I'm with Fury.  Stupid A's.

...and days later:

Matchup of top teams makes Fall Classic special
Storied franchises sporting baseball's best records give World Series a throwback feel

By Anthony Castrovince | 10/20/2013 1:51 A.M. ET



In opposition of the warped significance of regular-season standings wrought by the Wild Card era, this 2013 World Series matchup is a reminder of what once was.

The St. Louis Cardinals won 97 games this season, surviving a division battle that included two other postseason teams. They were, according to the raw records resulting from the 162-game grind, the best team in the National League.

The Boston Red Sox won 97 games, surviving a division battle that included one other postseason team and two additional clubs with winning records. They were, according to the raw math of 162, the best team in the American League.

Now, fresh off their mutual Game 6 satisfaction, they'll meet in a Fall Classic that is as much about the best teams in baseball as it is about the hottest.

This sort of thing never seems to happen anymore.

In fact, in the Wild Card era, dating back to 1995, there have been only been two times in which the teams with each league's best record met in October -- 1995 (Braves and Indians) and '99 (Yankees and Braves). In that sense, what we're about to witness, beginning Wednesday night at Fenway Park (8:07 p.m. ET first pitch, 7:30 air time on FOX), is something of a throwback, and the fact that it involves two storied franchises with such extensive October history makes it all the better.

But because unbalanced schedules will always lend themselves to varying interpretations of "best," perhaps we ought to just view this World Series for what it really is: a celebration of two of the most expertly operated organizations in baseball.

People will call this a "rematch" of the 2004 World Series, but that's barely true. David Ortiz is the last remaining link to Boston's band of "Idiots," and Yadier Molina, then just a rookie backstop backup to now-manager Mike Matheny, is the last remaining link to that NL pennant winner.

Even if you want to tie these teams to their organization's most recent World Series incarnation, it's a tenuous link, at best. Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury and Jon Lester are the only guys around now who were on the roster when the Red Sox won it all in '07. And though the Cards won it all just two Octobers ago, they have 19 different guys on this 25-man roster than the one that launched that incredible comeback against the Rangers, with Molina, David Freese, Matt Holliday, Daniel Descalso, Jon Jay and Lance Lynn the only holdovers.

So, what does that tell you? It tells you these clubs reload like few others do.

They had to reload recently. The Cardinals entered the season with rampant questions in a rotation that lost Chris Carpenter to injury (and with Kyle Lohse departed in free agency, the Cards were especially hopeful for a healthy return for Carpenter after his 2012 woes) and had Jaime Garcia pitching with a bum shoulder. Yes, the Redbirds still had a lineup so deep it would have fit just fine in the AL, but a common consensus was that the Reds looked a little bit more polished and prone for October (anybody who tells you they saw the Pirates coming is lying).

And the Red Sox? Too many questions to count. They faced the daunting prospect of going from worst to first, and their method of doing so was to make relatively short-term investments in aging talent (re-upping with Big Papi and bringing in Shane Victorino, Mike Napoli, Ryan Dempster, Jonny Gomes and David Ross ), all while hoping for a bountiful bounceback from the likes of Lester, Clay Buchholz and John Lackey.

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Just wondering, and maybe some of you in-the-knows out there can answer this:

Just about everybody who has some degree of baseball acumen thinks that Buck and McCarver are the biggest jokes as baseball announcers.  The amount of fawning, hyperbole, and overstating the obvious approaches Joe Morgan territory.  So why does the network continue to hand over the annual job to these two major ass-clowns?

I figure if it was my job to staff the position, I'd listen to what the people are saying and speculate I might attract more viewers if they didn't have to suffer through their endless prattle.

There's a good reason MLB and Fox like McCarver and Buck with their fawning, hyperbole, and overstating the obvious approaches Joe Morgan territory

Real baseball fans will tune in no matter who announces, and non baseball fans need that because they don't understand the obvious. So they increase the viewers.

Just about everybody who has some degree of baseball acumen thinks that Buck and McCarver are the biggest jokes as baseball announcers

In the last inning of last night's game, they kept harping about how the Red Sox should not be holding the runner on with a two run lead and one out, "they should just give him second"  "that run doesn't count" blah blah blah.

The the Carmines picked him off to end the game and they didn't say a word.  I would have at least said "guess they knew something we didn't know"

I watched Game 6 last night, or most of it anyway.  It occurred to me that Boston has won the World Series three times in the last decade.  That's the kind of scenario that I'd hoped to see from the White Sox after 2005.  In the fall of '05, I thought we had a dynasty in the making.

But the Red Sox actually did it.  If anyone but the White Sox had to win in 2013, I'm glad it was Boston, because of the tragedy surrounding the Boston Marathon earlier this year.

Think about this: the Red Sox were in last place in 2012.  They turned it around to win it all in a year.  Not saying the decimated White Sox can do the same, but it's not out of the question.  I'd be happy with a third-place finish next year and the playoffs in '15.

Go Bucs.

I have always liked the A's uni's, ever since Charlie O.

I always liked DeAza as a hitter. Wished he had been better in the field.

The problem with keeping De Aza is his salary.  His 2014 salary is $4.25 million and if the Orioles don't non-tender him, expect that to increase by $1 million or more in 2015 as he is arbitration eligible.  That's way too much for a platoon outfielder.  De Aza for $2 million would be great.  De Aza for $5+ million, no thank you.