A Much-Needed Win for Boston

The World Series is the Super Bowl of baseball. It is the championship of all 30 baseball teams. First the team plays in Spring Training throughout the late month of February and all of March. Then they play the regular season of 162 games throughout the months of April and late September. After that 10 teams make it to the postseason. Then it is eliminated to eight in the wildcard, the four teams that barely made it to the playoffs cut in half. Then those eight teams play in a series. The first team to win four games is the one that advances. There is at least four games and a maximum of seven.The winner moves on so it is cut down to four teams. Then the same thing happens with those teams and the final two move on. The last two teams move on to the World Series, what every team dreams of winning. Those two teams this year would be the Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals.

The first game of the World Series would be at Fenway Park, Boston. Fenway Park is the oldest standing baseball park to date with its famous ‘Green Monster’ wall out in left field. The wall is about 40 feet high and 231 feet long, according to, boston.sportsthenandnow.com. Then in right field there is about a 4.5 foot wall that many players have almost injured themselves on. The fans were screaming as their Boston Red Sox players were announced. The fans stood ‘Boston Strong’ as the National Anthem was sung. As everyone took their seats the game would begin. It was not the best game for Cardinals fans as their player made quite a few errors. For Boston fans, though, it was a thriller. Boston was making great plays, and they were also good on the ball. The fans at Fenway left happy as the Red Sox to the series lead 1-0 with winning score of 8-1.

The next day was game two, also in Boston. The game was scoreless until the fourth inning when the Cardinals took a one point lead. In the bottom of the 6th inning, Boston took a one point lead, scoring two runs. At that point it seemed to be a very good game. It was close and many nice plays were being made. Then, the next inning, the St. Louis Cardinals score three runs to take a 4-2 lead late in the game. Boston tried its hardest to make the comeback but it could not happen for them. The game ended 4-2 and the World Series was knotted up at one apiece. There was a one day break after game two, as the two the series would continue on in St. Louis.

Game three is always a big game. If you are up 2-0 then you really want to win this game because then there is room for error as you would only need to win one more game. If you are down 0-2 then you must win that game, if the team loses it is extremely rare that they make a four game comeback. Or if it is a tied series like it was here, the big meaning of the win is because you take the mid-series advantage. Then the team will probably play better because they have more confidence that the other team. This game three is said to have “The craziest ending to a game in World Series history.” In the first inning, the Cardinals took an early two run lead. The scoring was pretty quiet up into the late innings. In the 5th, Boston scored one run, as well in the sixth. Heading into the seventh inning it was two to two. In the bottom of the seventh, the Cardinals scored two runs. Boston answered right back with two in the top of the eighth. Then came the ninth inning. Boston did not score so all the Cardinals had to do was score one run. There was one out and a a man on second and third base. The infield was playing closer than usual to attempt to stop that winning run from scoring. The batter hit a ground ball near the second baseman and he had to dive to get it, he does his job and throws the ball to home. The runner never had a chance of being safe, so he is out. The man on second saw that the ball was thrown to home and decided to go towards third base. After the catcher behind home plate tagged the other runner out, he throws to third but the ball was too far for player to reach. He tries to dive towards it but misses and is on the ground. Someone from the outfield ran to get the ball and saw the runner was going to run to home to score the winning run. He throws it to home and while that is happening, the runner trips over the fallen third baseman and tries to keep going. Even though the runner was ‘out by a mile’ as people say, he is called safe.

The reasoning? Simple. The umpires called obstruction. Obstruction is when a positioned player gets in the way or disrupts a runners basepath, so when the umpires saw the runner trip, they made call and that is how the game ended. 5-4 Cardinals as they took the 2-1 series lead. This loss might actually please some Boston fans later, though.

Game four was the next day as the Cardinals planned to do as good as they did the day before is not better. Boston, on the other hand, was discussing ways to do better than the previous day. This game also had a pretty shocking yet exciting (for some people) ending. The first score of this game was in the third inning by the Cardinals as they got one run. In the fifth Boston tied it up. Then in the next inning, Boston took the lead by three runs making it 4-1. It was 4-2 in the bottom of the ninth after the Cardinals score a run in the seventh inning. In the ninth, it was the last chance for the Cardinals to win that game, there was a man on first with two outs. Down to their last out, they decided to put Kolten Wong as a pinch runner on first so they could have more speed on the bases. In the middle of the count, the Boston closing pitcher, Koji Uehara sees Wong leading off too much and tries to pick him off at first. And he gets him! World series game four ended in a two out, bottom of the ninth pick off play to first. That shocked many fans as well as the player who was batting as he did not get his chance to bat and maybe keep the game alive. Boston tied up the series 2-2 that day and that must have boosted their confidence a lot.

The next day would be the last game at St. Louis in the great series. The game would big a big mage for the Cardinals and the Red Sox because it was almost a must win. If they were to lose, they would have to win two straight games to win the series whereas the opposing team would only have to win one more game. The Cardinals slipped up a little in the first a Boston took an early lead in the first one to zero, but they tied it up in the fourth inning scoring one run. It was tied up until the top of the 7th inning when Boston’s offense had a great inning scoring two runs to take a three to one lead. Jon Lester, the Cardinals starting pitcher in game 5, had a great game going 7 ⅔ of the game. He struck out seven Cardinal players’ and only allowed one run on four hits, and threw no walks He had a great game and that would be the last time he would pitch in the 2013 World Series. Boston ended up winning the game 3-1 taking the series to a 3-2 lead. There would be a day break as the last game, or two if necessary, would be in Boston.

Boston was glad to have taken the series lead as they would only need to win one more game to win the World Series. They have the advantage, not just up by one game, but homefield advantage. People say you have more of an advantage at home because the fans will cheer for you to boost up confidence, and boo the other team to make them nervous. The reason losing game three has benefited is because they now have the chance to win the World Series at their home in Boston instead of away in St. Louis. This would be big for the team and the fans because they have not won the World Series at their home stadium since 1918, 95 years ago. At game six of the World Series, there was a man who said he has been going to every single game the Boston Red Sox have played at home for 75 years. He said, “It would be an amazing experience to finally see them win a t home.”

The game started and fans were screaming , hoping it would be the last game of the World Series and their team won. The first two innings were quiet for Boston’s offense but the crowd was loud as Boston’s defense stopped the Cardinals in the first two innings as well. Then, after Boston also stopped the Cardinals in the third, they had a great bottom of the third. They scored three runs taking a three to nothing lead. This was a surprise to many because the Cardinals had their best pitcher, according to the postseason statistics, in the game. Boston was excited and they still needed to keep their head in the game. They did just that as they stopped them again in the fourth. They were against a new pitcher in the fourth as they gave him a surprise, too. They scored another three runs taking a 6-0 lead. At this point, the fans were already smiling at every play Boston made through innings five and six as Boston was shutting them out. John Lackey pitched through seven only allowing one run in the seventh. He got a standing ovation as he walked off the field. That would be the last time any body scored in the 3013 World Series as the Boston Red Sox won game 6 at a score of 6-1. They won the series 4-2 and the fans were screaming as the finally got to witness their team win with their own eyes. It was a day to remember for all Boston fans as they ran on the field.

The Boston Red Sox are World Series Champions and are partying it up as we speak. It was not just exciting for the fans but emotional as well. That reason is because of what happened earlier in the year with the tragic bombing. The fans were Boston Strong, and this win for them gave them something to be happy about again. Some of the fans cried remembering the losses of some family in the bombing, but also tears of joy for their team. Boston deserved the win as they played well throughout the entire season. Lets see if they can do it again next year.