A “Subway” Series” was never a possibility this year, much to the marketing chagrin of the now famous sandwich chain, but we had a brief shot at a “Freeway Series” until the Royals knocked that one out of the park too.
The American League chose the neat and non-competitive route in their 2014 AL Division Series pairings. The Baltimore Orioles quickly rolled over the Detroit Tigers, 3 games to zip, and then, last night, the Kansas City Royals finished feeding on their three game slices of the team now best thought of at the drop of a hat as “The Los Angeles Angels at Anaheim.”
Other victims beyond the teams from Motown and Greater LA So Cal included all the potentially classic World Series match ups that would have been still on the table had the Tigers growled louder and the Angels soared higher on their roads to The Show.
Gone are the possibilities of another classic meeting between Detroit and St. Louis in the World Series. The Cardinal previously had beaten the Tigers the Gashouse Gang and Dizzy Dean in 1934 and then behind Tony LaRussa and Albert Pujols in 2006, but Detroit had prevailed behind Mickey Lolich over Bob Gibson and St. Louis in the 1968 thriller.
Also now missing are the possibilities for the Angels of a return to St. Louis with former Cardinals Tony Pujols and David Freese in a match up with the redbirds and former Angels pitcher John Lackey. It’s hard to imagine the warm reception that would have been in store for Mr. Pujols in Busch Stadium III.
Neither the Tigers nor the Angels have any World Series history with the NL’s Washington Nationals (ne: Montreal Expos) since that franchise has no World Series history (period). But, of course, the loss of the Angels denies us of the potential for a potential “freeway traffic jam” pairing between the two clubs sharing the Greater Los Angeles area as their common home. It’s neat to note, nevertheless, that the NL entry in this city hs never been known as either the “Brooklyn Dodgers at Los Angeles” or the ” Los Angeles Dodgers not-at-Anaheim.”
One more – and it’s an important one. The Giants would have relished a chance for revenge against the Angels, who once beat them for the latter’s only World Series appearance and victory back in 2002.
Take heart! – With the two NLDS series between the Dodgers and Cardinals knotted at 1-1 and the Giants holding a 2-0 lead and a home field advantage over the Nationals, a handful of great classic match ups are still out there as possible.
The most banal of these, but still interesting, would be a pairing of the Dodgers and Royals. The clubs have never met in a World Series before, but they both wear white home uniforms and grey road gear with royal blue lettering. Only the script on the jerseys and the attitudes of the players on each team are different. The Kansas City boys display the fire of that classic Midwestern underdog club that won’t stop biting, even if their chances for winning should somewhere die. The Dodgers possess a little more of that laid back West Coast sense of fame, entitlement, and latte-requirement from someplace better than Starbucks.
We also have the Cardinals-Orioles still on the table of possibility. That would be interesting to some of us who used to be Browns fans. Remember – the Oriole used to be the St. Louis Browns until they moved to Baltimore in 1954 and were reborn as the Orioles. Cardinals-Orioles would be the second World Series meeting of these two franchise since the “St. Louis Street Car City Series of 1944” in which the Cardinals defeated the St. Louis Browns, 4 games to 2.
The Orioles versus the Dodgers is another live wire still possible as our connection. The Baltimore Orioles and the Robinson boys (Frank & Brooks) took the Los Angeles Dodgers of Walter Alston in a 1966 sweep.
Those are all that occur to us. Beyond the Cardinals, the Tigers never met any of the three other surviving NL playoff clubs in a World Series. If you can think of any we’ve forgotten or overlooked, please feel free to add them below in the column comment section. Our goal here is always the eventual completion of truth – and not self-aggrandizing perfection on the first rattle out of the box.
Have a great week, everybody.
The Pecan Park Eagle 
October 6, 2014 at 2:49 pm |
Bill,
You forgot the possibility of a 1985 World Series rematch between the intrastate rival Royals and Cardinals. Maybe an aging Don Denkinger could be coaxed out of retirement to work this Series. : )
October 6, 2014 at 5:56 pm |
Thanks, Rick – “a (movie video) picture is worth a thousand words” in the case of Denkinger.
