Photo courtesy www.sportsinvasion.net

Lucas Englert

Staff Writer

    The thrill of October baseball is something special to watch as a baseball fan, and even the excitement can’t be denied by a casual fan. It marks the end of a long enduring season for the players, but it also begins a special journey for one team, their fan base, and city. This year, new excitement was drawn to the postseason with the addition of a one game wild card playoff. It didn’t disappoint, combining terrible umpires with two close games put the postseason off to a great start. The St. Louis Cardinals and Baltimore Orioles came out on top in the games.

    The next round, the Divisional Series was one of historical proportions as all four match-ups ended up going to a decisive Game 5. In the National League, the San Francisco Giants overcame a 0-2 deficit, beating the Cincinnati Reds the next three games on the road to win their series. Additionally, the St. Louis Cardinals carried over their October magic from last year, rallying from a six run deficit in Game 5 to advance to the NLCS. The American League saw two Cinderella stories come to an end. The Oakland A’s couldn’t continue their amazing 2nd half of the season, falling at home in the last game to the Detroit Tigers. The Baltimore Orioles were the biggest surprise in the postseason and were playing the least surprising in the New York Yankees. Although they took them to the brink of elimination, the Yankees prevailed and moved on to the next round.

    The Tigers built momentum that carried the team straight to the World Series as they pounced on the New York Yankees completing a four game sweep in the ALCS. They now will take on the San Francisco Giants who won three straight elimination games to beat the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games.  This has the potential of an epic World Series matchup as two of the games greatest pitchers will be involved on both sides. No matter what the result it can once again be said that baseball fans have had an October to remember.