MLB To Give Dodgers Mulligan on Game 6

By JP

In a stunning development, Major League Baseball, at the urging of TBS, has decided to give the Los Angeles Dodgers a mulligan on Game 6 and have it replayed Sunday afternoon. According to a source who wished to remain anonymous, "TBS felt that Clayton Kershaw wasn't feeling well during game 6 and therefore it wasn't a fair game."

Obviously the entire previous paragraph was bullshit. In watching most of the NLCS on TBS, I felt that the analysts and announcers really wanted the Dodgers to win. But that's not the fault of the Dodgers.

So, just for the hell of it, let me tell you about some observations that I made about the 2013 National League Championship Series. Follow me down the Yellow Brick Road and I will lead you to the Emerald City where we will meet the Wizard (NOT Ozzie Smith) and he will grant us three wishes. Sorry, I never really finished watching The Wizard of Oz, so that's how I assume it ended.



It's not a secret that the Cardinals beat the LA Dodgers 4-2 to advance to the World Series. But, did you know that Adam Wainwright did NOT record a victory in the series? If you told me the NLCS was over and that Adam Wainwright only got to pitch once and lost and told me nothing else, I would just assume the Cardinals lost. So, it's very cool that the Cardinals made the World Series when taking that fact into account.

This NLCS makes it the 8th time since 2000 that the Cardinals have been in the NLCS (2000, '02, '04, '05, '06, '11, '12, '13) and the 4th time they have been in the World Series ('04, '06, '11, '13) in the last ten seasons. They have only missed the playoffs 4 times in the last 14 seasons ('03, '07, '08, '10).  Oh and in the last 14 seasons, the Cardinals have only had ONE losing season (2007 and they were 78-84, so it wasn't a bad losing season, per se). Pretty impressive.

As every Cardinal fan should know, Michael Wacha won the NLCS MVP award, making him only the third Rookie to accomplish that fact. But, did you know that the two previous rookie winners, Livan Hernandez of the (then) Florida Marlins in 1997 and Mike Boddicker of the Baltimore Orioles in 1983. I would like to point out that both of those teams went on to win the World Series. Of course, it's a very small sample size, but it is something interesting to think about.

I would like to pause here for just a moment and give credit where credit is due: Hanley Ramirez played with a cracked rib from a Joe Kelly bad pitch and Andre Ethier played with a foot injury. Those guys are tough and deserve credit for putting their bodies on the line trying to help the team get to the World Series. I also happen to think that the Dodgers are in good shape for next season and it is conceivable that the Cardinals could play them in the post season again, if both teams make the playoffs of course, and maybe even with a World Series on the line again. Who knows?

Had LA played any other team in the NLCS, they may be in the World Series now. Are the Cardinals that good? Maybe, but the real reason is that the Cardinals just routinely beat Clayton Kershaw. The game 6 win against Kershaw was the fourth win against him this season. He just seams to struggle agains them. Those may have been two wins against the Pirates or Reds (LA already beat the Braves to get to the NLCS).

As for Yasiel Puig, get ready for "That's Yasi being Yasi" mantras. I feel like he is a very similar player to Manny Ramirez. An incredible talent at the plate, but a defensive liability. Puig has plenty of time to mature as a player and commit himself to better defense, but the play where Yadier Molina got a single and the ball bounced off of Puig's glove reminded me of some of the lackadaisical plays I watched Ramirez make in the 2004 World Series. I think, if Puig keeps up his antics, eventually it will wear thin for LA, just like Manny did for Boston. Now that I think of it, maybe Puig will wind up in Boston when that happens.

The Cardinals still have a long way to go to win the world series. Whether they play Boston or Detroit, these are two excellent teams with great pitching and great hitting. It's not going to be easy for the Cardinals, but they already showed they can beat tough pitching, so we will see.

GO CARDINALS!!!