Baseball History In the Making?

The NLCS starts on Saturday and the ALCS begins tonight. The ALCS will feature the Indians v the Blue Jays, Canada's only baseball team, while the NLCS will showcase the Cubs v the Dodgers, a team which seems to be charmed in the World Series ever since they left Brooklyn almost sixty years ago.

As you well know, I am a long-time and long-suffering Mets fan, whose boys made it to the National League Wild Card game this year as the defending National League Champions, but fell short in their one game playoff. It's OK, because on August 11, I was beginning to think about football. Now that my Jets are 1 and 4, I actually may be forced to follow the Knicks and the Islanders this month.

Back to baseball. As a baseball fan, I would love to see a Cubs - Indians World Series, because no matter who wins, history will be made. The last time the Cubs won a Pennant was in 1945 and the World Series in 1908. The last time the Indians won a Pennant was in 1997 and the World Series in 1948.

The only other World Series wins for either team was in 1920 for the Indians and 1907 for the Cubs. That's a lot of history to overcome.

I am partial to a Cubs victory for three reasons: they have the longest period since their last World Series win, I have many friends in the Chicago area, and I used to go to Wrigley when I went to Chicago on business. I know, superficial. But that's how I feel.

But if Cleveland won, it would be OK by me, too. I don't have a vested interest in either team's fortunes, as I said, because my team plays in Citifield. But I am a baseball fan since before I began playing Little League in 1959. Although it is a slow-moving game compared to football, hockey or basketball, it has the number one sports position in my heart. I LOVE baseball.

The only complaint I have about the last few World Series is that the seventh game of the World Series is scheduled to end in November, as it was the last few years. This year, the Series could actually be baseball's version of the Ice Bowl, since both the Cubs and Indians play in open-air stadiums on the Great Lakes, and the games are at night. BRRRRR.

So bundle up, folks. It will be interesting and historic, as well as COLD, if these two proud franchises make it all the way to the Big Show.

October baseball - nothing like it at all.