The 2013 World Series is one of the most intriguing matchups in recent memory for a bevy of reasons. The most talked about quality of this year’s Fall Classic is that it’s the first time in the Wild Card Era (1995) that the teams with the best records in each league have met up in the World Series, the other two years being 1995 with the Cleveland Indians against the Atlanta Braves and 1999 with the Braves against the New York Yankees. For the Boston Red Sox (97-65) and the St. Louis Cardinals (97-65) this will be the fourth time the teams have squared off against one another for the coveted crown. The Cardinals won the first two matchups in 1946 and 1967 and the Red Sox won the most recent duel in 2004, which also happened to be the last World Series in which the pennant-winner in each league also had the highest run differential. But, the most noteworthy figure to come from this pairing is that no matter who wins, that team will have won three World Series titles within the last 10 years. Since their first victories in this span the Red Sox (2004) and the Cardinals (2006) have reloaded their teams with the exception of a very small handful of players. The reason why all of this is being brought up is because there isn’t a whole lot else to analyze as Game One of the Series kicks off on Tuesday. The Red Sox and Cardinals haven’t played against one another since and interleague matchup in 2008; so, the only consistent that is set in place at the moment is that the Red Sox have the home field advantage thanks to the American League's victory over the National League in the All-Star Game back in July. Like I said, it’s very intriguing.
The Red Sox do have a few slight advantages going into Game 1 thanks in part to three players: starter Jon Lester, designated hitter David Ortiz and right fielder Shane Victorino. Lester has one career start against the Cardinals (June 22, 2008) which ended with a 7 1/3 inning no decision in which he allowed two earned runs on nine hits and one walk while striking out three as the Red Sox won 5-3. Outside of that, Lester at least has one World Series start to his credit against the Colorado Rockies in 2007, a win in which he went 5 2/3 innings without allowing a run while causing current Cardinals' left fielder Matt Holliday to go 0-4 with a strikeout. Without much else to go on, Lester will hopefully be using David Ross as his catcher as he has the most experience working against the Cardinals which dates back to his days with the Braves. As for Ortiz and Victorino, Big Papi is hitting .406 with one home run and seven RBI in nine career games against the Red Birds. It may not seem like much, but it’s certainly better than nothing. Victorino has the most experience against Cardinals’ starter Adam Wainwright which dates four seasons when the Flyin’ Hawaiian was with the Philadelphia Phillies. For his career he is hitting .227 with one home run and three RBI. For his and the Red Sox’s sake hopefully he’s still a bit hot after his grand slam in Game 6 of the American league Championship Series against the Detroit Tigers.
The Cardinals truly don’t have any bit of an “ace in the hole” or advantage against the Red Sox. Wainwright has yet to face the Sox in his career and he only has three innings in three games of the 2006 World Series bit of experience as we has used as a reliever then and missed the entire 2011 championship season due to his recovery from Tommy John surgery. The Cardinal Faithful will certainly need something big out of him as his last game pitched resulted in a loss via two earned runs against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series. One thing they do have working for them is the return of Allen Craig. The timing couldn’t really be any better for Craig and his return as he will be used as the DH to give him a bit more time to make sure he’s at 100 percent before the series heads to St. Louis where he’ll retake his rightful spot at first base. Matt Adams has been a massive shot in the arm on both sides of the ball during Craig’s absence, so in reality the Cardinals will not really be affected negatively in any manner with this transition. The one thing they WILL need is for the ever-dangerous in the playoffs Carlos Beltran to get on top of Lester early and often to ignite any kind of an offensive threat to steal a game in Boston.
When all is said and done though, it’s hard to not side with the home team in Game 1. As mentioned above, even with the little bit of experience they have against the Cardinals, it’s still better than the non-existent experience from St. Louis. Wainwright is a very crafty pitcher who can easily take over a game in the same way that the big three starters for the Tigers dominated the Sox in the ALCS, so there may be a bit of a pitchers duel in the first five or six innings. In the end, expect the Sox to edge this one out thanks in part to Ortiz, a speedy Jacoby Ellsbury and especially Mike Napoli, the offensive catalyst who led them into the Series.