The 106th World Series starts tonight and is a study in underdogs -- two teams that had losing records in 2008 and were last in their respective divisions in 2007.
The Texas Rangers and the San Francisco Giants overcame huge odds and beat the big guys to end up in the race for the Commissioner's Trophy. That race begins tonight on the Fox network at 7:30 Eastern time.
I don't follow baseball but this story about never giving up has captivated me and I'll be watching tonight when the first pitch is thrown. We have had a minor league team here in town since the 80's and I used to take my boys to watch games. As it was, we got to see several players who went on to the big leagues and fame -- Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire. Sadly they also went on to shame because of steroid use.
It's a World Series filled with novelties. The Giants haven't won a World Series since 1954 and the Rangers have never even played in the fall classic. Both teams defeated their league's defending champs to make it to the World Series, and each team played a six-game play-off series to get there. The official birthday of the Rangers is October 26, 1960, so they'll be celebrating their 50th anniversary in a very big way.
But perhaps the most interesting tidbit of all (at least to me) is this:
Rangers catcher Bengie Molina will get a World Series championship ring regardless of which team wins. He's going to be the first catcher in baseball history to face a team he played for earlier in the season. He played 57 games for the Rangers and 61 games for the Giants during this year's regular season. Talk about having your bases covered!
I can't quote you any statistics other than these I've gleaned from the past few days' sports pages. I don't know who any of the players are. I'll be cheering for the Rangers since (1) it's their first World Series appearance and (2) my BFF Kristi is a Rangers fan and I'd love to see her fave team win.
Are you ready for some baseball? Will you be glued to the TV to see who takes the best of seven games? Or will you be fully ensconced in college football?
