Oh, the first snowfall of the year. How magnificent. Except, starting now and continuing over the next five months, many of us will go into Canadian hibernation mode – you know, the slow to get up in the morning, quick to bed at night and while up for that short period during the day, most of us will cover up with as many layers of natural or synthetic warmth as we can grow or manage to pile on.
And with winter comes winter sports. Hockey, hockey, and more hockey.
But! Wait! Not here, not today.
Today, in this cozy little corner of the paper we're talking baseball – that's right, the boys of summer are still at it.
Though Major League Baseball (MLB) players are known as the boys of summer, everyone in the MLB knows that October is when baseball really matters.
And as October came to a close, baseball fans around the world were treated to one of the best World Series ever.
Let's just start with the fact the Series went seven games. That's easy, a seven-gamer is always a beauty.
This year's World Series between last season's runner-up the Texas Rangers and this season's comeback kids the St. Louis Cardinals was one for the ages.
And game six – can I call it Best Game Ever? It could have been a series all on its own.
Games one through five were no slouch either, going as such: St. Louis over Texas 3-2, Texas over St. Louis 2-1, St. Louis over Texas 16-7, Texas over St. Louis 4-0, Texas over St. Louis 4-2.
With Texas up three games to two in the Series, the Rangers had a chance to win it all for the first time in team history on Oct. 27 in St. Louis.
Game six started with action, as Texas took the first-inning lead and the Cardinals responded with a home run in their half of the first.
The game eventually sat at 4-4 heading into the seventh inning.
Texas took hold of the game in the seventh, hitting back-to-back home runs and getting another run off a double for a 7-4 lead.
But St. Louis was far from done, scoring one in the eighth to cut the lead to 7-5 heading into the ninth.
Here's where it gets wild.
Earlier in the game, Cardinals third baseman David Freese – who, notably, was raised in St. Louis and a Cardinals fan – made a costly error in the fifth inning, leading to a Rangers run.
All of a sudden it was all up to him in the ninth inning.
Freese came up with two men on, two out, and eventually found himself with two strikes, facing Rangers closer Neftali Feliz.
Freese immediately made up for his error and then some, blasting a triple to the wall, scoring both runs and sending the game to extra innings.
Despite having the Cardinals on the ropes like that and then allowing them back in it, the Rangers pushed forward, scoring two off a Josh Hamilton home run in the tenth.
Now it was up to Cardinals first baseman Lance Berkman. Again with two out and two on, Berkman whacked a single that scored both runners to tie it up and send it to the 11th inning.
Texas could not score in the top of the inning, setting the stage for Freese.
In the bottom of the 11th Freese approached the dish about to become a hometown hero.
He waited for his pitch and smashed a leadoff home run to win the game and send the series to a seventh and deciding contest.
This was the first time a team had ever comeback in both the ninth and 10th innings to win a World Series game.
Commentators have called this “the greatest game in the history of baseball.”
For what it's worth, I concur.
The Cardinals went on to win game seven 6-2 for the 11th World Series title in franchise history.
And to make it all worthwhile, Freese was named World Series MVP in front of his hometown crowd.
In keeping with the plan to continually impress the world with our baseball talents up here in the great white north, Team Canada won gold in baseball at the Pan-Am Games last month. This is the first baseball title for Team Canada.
And not only did Canada knock off the rival Americans in the final to win it all, but they beat an American squad that was riding high after pulling off what some dubbed the “Miracle on Grass” in the semifinal.
Canada came out of the semis after defeating Mexico 5-3, but it was the game between the American and the Cubans that got all the attention initially.
Prior to this tournament Cuba had won 12 straight titles and the Americans were looking to put a stop to that.
They did, with a 12-10 win over Cuba in the semifinal, sending Cuba to the bronze medal game and the Americans to the final against Team Canada.
In the gold medal match, pitching dominated, particularly Canada's.
North Battleford's Andrew Albers pitched six and two thirds innings, allowing just one earned run, while North Vancouver's Scott Richmond came in to pitch a perfect two and a third innings for the save.
Team Canada manager, longtime Baseball Canada supporter and inaugural Toronto Blue Jay back in 1977, Ernie Whitt said, following the final, that this was one of the biggest wins in Canadian baseball history.
Fans of local baseball, take notice. There is a budding ball player in town and about to be recognized provincially.
Bonnyville's Devin Sabatier will be named Baseball Alberta's most valuable player this month.
Look for a full story on Sabatier and his MVP season in an upcoming issue of the Nouvelle.
