It would have been spectacular. It would have been the ultimate icing on the greatest of cakes. Both the Red Sox and Cubs were eliminated from the play-offs over the weekend. And while the flag will not fly at half-mast over the Green, something wonderful has died.
Officially, the baseball season does not end until the conclusion of the final game of the World Series. But true fans of the sport can shut off their televisions, put away their homer-hankies and forget about checking the box score every morning. In what might be baseball's finest summer, the ending will not be that dramatic. If the Red Sox faced the Cubs in the World Series, then millions of fans could die happily knowing that they saw truly the greatest single season in sports history. Neither team has won a World Series in over 80 years. Both teams play in storied, antiquated ballparks that are full of legend, mystery and near-misses.
Die-hard fans of both teams are known for their years of devotion, met always and only with heartbreak. The last time either team was a world champion, players were nicknamed "Smokey Joe" and wore handlebar mustaches. A match-up between these annual also-rans would have meant the end of at least one championship drought and would have brought joy to the starving fans. A clash between the boys from the Windy City and the Olde Towne Team would be the only adequate finish to a season that brought out the best in sports.
Baseball fans saw the end of the best record in sports history. I'm talking about Cal Ripken here, but the McGuire/Sosa thing wasn't too shabby either. Don't get me wrong -- there were some dark moments in baseball this summer. The defending world champions, the Florida Marlins, could now be outplayed by the Bad News Bears. Expansion caused bickering among baseball purists as they sat in the hot tub of Bank One Ballpark. Players held out for more money, giant pieces of Yankee Stadium fell from the sky, and television announcers were still blathering idiot ex-ballplayers. Harry Carey died.
Nonetheless, as the weather heated up, so did the excitement. Sosa and McGuire gave fans plenty to cheer about all year. Eric Davis and Bret Sabrehagen were enjoying fantastic seasons after returning from usually career-ending surgery. The Yankees were playing such good baseball they almost deserved all that money. Almost. Roger Clemens pitched well enough to win another Cy Young award.
Juan Gonzalez had 101 RBIs by the All-Star break. Like it or not, the wild card format actually added some tension towards the end of the regular season. With teams like the Braves and the Yankees pulling away from the pack early, most of the nail-biting excitement came watching home run chases and wild card races.
And the timing couldn't have been any better. Baseball needed to come up big this year, with sports fans turning away from hockey, feeling apathetic towards football and mourning the inevitable end of the NBA if Michael Jordan retires. The season was so spectacular; it cemented baseball in its long-forgotten role as America's pastime.
Without the Cubs or the Red Sox in the World Series, this season may have fallen short of perfect. But it was pretty damn close. So what if the Sox didn't face the Braves, and we didn't get to see who has the world's biggest sideburns, Kerry Ligtenberg or Mike Benjamin? So what if Sosa couldn't get a championship ring to always remind him of how much fun this year was. As they often say in Boston and Chicago around this time of season: wait 'til next year.
