I have to say, that this was probably the worst on-field world series we have seen in quite some time; frankly, neither team deserved to win. The field play was absolutely brutal from both sides, and the hitting, especially from Detroit, was atrocious - I don't think there was a single play the entire series worth putting on the highlight reel, a very stark comparison to the moments leading up to it with division play. Just think, in 30 years we'll look back at the classic pitching performances of such powerhouses as Jeff Weaver, Jeff Suppan, and Kenny Rogers and the amazing, superhuman performance of MVP David Eckstein - yuck.

At least it wasn't a four-game sweep, but we have seen a lot of short series lately (six series in five games or less, including four sweeps) in the past decade alone, so I found it to be particularly anti-climactic as one team steamrolled the other yet again.

I was rooting for the Tigers, but knew in my heart that the rookies were just too damned tired. Ah well, here's hoping a powerhouse Jays team can take the World Series title away from the 83-win, AAA-induced division St. Louis Cardinals.

P.S. Sorry for the negativity :) I'm just sad there's no more baseball 'til the spring, and no more Zaun analysis on Sportsnet.

The Cardinals were lucky to win the World Series. They were almost kicked out of the playoffs with 2 games left after blowing an 8.5 game lead with 12 games left.

-Pedro Martinez and El Duque were hurt.

-They ran into a streaky Tiger team that picked all the right moments to get hot, except for the last one. Essentially, the Tigers stopped over-performing, or were tired (rookies), ironically after a week of rest.

-Even more ironic, the Cardinals won without distinguished performances from their only 2 stars: Albert Pujols didn't play all that great in the NLCS or World Series (and acted like quite a grouch the whole tim, I like him a lot less now, he just finished the highest plateau, c'mon cheer up your the game's best player), and Chris Carpenter had a bad NLCS (but a good game, along with Jeff Weaver and Anthony Reyes - huh?), in the World Series.

-Notably, Mulder was hurt too, but this was the worst Cards team in years. Luckily Belliard, Molina, Edmonds, Rolen and Eckstein all played well.

-The entire postseason was ugly. There were two and a half exciting things: 1) The Endy Chavez catch was amazing. and 2) Eckstein winning the WS MVP, cause he's got so much heart and energy. 2a is the Yankees losing to Detroit, but again the Yankees played uninspired baseball, and the NL is always boring as of late. The A's and Twins both played flat, and the onliy 7 game series was boring up until the last game. ESPN mentioned somewhere, were the best teams really playing in the World Series? Probably not....that's why something like a shorter season and expanded playoffs would ensure that.

Just on the Cardinals, their team was comprised of 11 free agents...7 of which were signed to deals paying them less than a million dollars in the first year.  This team was built on loyalty and smart talent evaluation, they truly found the bottom basement bargains.

Being in the NL, the Cards had a lot of practice being slightly less crappy than their competition.  That World Series was just bad baseball.  The Yankees and A's are at home saying "where the hell were these Tigers in the AL playoffs?"

 

On another note, if there was some way they could get Josh Towers to hang out with Dave Duncan.  The dude is a freaking miracle worker.

The absolutely terrible play by Detroit ruined the series for me. The announcers got hung up on it, but deservedly so. 5 throwing errors by your pitchers, most (all?) leading directly to a run or two. A total mental choke job on their part. If the Tigers didn't throw away the last two games, and just lost them more cleanly, I'd feel a lot better about the Cardinals winning. Still, their pitchers were very good. What I fear most now is an entire offseason of experts explaining why every team needs an Eckstein. Not that Toronto couldn't use a SS like him (any improvement will do), but still, it could get ugly.

Still, I'm sorry the season is over, and this postseason once again drove home the point : just make the playoffs, and the WS is within reach.

Detroit did not play well but the Cardinals did and their achievement should not be downplayed by focusing on Detroit's failures.  Going into the playoffs the Cardinals were not favoured because of their starting pitching, it was Carpenter and a bunch of nobodies.  Well Jeff Suppan and Jeff Weaver pitched well, did what they had to do, took advantage of what the Tigers gave them and kept their team in their games.  Meanwhile several Cardinals, not named Pujols, started hitting.  Eckstein, Rolen and Molina each provided key hits.  It was nice to see Rolen hit well after his poor showing in the 2004 series.

Yes it was not a dramatic series but credit the Cardinals, for several years now they carried an underachievers tag, winning 95-100 games but losing in the playoffs.  It is ironic that they win the World Series after their poorest season in recent years.  As Juaquin Andujar would say youneverknow. 

The whole thing was a little disappointing - at least we had a decent NLCS.

Also, capping things off fittingly, Keith Law's final blog about the Series is entitled 'Cardinals Make Fewer Mistakes,' which works out well if you've been reading his blogs regularly - his view on this playoffs has been basically that every team has played terrible, not executed, and that the better team lost every series because they made more mistakes. Not very exciting for the playoffs.

Baseball is a summer game. When played in sub-artic conditions the play really degenerates.     

Maybe its me, but I don't remember a post-season with so much inclement weather. Will climate change preclude October baseball in the North East in the future? I note todays game in Detroit if it had been required would probably have been cancelled ( rain and 34 degrees F this evening).

