Kris Shannon’s World of Sport Baseball’s compelling playoff storylines
From quirks to curses, there’s plenty to keep fans interested
The Major League Baseball postseason sparked to life this week with a pair of dramatic wildcard showdowns before the divisional round began yesterday. So what better time to present a belated playoff preview, covering five storylines to follow over the next few weeks. In a sport that sees superstitious athletes avoid talking to locked- in teammates and star- crossed clubs cursed by billy- goats ( more on that later), the most mystical of baseball trends might have already determined the fate of the title. You know, if you actually believed in any of that bunk.
The San Francisco Giants punched their post- season ticket only after Thursday’s wildcard win over the New York Mets, but the Californian club would have expected success all along. Because it’s 2016, an evennumbered year. And when it’s an even year, the Giants invariably win the World Series.
In 2010, they claimed the title, before missing the playoffs the following season. 2012 produced another championship while 2013 saw their season end prematurely. 2014? Yep, you guessed it, another ring. 2015? Ahuh, more regular- season disappointment.
It’s an incredible streak of excelling one year and sucking the next. And given the importance of psychology in sport, who knows, maybe the Giants players do get a spring in their step when they glance at the calendar. Of course, there are more grounded explanations for San Francisco’s success. Namely, the wonderfullynamed Madison Bumgarner.
Here, we can pontificate on the incredible post- season record of the Giants starting pitcher, who becomes more unhittable the higher the stakes. But all you really need to know is this: Madison Bumgarner once dated a woman named Madison Bumgarner. (“No relation, I’m sure of it.”)
Now with that essential information out of the way, let’s have a look at why Madison Bumgarner was foolish to let Madison Bumgarner get away.
In Thursday’s win over the Mets, the Giants ace pitched a complete game shutout, to the surprise of absolutely no one. It increased his scoreless streak in elimination games to 23 innings and ensured we had all better be prepared for a repeat performance of the 2014 World Series, when Bumgarner essentially won three games on his own. Tasked with stopping that sorcery — the power of even years, the potency of Bumgarner — is the Chicago Cubs. Yes, those Chicago Cubs. The same ones who haven’t won a championship in 108 years. Yikes.
A best- of- five divisional series against the Giants, beginning this afternoon ( NZT), represents the first hurdle the Cubs must clear as they attempt to erase a century of hurt.
They did triumph at the same stage last season, before losing in the championship round. Because of course they did. But this year, the Cubs are the best team in baseball, better than the Giants in every aspect.
Cubs fans, though, know better than to become prematurely excited. They haven’t even reached the World Series since 1945, when the owner of the Billy Goat Tavern was ordered to leave a game at Wrigley Field because the odour of his pet goat was upsetting some fans, vowing, “Them Cubs ain’t gonna win no more.”
The Curse of the Billy Goat was born and the Cubs were consigned to life as lovable losers. The Cubs aren’t the only team looking to snap a luckless streak in this season’s playoffs. The Cleveland Indians last won the World Series in 1948 but, after taking a 1- 0 lead in their divisional series against the Boston Red Sox, maybe it really is the year of Believeland.
After all, the entire city appeared hexed until June, when the Cavaliers improbably clinched the NBA title to earn Cleveland’s first championship in any sport for half a century.
And if the Cavs can do it, why not the Indians?
Or course, no amount of glory will ever extend to the putrid Browns, whose last successful campaign was in 1964 and who have already begun the new NFL season 0- 4.
Don’t get greedy, Cleveland. If there’s one thing we know about the state of Texas and the city of Toronto, it’s that they’re sworn enemies. At least on the baseball diamond, that is.
So it’s fortunate for us that the Rangers and Blue Jays are clashing in the divisional round, with an emphasis on the word clash. The teams’ feud began at the same stage last year, when an epic series was given an exclamation point by Toronto slugger Jose Bautista’s game- winning home run and subsequent bat flip — a celebratory act that contravened baseball’s stuffy unwritten rules.
Texas sought revenge this season and found it in spectacular fashion, when Rangers infielder Rougned Odor clocked Bautista with one of the best punches seen in any sport, the last time the teams met.
That was way back in May and, after a few months to stew, Bautista again homered in a 10- 1 Toronto romp to take first blood in the current showdown. Stay tuned for the Rangers’ riposte — and the rest of the playoffs.