Bold predictions: Cubs-Red Sox meet in World Series – USA TODAY
USA TODAY Sports’ Ted Berg gives some wild predictions for the 2016 baseball season. USA TODAY Sports
As the 2016 Major League Baseball season begins, USA TODAY Sports’ baseball staff lays out its bold predictions for the six months ahead:
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Come on, it’s not enough to see the Chicago Cubs win the World Series.
We want more than just seeing them celebrate their first World Series title since 1908.
We’re looking for real history.
Someone who was actually alive and remembers the World Series in 1918.
The one that started three weeks early with World War I raging in Europe, causing the regular season to prematurely end, with the World Series starting Sept 5.
It was the Cubs and Boston Red Sox, with the first three games played at Comiskey Park because of its seating capacity and the last three at Fenway Park.
The Cubs limited the great Babe Ruth to a lone hit in his five at-bats, but Ruth beat them with his arm, going 2-0 with a 1.06 ERA, with the Red Sox winning the World Series in six games. The Cubs offense was so feeble that ace Hippo Vaughn pitched three complete games, yielded a 1.00 ERA and lost twice.
Vaughn never again pitched in the postseason. And, he never again saw the Cubs win a World Series, dying in 1966.
It also was the Red Sox’s last World Series title in 86 years, and the only time these teams would meet in the postseason.
And you wondered where the curse and jinx all started for these two historic franchises?
Wouldn’t it be fitting if these two teams meet again, for the first time ever in October, only this time, with the Cubs coming out on top?
Sure, we have a regular season to play, but let’s start planning now. The two most historic ballparks in baseball. The ivy-covered walls. The Green Monster. Two of the greatest, most rabid fan bases in sports.
We’re not going to get ourselves overly concerned with Cubs closer Hector Rondon looking like a batting practice piñata for most of the spring or the nasty blister that knocked out Cy Young Award winner Jake Arrieta in the final week of the Cactus League.
We’re not going to panic over Red Sox third baseman Pablo Sandoval’s waistline, his back or even his batting average.
The Cubs have too much firepower in their lineup to panic about a shaky bullpen.
The Red Sox have ace David Price to carry the rest of the Red Sox’s vulnerable rotation on his back.
The stars are aligned for these teams to meet again.
We can watch Cubs President Theo Epstein scale the Green Monster in euphoria, becoming the first front office executive to win a World Series ring with both franchises.
Go ahead, book your flights and reserve your rooms. As for tickets, well, unless you’re willing to get a second mortgage, it’ll be a whole lot cheaper watching it from Murphy’s Bleachers in Chicago or Cask ’n Flagon in Boston.
Save us a bar stool.
