Detroit at Saint Louis, 8:05 PM (FOX)
World Series, Game 4 (STL 2-1)
Starting Pitchers:
Detroit: Jeremy Bonderman
St. Louis: Jeff Suppan
Now that the Cardinals have the lead, some are already complaining that St. Louis should have never been here in the first place, that somehow the championship is cheapened if an 83-win team should win it.
This line of thinking is missing the point. The best team in baseball and the World Series champion are not always going to be the same. A 162-game season is a much better indicator of team strength than an 11-19 game postseason. The playoffs are just a mechanism to give other teams and their fans a "second chance" and to keep interest in the sport through September and October, because literally anything can happen in a short series. If we really wanted to crown a true champion, we'd throw everyone into the same division, play a balanced schedule, and award the first place team the trophy on October 1st.