advantage of having quality starting pitchers coming out of the bullpen. On paper, the Nationals have a better chance to make it to the World Series than any other team in their league.
Plus, it doesn’t matter who your favorite team is. Seeing Scherzer face King Felix in Game 1 of the World Series is a privilege for any baseball fan.
Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Los Angeles Angels
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Talk about shattering some East Coast bias here. An all Southern California World Series would provide exceptional weather and a faceoff of pseudo-rivals, one of which actually plays in Los Angeles and the other that wants people to think they play in Los Angeles.
Despite the Dodgers having not won a World Series in 26 seasons and the Angels winning their one and only in 2002 against the Dodgers’ rival—the San Francisco Giants—there is still an inferiority complex happening in Orange County. The Dodgers hold the overwhelming majority of the Southland fan base, the Angels decided being named for the state (California) and then their city (Anaheim) was not good enough and adopted a city 32 miles away (the distance between the two stadiums), and finally, in the battle of open wallets, the Dodgers have already run away with that title and are en route to running away with the title of who will spend more wisely.
This matchup is not only good for baseball; it is entirely realistic.
The Angels won more games than any team in baseball last season and ought to be the favorite to win the American League West for a second consecutive season in 2015. The Dodgers have won the National League West in consecutive seasons and are the clear favorites to capture a third.
While neither club advanced beyond the Division Series last year, it can be argued that both improved this offseason.
This series would also feature Angels manager Mike Scioscia against the team he helped win its last World Series, as well as new Dodger second baseman Howie Kendrick facing the team with which he spent his previous nine seasons.
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