In 1918, World War I shortened the baseball season to the point where the final World Series game was played on September 11. On that day, the Boston Red Sox defeated the Chicago Cubs to win the world championship at Fenway Park, with a guy named Babe Ruth on the roster. They would not win another Series for 86 years.
Nearly a century later, months removed from the bombing at the Boston Marathon, the Red Sox have won their third Series in a decade. This time they did it at Fenway, defeating the St. Louis Cardinals 6-1 in Game 6. John Lackey pitched nearly seven innings, and Koji Uehara closed out the game.
This World Series was notable for the weird finishes: An obstruction call in the bottom of the ninth gave the Cardinals a Game 3 victory. A pickoff play at first base the following night in the ninth ended the game in Boston's favor.
The Red Sox won 97 games during the regular season, winning the American League East division. Most of the players, including David Ortiz, Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia, starred wearing beards that reached "Duck Dynasty" proportions, "borrowing" the idea from hockey.
This was a good World Series, with plenty of close games and fine performances between two of the most storied franchises baseball had to offer. It may not take another century for the Red Sox to win another title at Fenway Park, but future fans might be wondering about the fascination over the song "Sweet Caroline".
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We should mention the fact that Tim McCarver has analyzed his last baseball game for Fox Sports. He holds the distinction of having called games for local teams and four broadcast networks for a quarter century, and had no problem saying what he thought about the action down there. Now who will be sitting next to Joe Buck next season? Will he have as much impact on the sport as McCarver did?
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