October 6, 2014 at 7:19 pm
While it was a terrrible call, I’ve always found it amusing that the Cardinals blame Denkinger for losing that World Series; after all, the Royals might have rallied anyway in game 6 and, more importantly, there was a game 7 for which they failed to show up (if I remember correctly the Royals won that one 11-0).
The Cardinals blaming Denkinger for losing that Series is like the Cubs (and their fans) blaming Steve Bartman for losing the 2003 NLCS. The Cubs imploded in that game 6 and lost game 7 of that NLCS. Neither Denkinger nor Bartman had anything to do with the game 7 losses. Blame should be placed where it belongs, which is on the losers of the respective games 7.
October 6, 2014 at 2:56 pm |
I-70 Series / StL vs KC (without Denkinger but with replay to fix his HORRIBLE call at 1B.
October 6, 2014 at 3:15 pm |
Bill, the Royals Cardinals matchup would be called the “I 70 series” just like it was in 1985 and give the Cardinals chance to get revenge in a time of instant replay for the blown call by umpire Don Denkinger in game six of that series.
Orioles/Washington matchup would be called the Beltway series. And if you recall the heartburn caused each time one of those two cities has proposed to move a franchise onto the other’s turf (1901, 1914, 1953, 1961, 1973 (failed move of the San Diego Padres to Washington), 2004) , you will know the special meaning of that rivalry.
But I am rooting heavily for the Cardinals-Orioles matchup because this would be the 70th anniversary of the streetcar series, less than 14 years after the last living member of the 1944 Cardinals or Browns died (Browns outfielder Babe Martin, RIP 8/1/13). The son of the Browns GM is now chairman of the board of the Cardinals, and the grandson is president of the Cardinals.
By the way, if you want live odds of a particular matchup happening, go to http://www.fangraphs.com/coolstandings.aspx
The Royals, for example, are 60% chance of getting in the World Series at this point. All you have to do to figure the chance of a matchup is multiply the odds of the respective National League team. We, of the St. Louis Browns fan club, are updating the odds of a Browns Cardinals series twice daily here: http://thestlbrowns.blogspot.com/2014/09/updated-oddsmakers-rate-chances-of.html
October 6, 2014 at 3:55 pm |
The reference to Don Denkinger reminded me of the call by the late Fred Brocklander, who called Craig Reynolds out a first in the second inning of the 5th game of the NLCS in 1986–the second half of a double play. Reynolds was obviously safe, but was ruled out, thus negating the run that had scored for the Astros. Years later Mets first baseman, Keith Herhandez, admitted that he cheated off the bag and tricked the umpire into thinking the throw had beat the runner to first. The Mets went on to win the game in extra innings.
October 6, 2014 at 4:10 pm |
This is not a historic *World Series* matchup but it is a historic matchup, today between Washington and the San Francisco Giants. There may be a few nonagenarians left in the Washington DC area who still remember the Capital’s last taste of World Series fanfare: the 1933 Joe Cronin Senators who were defeated by Bill Terry’s New York Giants. Unfortunately, the Giants appear poised to burst DC’s bubble again.
October 6, 2014 at 4:29 pm |
You overlooked the possibility of a ‘beltway” series between Washington and Baltimore.
Bill Gilbert
October 6, 2014 at 4:37 pm |
In a way, every single playoff participant had a possible “tagline” World Series. If it had been Detroit versus Pittsburgh could have been the “Rust Belt Series”
October 7, 2014 at 12:02 pm |
One of my best friends, a die hard Cards fan, gets ill if you mention Denkinger. I once sent Denkinger an autograph request and gave one to this friend and it became a treasured possession. At Mike Shannon’s restaurant a block or so away from Busch III there’s a large photo showing Orta out and Denkinger has signed it: “Safe! Don Denkinger”. If you haven’t been to Shannon’s it’s a must do in St Louis. Too bad they took the roast beef hash off the late night memo.