World Series Lessons

Home-Field Advantage We all agree it's stupid to let the All-Star Game dictate the home-field advantage. Nevertheless, it does and the advantage is Boston's. Thus a seventh game would be played in Fenway. You have to go back to the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates to find a team that won the seventh game of the World Series on the road; since then, eight series have gone the distance and all have been won by the home team.

Prediction If I get this one right, it's a perfect seven-for-seven postseason for me—and NEWSWEEK's $1 million bonus kicks in. (Note to self: did I get that promise in writing?) The Rockies have all the karma, but the Red Sox have more of the real thing: Josh Beckett and Curt Schilling, proven big-game pitchers; the big lumber at the heart of the Red Sox lineup; and the home-field advantage. Add in Colorado's layoff, and everything is coming up Boston. Eighty-six years was a really long time to wait. Three years seems just like yesterday.

© 2007