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ST. LOUIS — Welcome to the hypocrites’ World Series or, better yet, the best worst thing that has ever happened to commissioner Bud Selig.
Here is the World Series that the masses tell us they want, one that accentuates parity, disproves the theory that only Northeast super power Yankees, Red Sox and Phillies need apply for parade permits.
Here is the World Series that Selig can wave around as a symbol that all of his administration’s work on revenue sharing is, um, paying off — what, with the final four having been waged between teams that were both Middle America and middle class when it comes to payroll.
Yet the noise associated with this time of year will not be the crack of the bat as much as the click of remotes. Major League Baseball is not embracing a
Fall Classic as much as they are bracing for a classic fall in TV ratings.
This underscores two realities: 1) All those folks who deplore the big markets with their high-paid stars dominating this time of year are insincere because they don’t follow up by watching the alternatives. 2) More than ever baseball is a sport of local passion. You care about your team, but the others are essentially props. You can watch the Green Bay Packers once a week, but not the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLCS.
St. Louis is awash in a red frenzy for the World Series, but the rest of the country (outside of Texas) would rather watch Chaz Bono dance than Albert Pujols hit.
The truth is you love what you hate. The Yankees, Red Sox and Phillies are like a crash on the side of the road — you can’t take your eyes off what you deplore. The ratings for this year’s League Championship Series were off dramatically from a season ago for a variety of reasons, including rain-interrupted games. But you can’t ignore that the 2010 LCS included both the Yankees and Phillies as big-city, big-star lures that provide Goliaths for those favoring the upset storylines.
The reality is that the lack of parity always has been something that sounds right, but is wrong. If the Rangers win this World Series, it would represent the 10th different champion in the last 11 years. If the Cardinals win, it would tie this bastion of the center of the country with the Red Sox for the most championships in the last 11 years — one more than the Yankees and Phillies.
Yet there is strong MLB fear that this Rangers-Cardinals series will sink below the historic-low 8.4 rating of the Rays-Phillies in 2008 and Rangers-Giants last year. That especially is true because the anticipation is for bad weather in St. Louis and a general tone of offense and pitching changes that tend to elongate games (see those played between the Yankees and Red Sox over the last decade).
Heck, when I sent out a query to 10 baseball officials on why America should care about this World Series, the first two responses verbatim were from an AL executive, “I can’t help you, I’ve got nothing,” and from an AL scout, “rally squirrel vs. deer antlers!”
And, well, if people within the game can’t find reasons to get excited about this World Series, how do you want to sell Topeka or The Bronx? I will say this: Pujols and Texas’ Josh Hamilton are stars, and Tony La Russa is as close to a celebrity manager as exists. The chess game about when to employ deep bullpens is fascinating if you like strategy, and La Russa is a master at such maneuvering. C.J. Wilson is attempting to prove he can thrive in big games before his free agency, and we just might be watching Pujols’ coda in St. Louis.
The Rangers are a deep, diverse team and the Cardinals are feisty with as close to an AL lineup as exists in the NL.
Is this enough to make America care? Probably not. What channel is Snooki on?
Wain’ manor: Adam says he will be good as ever
The last time the Cardinals made the World Series, Adam Wainwright also was not in the rotation, but as the Mets and Carlos Beltran remember, he was the team’s closer that October before he emerged as St. Louis’ ace.
This time St. Louis made it all this way without Wainwright, who needed Tommy John surgery in February. Wainwright says he “feels like I am part of this.”
But the key thing for the Cardinals is no team — not even the one that signs C.J. Wilson — is going to add a better starter next year than St. Louis is just by getting their ace back.
“Absolutely, no doubt about it,” Wainwright said, when asked if he expects to be as good as ever. He finished third and second in the last two NL Cy Young votes.
Wainwright is throwing fastballs and changeups from the mound “at 100 percent” and noticing better sink than ever on his fastball. He theorizes that is because his arm doesn’t hurt and he can get full extension.
Wainwright has club options for $9 million in 2012 and $12 million in 2013 that the Cardinals have yet to pick up, but the expectation is that they will.
➤ Arthur Rhodes is getting notice in this World Series because of the quirk that he will get a World Series share and ring no matter who wins, because he began the season with Texas and is now with St. Louis.
But he owns another distinction: He started a game longer ago than any other active starting pitcher, debuting with the Orioles on Aug. 21, 1991. The second-longest ago is knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, the third is LaTroy Hawkins and the fourth is Darren Oliver, who was in the Rangers’ bullpen with Rhodes earlier this year.
Four days after Oliver’s first major league start, another kid made his starting debut. You might have heard of him. Fella named Mariano Rivera. Next up on that longest-ago starting list is Jason Isringhausen, who started for the Mets on July 17, 1995.