October 6th, 2014 at 9:24 am 
by Harold Uhlman As a lifelong Dodger fan I don’t really care who wins the World Series if the Dodgers do not because baseball’s World Championship is won, not awarded.
To win it all a whole lot of things have to fall in place, some of which go beyond the actual game itself yet are the most important elements of all – intangibles things such as confidence, heart and believing. Beyond that a team must have good starting pitching, good relief pitching, timely hitting, and error-free defense. They must also do the little things to win, often unexpected things from the least likely player at the unlikeliest time. Of course staying healthy is also a key factor, as we learned last season when Cardinals pitcher Joe Kelly hit Hanley Ramirez, the Dodgers best hitter, in the ribs and took him out of the 2013 NLCS.
It is often the unexpected things that lead to World Championships.
(AP photo)
The Royals and Orioles have swept the Angles and Tigers, who were both heavily favored to win those respective series. The Angels with their big name players have a payroll that is $62 million higher than the Royals. The Tigers with their big name players have a payroll that is $56 million more than the Orioles. Big name players may do big player things over the long haul but not always in the short haul.
The Royals and Orioles won because they refused to be beaten, regardless of the odds against them and regardless of what the so called experts and Sabermetricians said. It looks as though the Giants are going to take out the Nationals for similar reasons. Of course it helps when the other team makes on-field mistakes or a managerial errors, but that is all part of the winning scenario. That is, one team makes the mistake and the other team capitalized on it.
In Game-1 of the Dodgers – Cardinals Division Series it appeared to me that the Dodgers thought they could waltz through it. Boy were they wrong. In Game-2 they showed some of those winning characteristics used by the Royals and Orioles by bailing out left-handed reliever J.P. Howell by getting a significant hit and then closing out the game. It is quite possible that Matt Kemp’s home run may have been the catalyst for the Dodgers getting it done.
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It looks to me that some teams were underestimated while others were overestimated. As I’m sure we all know when it comes to the postseason it matters very little how you get there, either via the division championship or the wild card.
Like Scioscia said, “having the best record doesn’t give you extra points” or words to that effect.
Although I missed the Detroit-Orioles series, I did watch the first and third games of the Angels-Royals series and was extremely impressed with the Royals intensity and confidence. Having watched the extremely exciting AL Wild Card game, I wasn’t the least bit surprised that the Royals swept the Angels.
I have long felt that once postseason play begins, all teams are equal and start out 0-0 and that any team can win it regardless of what the odds makers, experts, analysts and Sabermetrics say. It’s all about peaking at exactly the right time and doing the big three: pitch the ball, hit the ball, catch the ball. If a team falls short on any of these, they are toast.
GO DODGERS!
Unfortunately only one of the Royals and Orioles can go on. I love the way they played in the first round.
OBF- you are right. No matter how the team gets there, once there anything can happen.