Remembering 1985

Ah, 1985! We laughed at the antics of the Seaver family on Growing Pains, we grooved to the tunes of Wham!, the girls wore leg warmers, the boys rocked mullets. In baseball, the post-season was a crazy affair, remembered mostly for an umpire's blown call.

I bring up 1985 because all fours of the teams in the playoffs back then (there were only four, not the ten they have now) are in the playoffs this year, and if the best team in term of wins from each league goes on the World Series it will be rematch of the Cardinals and Royals. There are also other connections, such as this year and 1985 are the two years that are featured in Back to the Future, Part II, when we learned the Cubs win the World Series. The Cubs are in the playoffs this year. But they won't win by beating Miami (of course, in 1985 there was no franchise in Miami).

In '85 the League Championship Series, or whatever it was called, featured the Blue Jays and Royals in the American League. I don't remember much about it, but I do know that the Royals came from 3-1 down to win it. In the NL, the Cardinals beat the Dodgers, the most memorable play being a game-winning home run by Ozzie Smith off of Tom Niedenfuhr. More memorably, a graphic was put up showing that Smith had zero home runs left-handed, and then the switch-hitter promptly did just that.

In the World Series, the Royals were down 2-0 and clawed their way back, but a blown call by umpire Don Denkinger changed the outcome of Game Six, which the Cards should have won. Given new life, the Royals came back in Game Seven and knocked Cards' ace John Tudor out of the box early, winning 11-0. It is KC's only title.

This year, all four of those teams are back. It is very possible that the Royals and Cards will have a rematch, but the great thing about the playoff system in baseball now is that seeding means absolutely nothing. Both teams in last year's WS were wild-card teams. Records truly go out the window. Ten teams is almost one-third of the teams involved, still paltry compared to basketball and hockey.

So who do I like this year? First we have the one-game playoff, this year featuring the Astros/Yankees and the Cubs/Pirates. The Astros are probably really kicking themselves over losing yesterday's game to the Diamondbacks, a team having nothing to play for. The Astros thus lose home-field. This is key because their ace, Dallas Keuchel, is far better at home than on the road. He has shut out the Yankees over sixteen innings this year. But I still like the Yankees to muscle out a win.

The Pirates-Cubs match-up figures to be a great pitcher's duel, with Gerrit Cole for the Bucs and Jake Arrieta for the Cubs. Arrieta is the likely Cy Young winner, and whoever loses it will be a tough pill to swallow, as both teams have more wins the Mets and Dodgers, who were division winners. I'm going to stick with the hot hand, Arrieta, and predict a Cubs victory on the road.

From there I'll take the Royals over the Yankees and the Blue Jays over the Rangers, each in a short series. In the National League, I like the Mets over the Dodgers and the Cardinals over the Cubs, both in long series. Then I'll go with the Cards, but a Royals-Blue Jays series is tough to call. I'll go with the Blue Jays. Then the Cardinals will win it all.

I will probably be spectacularly wrong. If the Cubs win it all, remember it was predicted in Back to the Future, Part II, almost thirty years ago.