Waking the Ghosts of 1916

The Boston Red Sox and the team that is now the Los Angeles Dodgers are both members of the original 16 teams of Major League Baseball, but have only faced each other once in a World Series before this year. That was 1916, when Babe Ruth was Red Sox pitcher and the Dodgers were called the Robins (after their manager, Wilbert Robinson, although they were interchangeably called the Dodgers).

The Red Sox won that World Series four game to one. The host of the Fox baseball studio team, whose name I don't know, did mention that the two teams had played in '16, but erroneously said that Babe Ruth had pitched a fourteen-inning shutout. He did win a game and throw 13 consecutive scoreless innings (he would add to his record in '18) but did allow a run in the first inning on an inside-the-park home run. He drove in a run, as well.

I'm going to predict that the outcome will be the same in the 2018 World Series. Maybe the Dodgers will win two or even three games, but I think the Red Sox have too much firepower. After what they did to the Astros, who have an even better pitching staff than the Dodgers, I think they can get hits off of Ryu, Buehler, and Hill. Clayton Kershaw has an inconsistent post-season history and has been knocked out of games early.

The Red Sox starting staff is certainly suspect. David Price silenced some doubters with a terrific game five against Houston, and Nate Eovaldi had a great game against the Yankees. But no one in that starting staff is lights out. It's the middle relief that has helped them win, as closer Craig Kimbrel, stilled relied on, has a horror show E.R.A. for the post-season. That ninth inning against the Yankees in game four was nerve-wracking for Red Sox and Yankee haters.

I've been watching as much baseball as possible--two weeks I spent my Monday off watching three straight games. The lasting legacy of this post-season may be game-saving outfield catches. Andrew Benendati's shoestring catch to end game four against the Astros was brilliant, as was Mookie Betts snare of a fly ball that was about to go over the wall in game five. Meanwhile, Chris Taylor of the Dodgers saved the game with an over-the-head catch against the Brewers in game seven.

One thing that's definitely different in 102 years in the use of pitches. You can look at Craig Counsell's handling of his staff in game seven of the NLDS and scratch your head. He took out his best starter, Jhoulys Chacin, after two innings and brought in his best reliever, John Hader, in the third inning. A record number of pitchers were used in that series. The Red Sox, in 1916, used a total of five pitchers in a five game series. The Robins/Dodgers used a gaudy seven.

It should also be noted that the players in that era wouldn't recognize the game today. That was the dead ball era, when home runs were rare. Today that strategy is dead. Nobody bunts. Nobody hits and runs. There's hardly any steals. The defense shifts against pull hitters, but the hitters don't adjust. Wee Willie Keeler, who said "Hit 'em where they ain't," would be appalled. Everybody swings for the fences. In a time game, the leadoff hitter gets a single but the next batter tries to hit it to the moon rather than try to move the runner over.

Eventually some manager is going to try that again and succeed, and maybe it will all change again. Not for this series, though. Red Sox in five.