Game Seven
Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona.
George Will
Long time readers of The Marginal Prophet know I write my stories and distribute them by email to our Penserra customer base before I publish them on my website. For those keeping score at home, I wrote today’s piece in less than an hour and hit the SEND button at 7:33am. BE SURE TO READ THE LAST LINE OF THE STORY. (All I can say is tomorrow I’m going straight to 7-11 and buying a lottery ticket) Enjoy!
During spring training in March, when the so-called experts at the World Wide Leader championed that the Los Angeles Dodgers and all their Guggenheim Partners/Magic Johnson-money were going to take over the baseball world, if you had said the Giants would be playing in Game 7 of the World Series, I would have shouted “I BUY” from the top of the Golden Gate Bridge. In July, after the Giants had just lost 17 of their last 22 games at home, if I had suggested the Giants were going to play a winner-take-all game on October 29th in Kansas City, you would have asked me to provide a sample of the Dragon weed I’d been smoking. This is Game-frickin’ Seven, people. It doesn’t get any better than this. It’s icing on the cake.
Recent history says the odds are stacked against my beloved Giants. Here’s a summary of the last ten World Series that featured a Game 7:
2011: Down 3 games to 2, the St. Louis Cardinals win the last two games at home. The Cardinals become the second team to be one strike away from elimination and come back to win the series, which they did twice against the Texas Rangers. Best World Series I’ve ever seen.
2002: Down 3 games to 2, the Anaheim Angels win the last two games at home. The Giants, with a juiced-up Barry Bonds playing left field, led 5-0 in Game 6 with eight outs to go. Karma.
2001: Down 3 games to 2, the Arizona Diamondbacks win the last two games at home. Luis Gonzalez will never have to buy a drink in Arizona again.
1997: The Florida Marlins lose Game Six at home to Cleveland before winning Game Seven in extra innings.
1991: Down 3 games to 2, the Minnesota Twins win the last two games at home. Twins pitcher Jack Morris becomes an instant legend.
1987: Down 3 games to 2, the Minnesota Twins win the last two games at home. Twin fans quickly forget that the stock market crashed just days before.
1986: Down 3 games to 2, the New York Mets win the last two games at home. Bill Buckner becomes an instant legend, but for the wrong reason.
1985: Down 3 games to 2, the Kansas City Royals win the last two games at home. The World Series was held entirely in the state of Missouri, which explains why nobody watched it.
1982: Down 3 games to 2, the St. Louis Cardinals win the last two games at home. They beat the Milwaukee Brewers, who played in the American League back then. Weird, huh?
1979: Down 3 games to 1, The “We Are Family” Pittsburgh Pirates win the last three games, including Game 7 in Baltimore. This is the last World Series Game Seven won by the road team.
Until tonight. Giants win 3-2. I hope.