Evenly contested sides ready to lock horns in World Series – MLB Update
Since the onset of the regular season 2011, everyone had tipped the likes of Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies to prevail in the postseason. However, as it turns out to be, last year’s second best Texas Rangers and National League
Wild Card entrants St. Louis Cardinals have locked horns for the Fall Classic, unexpectedly.
Craving for success, the Rangers began an undeterred mission this season to become World Champions after losing to San Francisco Giants in five games last year. The Cardinals, on the other hand, trailed by 8.5 games in the Wild Card standings when September
began and it seemed quite evident that Atlanta Braves will make it through to the playoffs.
Chris Carpenter, however, had other plans in mind and picked his game up just at the right time. Cardinals’ ace pitched a two-hitter complete game against the Houston Astros to edge past the Braves in the standings, thus qualifying for the playoffs as Atlanta
was blanked by the Phillies in the three-game season-ending series.
The Cardinals failed to overcome Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central, but had their say in the Championship Series. The Redbirds won the seven-game series 4-2, with Carpenter being used only once.
Carpenter is all-set to take the mound for Game 1 on Wednesday, October 19. Expressing the sentiments of players, the ace said, "The feeling in this clubhouse is winning. We've been playing hard all year long. There were some ups and downs here and there,
but the last two or so months, we started to put it together and played hard."
After losing out last year, the Rangers have not been much vocal this time around. Josh Hamilton asserted that the team wanted to win last year and has the same desire this time as well. However, how the depth of this craving is yet to be known.
As it now stands, two of the most unlikely teams have won pennants and are upbeat to fight it out for the top honours. The Cardinals and the Rangers have not played against each other in postseason and thus statistics have little role to play.
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