The time all baseball fans look forward to is here, the World Series! The 162 game grueling regular season doesn’t matter. The seven playoff wins mean nothing and it all comes down to this. The two number one seeds are representing their respective leagues with the Boston Red Sox holding the home-field advantage. These two teams clearly deserve to be in this position and have played like the two best teams in baseball all year long. The Sox and Cardinals both finished second in their leagues in batting average and were both first in runs scored.
The Red Sox will have John Lackey taking the mound in the second game of the series. He went 10-13 in the regular season with a 3.52 ERA and 161 strikeouts. As far as the 2013 playoffs are concerned he has went 2-0. In the ALDS he went 5.1 innings with an ERA of 6.75 allowing four runs while walking three and striking out six. He pitched much better in the ALCS going 6.2 innings of four hit shutout baseball. In that game he struck out eight. He has an overall postseason ERA of 3.10 which is much better than his regular season career numbers of 4.05. It is very clear that Lackey steps up in high pressure situations and should give the Cardinals hitters fits on Thursday night.
The Cardinals will be throwing the rookie Michael Wacha to the sharks out in Fenway. The 22 year-old has pitched remarkable not only in the regular season but in the postseason. He posted a 2.78 ERA with a 4-1 record in the regular season, which is great by itself. The most impressive stats is what he’s done in the playoffs. In three starts he has recorded three wins and only allowed one run over 21 innings. This kid has dominated every single bat that has came across him and he doesn’t look to slow down anytime soon.
There you have it. Pitching is the most important piece when it comes to postseason success and both of these teams have plenty of both. It will all unfold Thursday night as the fall classic continues. The explosive Red Sox offense versus the always consistent St. Louis Cardinals. The last time these two teams faced each other in the World Series was 1967. Who will step up and become an October hero in 2013?