MLB: Tommy Lasorda Predicted the 1990 Reds' World Series Victory

In 1989, the Oakland A's swept their cross town rivals, the San Francisco Giants, to become World Champions.

The A's repeated as pennant winners in 1990 and almost all the "experts" felt that the Cincinnati Reds' chances of beating the A's in the World Series were slim to none.

Tommy Lasorda begged to differ. He picked the Reds to beat the A's in six games. It turned out that Lasorda was too conservative.

Lasorda's Los Angeles Dodgers had chased the Reds most of the season, finishing five games behind them. The fact that his team couldn't catch the Reds impressed LaSorda greatly. Tommy was not impressed with the A's.

Speaking to the media, he explained his reasoning:

"Oakland has dominated the American League, but they haven't played anybody this year. In 1988, they ran into a buzzsaw and we got great pitching to beat them. Last year, the Giants' pitching staff was rattled."

Then LaSorda touched on the key to almost any World Series.

"If you throw mediocre pitching at them, they'll bomb the daylights out of you. But good pitching stops good hitting, and that's going to be the difference."

Jeff Torborg, whose Chicago White Sox finished second, nine games behind the A's, was confident that the A's would have little trouble beating the Reds. He thought that the A's edge in pitching would be a major factor.

"You can't measure confidence a pitcher like Dave Stewart gives you. All you have to do is look at his record in big games against big pitchers like Roger Clemens. Both Stewart and Bob Welch know what they're doing and they have a plan."

Welch won 27 games during the regular season, Stewart won 22 and Dennis Eckersley saved 48 games.

The A's had a powerful batting order that included Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire and Rickey Henderson, a trio that combined for a total of 104 home runs.  Henderson led the league with 65 stolen bases.

The Reds' best player, Eric Davis, had an injured shoulder. He played almost the entire season with bad knees. The Reds hoped that Paul O'Neill and Chris Sabo could pick up some of the offensive slack.

The Reds' starting pitching, led by Jose Rijo and Tom Browning was appraised as adequate, but the "Nasty Boys" in the bullpen—Randy Myers, Norm Charlton and Rob Dibble—could make things difficult if the Reds stayed close to the A's.

The results surprised even Tommy Lasorda.

Jose Rijo pitched seven scoreless innings in the opener. Rob Dibble and Randy Myers each pitched a scoreless inning as the Reds romped, 7-0.

The second game was tied, 4-4 in the bottom of the 10th inning when the Reds touched Eckersley for three consecutive singles to win the game.

In Oakland, the Reds scored seven runs in the third inning on their way to an 8-3 victory, which gave them an insurmountable three games to none edge.

Rijo out-dueled Stewart, 2-1 in the final game to give the Reds the World Championship. Each pitcher was working on three days rest.

The surprising upset shocked almost everyone but Lasorda, Lou Piniella and the rest of the Reds. It was the second time in three years that Tony LaRussa's A's fell short of a World Series title, appearing three times and winning once in 1989. 

References:

Reds scouting report. (1990, Oct 16). New York Times (1923-Current File), pp. D25. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/108483473?accountid=46260

A's scouting report. (1990, Oct 16). New York Times (1923-Current File), pp. D25-D25. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/108477442?accountid=46260