While the common fan won't admit it, I think that they inherently understand that these short playoff series don't always always won by the better team.  I think that much of the disinterest in the baseball playoffs is coming from, even if people can't put their finger on the reason. 

St. Louis won the World Series, but I think that most people understand that they aren't the best team in baseball.  I think many people understand that there is a chance they are barely one of the top 12 teams in the sport, nevermind the best.

The most annoying thing that is going to come of this is the idea that somehow the actual superiority of the American League is somehow lessened because Detroit made 8,000 errors over 5 games.

One good thing did come out of this playoff season for those who believe that the idea of clutch is overrated.  Polanco winning the ALCS MVP and then looking like he wouldn't get a hit in an American Legion game by game 5 has to take some starch out of those who are huge believers in 'clutch'.

I still believe in clutch.  It's anti-thesis (choke and a bad case of the yips) was on full display by the Tigers in the WS.  Just because you can't make a little chart of it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

I enjoyed the World Series games when I had to chance to watch them (I saw most of the last couple games; I still plan to watch recordings of the earlier games when I get a chance).

Just because one team won 4 games out of 5 doesn't mean it wasn't a close series.  The last couple games were close.  If the Tigers take one of those, they're back home in Game 6 with a chance to tie the series.

I think of the Cardinals as a good team that was unlucky to win just 83 games in the regular season, not as a mediocre team that was lucky to win in the playoffs.

The Tigers were an interesting team to watch, and their fans were fantastic.

I enjoyed the MLB International broadcasts carried on Sportsnet HD (and Zaun told a lot of great stories as an analyst).

Sure, I'd like nicer weather and playing conditions, but it's October, and I don't want to see more domes.

I wouldn't mind if the games started at least an hour earlier.

But on the whole, I enjoyed the spectacle, and I'm sure I'll watch again next year.

I'm just sad there's no more baseball 'til the spring, and no more Zaun analysis on Sportsnet.

I couldn't agree more.  Gregg Zaun was the real highlight of this post-season for me.  He was an excellent analyst and I think he's found his future calling when he hangs up the tools of ignorance.  Though I would've preferred "Going Going Zaun" to be playing in the World Series this year, this was the next best thing.  It seems like he and Jamie Campbell really hit it off. 

Some random thoughts.............

I just wish Sportsnet had carried the Fox feed for the World Series instead of the MLB International one because that scorebox in the bottom right corner during every pitch was a real distraction for me.  I much prefer Fox's scoreline that runs across the top of the screen.  It was a pain in the ass to keep flipping back and forth between Fox and Sportsnet so I wouldn't miss any of GGZ's analysis.

Personally, I'm glad the Cardinals won and I'm happy for Jeff Weaver, who drove the final nail in the Tigers coffin after he was trash-talked by Todd Jones, who had no right to say anything after he tried his best to piss away Game 2 for the Tigers.  How he racked up so many saves with such a poor K-BB ratio this season is beyond me, that was Dan Kolb-like.  I don't play fantasy baseball but if I did, Todd Jones would be the last guy I'd pick as closer.  It'll suck to be a Tigers pitcher next season, they'll get the bronx cheer anytime there's a tapper or a bunt back to the mound.

I gained a new appreciation for David Eckstein.  What a joy he must be to watch everyday for Cards fans.  You can tell he just loves to play the game and he seems like a nice, unassuming guy to boot.  I'm happiest of all for So Taguchi, not many 12 year olds get to win a World Series ring and he wears Gretzky's number to boot.  I was also impressed with Adam Wainwright, who became this year's Bobby Jenks.  He just didn't panic out there at all. 

It's too bad Larry Walker couldn't have stuck around to get that World Series ring.  Lord knows he would've played a better right field than Chris Duncan last night.  I thought it was charitable of Tony LaRussa to leave him in after the 4th inning when he could've replaced him on a double switch.  Maybe he felt he had to even the playing field for his good friend Jim Leyland after all the Tiger pitching errors.

Do you think A.J. Burnett is kicking himself right about now?  He could've had a ring had he chosen not to come here instead.

If nothing else, the National League at least gained some respect back in winning the World Series after losing a heart-breaker at the All Star Game.  I never thought I would admit this but after being raised on AL baseball, I've become a fan of the National League style of play.  It's fun to keep score of games in the NL with all the pinch hitters and double switches involved.  I'm hoping to catch the odd Pirates game next year and the Ottawa Lynx, now that they're affiliated with the Phillies.  The nice thing about that is that NL rules will apply at Lynx Stadium when they face other NL affiliated teams.

 

I just wish Sportsnet had carried the Fox feed for the World Series instead of the MLB International one because that scorebox in the bottom right corner during every pitch was a real distraction for me.

While I agree that the slim scorebox across the top is superior to the chunky scorebox in the corner, when the MLBi feed dropped during game five and Sportsnet switched over to Fox I began to scream "aieeee my ears my ears!"

Seriously.  Ask my wife.

Fox -- what is the deal with the beeping and booping and blipping and all the stupid, crappy sound effects that you feel need to be added to a baseball game?  They're not playing on the bridge of the Enterprise, fer cryin' out loud.  The MLBi coverage was simple and classy, the way I like to see my baseball on TV.  Sportsnet seem to have modeled their own Jays coverage this way, and I'm very happy about that.

Who needs the home run cam and Scooter the talking baseball?