World Series Lessons

Wild-Card Success Wild-card teams, like this year's Rockies, have represented half the teams in the last seven World Series and have come up winners in three out of six played so far. That's not really such a surprise. The wild-card berth in the playoffs is often the most contested race in baseball, and the winner is usually hot at the right time. No wild-card team has ever been warmer than the Rockies, who have swept both their playoff series and won 21 of the last 22.

American League Superiority The American League has dominated interleague play—76 games over .500 the past two seasons—and has not lost an All-Star Game since 1996, a genuine reflection of the league's superior talent (as it was in the '60s and '70s when the N.L. took 19 out of 20). The Red Sox are 28-8 in interleague contests over the last two years and, of course, swept the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2004 World Series.

Young Guns The Rockies are a homegrown team that arrived a year or two ahead of schedule. Their starting lineup has only two players over 30; kinder outfielders Matt Holiday (27) and Brad Hawpe (28) and infielders Garret Atkins (27) and Troy Tulowitzki (22) combined for 114 home runs. The Red Sox, with David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez and Mike Lowell at the heart of their order are nowhere near as youthful, but they have integrated outstanding young hitters like A.L. Championship Series heroes Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis into the lineup, along with rookie speedster Jacoby Ellsbury. Colorado's opening-game starter, Jeff Francis, is just 26, and its closer, Manuel Corpas, is just 24. Boston's Josh Beckett is still only 27, and Red Sox closer and Irish step-dancer Jonathan Papelbon is 26.

DH Conventional wisdom suggests that the absence of the designated hitter in National League parks hurts the American League, since its pitchers find themselves in the unfamiliar position of hitting. But I always thought it was more of a factor in American League parks, where the N.L. teams lacked the big extra big bat, like a Big Papi or Jim Thome or Frank Thomas, that A.L. teams keep around strictly as DHs. Still, the Red Sox face a genuine dilemma in Colorado: obliged to play Ortiz at first, the game's premier clutch hitter, the Red Sox have the equally bad options of sitting either Mike Lowell (.324-21-120 in 2007) or Kevin Youkilis (.424 with four home runs in the playoffs).

Baseball Byes A nine-day layoff may be just what the doctor ordered for an NFL playoff team, but in October baseball it is unprecedented and generally regarded as less than helpful. The Tigers lost only a single game in the first two rounds of the playoffs last season, then waited a week for the Cardinals to squeak by the Mets. Their bats proceeded to go silent against a suspect St. Louis staff and they were cooked in five. Colorado is hotter than the Tigers were, but their wait has been even longer.

Parity The NFL promises parity. But it's Major League Baseball that delivers. All four teams that were still playing last week missed the playoffs in 2006, and a Rockies World Series triumph would make it eight different champions in eight seasons.