Oct 21 2008
2008 World Series Preview
Although it hurts to talk about the World Series this year because Chicago failed to provide a team. That does not turn me away. I am a baseball fan and enjoy watching any real game worth watching and here are 10 good reasons reasons why you should watch game 1 of the World Series.
1. Two old managers getting their first shot as a potential champion. Both Charlie Manuel and Joe Madden will be going for their first title and both have worked in baseball more than the age of young superstar Ryan Howard from the Phillies.
2. Ryan Howard is a man and maybe the next Albert Pujols of the National League. He has had some struggles in the playoffs but with one swing he can change the momentum of a series. The power lefty and future MVP is a sight to watch.
3. Evan Longeria, Carl Crawford, and BJ Upton may not be lined on your walls of the greatest players that ever played, but you may have too after this year. All three of these outstanding players play for the Tampa Bay Rays and all have been superstars despite having limited play. You will know these names after this World Series for sure.
3. Pitching and more pitching from both teams. Both the Phillies and Rays will be putting their aces on the mound. Cole Hammels for the Phillies has the lowest ERA of any pitcher in the post season and every starting pitcher for the Rays are young, inexperienced but get the job done and do it well.
4. More pitching if you like it because both of these bullpens in baseball were the best in both leagues. Brad Lidge has failed to blow a save for the whole year and the platoon like effort from the Rays bullpen is not too penetrable itself. Despite losing its leader in Troy Percival the bullpen has flourished and not backing down from any hitter this year in the post season. Both of these teams bullpens are a big reason why they are here in the World Series.
5. The Philadelphia Phillies are trying to end a thirty year champion drought in the whole city of Philly. That is right there has not been a champion in any major sport in Philadelphia for over thirty years and the Phillies are trying to end that drought.
6. The Tampa Bay Rays are in the WS for their first time in franchise history. Despite only being around for ten years this team in every year before has had losing seasons. They were the laughing stock of the American League and not even a chance is ever given to them being in the same division as the Yankees and Red Sox. Now that trend has changed this year and the Rays are proving everyone they belong.
7. Jamie Moyer will be the oldest stater of any World Sereis. The forty three year old lefty will be trying to be the oldest to ever win a game. The finesse pitcher may not look like he know’s what he is doing but do not tell the hitters against him that, he will bore you to death with high 80 mile per hour stuff, if that. Somehow he still gets the job done.
8. A cinderella story is currently being played by the Tampa Bay Rays. No one picked them in the beginning of the season and many others doubted the success of their first AL East division winner. However this team is a well oiled machine that has great speed on the base paths, a big home field advantage for those attempting to play for the first time, a defense that fits that building like a glove and timely hitting throughout the whole order makes the Rays not only a good team but a complete team with as much depth as the Phillies. Despite how young they are they can compete with anyone and proved it beating up the Red Sox and the White Sox two teams with a recent winning tradition in the post season.
9. The Philadelphia Phillies are no slouch themselves as they easily marched trough the playoffs. They beat the Brewers and the Dodgers with ease and are looking to do the same to Tampa. Perhaps the best lineup in all of baseball will show why it is so hard to match up with against the likes of Ryan Howard and Chase Utley. Plus having to face a former MVP in Rollins leading off this offensive juggernaut is no task any team yet has yet to figure out how to stop.
10. The biggest reason to watch because you are a fan of the game. The two best teams will play this year. I know they may not be a favorite of yours but you still have to respect what both of these teams have done to get to this spot. The Phillies had to hear all the noise about the Mets, Cubs and even the Dodgers toward the end of the year that those teams were the teams to beat. Then the Rays having to deal with the powerful Yankees and Red Sox all year so both of these teams belong. They both overcame and are now facing one another trying to doubt one another one more time.
