I imagine whoever owns the FOX affiliate here in Arkansas is resting easy this week. His baseball prayers have been answered and his ratings dreams have come true, as the Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals meet in the World Series.
Being primarily a Redbird state over the years, Arkansas has experienced an influx of Rangers fans over the past couple of seasons with their recent successes, especially in the southern parts of the state. As a campus with a significant Texan population, we’re getting an especially concentrated dose of the rivalry that has swept the state in a matter of days. I’ve already seen friendships put on hold and at least one instance of opposing fans giving each other the business in every one of my classes. Fall Classic Fever is an epidemic on our campus, and it’s shaping up to be an interesting couple of weeks.
The matchup on the field is even more intriguing than its cultural impact at Ouachita. These are two teams that haven’t had much to do with each other over the years, the last time they met being interleague play in 2004 when the Cardinals traveled to Texas for a three game series. In fact, it’s the only time they’ve ever played during the regular season. That matches the fewest games between two major league teams, the Mets and White Sox also having played each other only three times.
This season, however, the two teams have experienced very different roads in their collision course to the Series.
The Cardinals are looking for their eleventh World Series title, but as recently as August even the playoffs looked far out of reach for the Redbirds. Ten and a half games back of the NL Central lead, it looked as though they weren’t going to overcome early injuries that ended Adam Wainwright’s year and limited Albert Pujols’ effectiveness.
But thanks to the Atlanta Braves crash-and-burn and the trade-deadline acquisition of Rafael Furcal, they managed to snag the NL Wild Card on the final day of the regular season. Philadelphia couldn’t keep up with Carpenter and the rest of the Cardinals starting pitching and the Redbird bullpen carried them to victory in the NLCS over Milwaukee. Having gone through two NL World Series favorites, the Cardinals have nothing to lose and are extremely dangerous.
The Rangers, on the other hand, look to redeem themselves in their second straight World Series appearance. The San Francisco Giants dominated the Rangers in five games last fall, overpowering a potent batting lineup with their top of the line pitching.
That loss fueled the Rangers to come back with a vengeance in 2011, powering their way to a second straight AL West championship. For the Rangers, the story of their postseason has undeniably been their lineup. Adrian Beltre powered the team past Tampa Bay, further validating his acquisition from Boston at the winter meetings. Nelson Cruz had no regard for human life in the series in Detroit, belting out six homers and 13 RBI.
What the Rangers have going for them is it’s nearly impossible to shut down their batting order. Pitchers can focus on Beltre and Cruz, but up to the plate comes Josh Hamilton, Michael Young, Mike Napoli, Ian Kinsler and Mitch Moreland. The only way to describe the lineup is an embarrassment of riches.
Texas also made several bullpen moves at the trade deadline that have turned it from a liability into a strength, acquiring Koji Uehara and Michael Gonzalez from Baltimore and Mike Adams from San Diego. The addition of Alexi Ogando, a starting quality pitcher, to the pen in the postseason makes it the deepest the Rangers have had in some time.
With the first game of the series in the books, the Cardinals currently possess a 1-0 lead in the series after Chris Carpenter threw disgusting pitches to earn his Cardinals a hotly contested 3-2 win.
Although I’m a little concerned about the Rangers offense and their lack of firepower in the first game, I don’t think the rest of the Cardinals rotation has quite the same prowess as Carpenter.
For example, the pitcher the Rangers will face tonight, Jaime Garcia, has a 5.74 ERA in October. Edwin Jackson and Kyle Lohse have even higher ERAs. But like the Rangers, the Cards have a deadly bullpen. If the Rangers are going to exorcise the demons of World Series Past, they need to get their offense going very early in games and not let a reliever like Octavio Dotel get in and hold a lead. And as we saw last night, Jason Motte is just as lethal a closer as Neftali Feliz.
If Game One was any kind of indicator, these two clubs are going to give us one of the most memorable series in recent memory. One I think will go right down to the wire, with the Rangers winning Game Seven to take the series. While the Cardinals are a dangerous team in both aspects of the game, I think the Rangers offense is just too powerful.
A little last minute advice to the warring factions that have organized on campus. While you are certainly allowed a little smack talk and rivalry, don’t let that stop you from enjoying this series with friends who are fans of the other team. You’ll miss out on some great baseball memories with some of the people you care about most on campus.
Who will prevail? Will the Claw and Antlers finally bring home the trophy? Or will the Rally Squirrel of St. Louis continue to fuel the mojo of the Redbirds? I can’t wait to find out. Go Rangers. It’s time.
