The Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals are matching up in the World Series for the second time in a decade and after taking down the Detroit Tigers and the Los Angeles Dodgers in the League Championship Series, the two teams will now be playing for the title and this is the first time since back in 1999 that the teams with the best records will play against each other.
The two teams are fairly matched up in the postseason and one of the biggest questions for each side will come down to the pitching rotations, as both have a deep roster of talent to start games in the World Series. Both teams finished without dealing with a Game 7 matchup, so the two teams have had the chance to set up their rotations for the series, making game 1 a great matchup between Jon Lester for the Red Sox and Adam Wainwright for the Cardinals. The two teams advanced so they most likely have the best pitching stats heading into the World Series of all the postseason teams.
Here is a quick look at the Stats:
The Cardinals have seven wins from their pitchers in 11 games played while Boston has 10 and the team has a slightly better ERA with 2.34 against the Red Sox with 3.05. The Cardinals come in with less earned runs and way more strikeouts, while the Red Sox finished in fewer games and had more saves, with five to three. Not much is different there and with the two teams making it to the World Series, it likely will be more about postseason matchups.
The first game will have Adam Wainwright taking on Jon Lester and Wainwright comes in after pitching seven innings in his last start with two earned runs and that came after a complete game against the Pirates that saw him allow one run. He is playing great in the playoffs and the Cardinals are setting him up to pitch multiple times in the series. Lester comes in after a solid but not great performance against Detroit, as he allowed two runs in five innings, but the team won that game and he also had that 1-0 loss to the Tigers earlier in the series.
In Game 2 it will have Michael Wacha against John Lackey and that could be a great matchup, as Wacha has been unreal, going two starts without allowing an earned run and he has over 10 strikeouts during that time as well. His last game he went seven innings and now he will go up against Lackey, who was able to match up well against the Tigers best and he allowed no runs in six innings with eight strikeouts as the Sox won that game 1-0.
Game 3 has Clay Buchholz and his 12-1 regular season record against the young star Joe Kelly and that could be an interesting matchup, as will be Jake Peavy against Lance Lynn. Both teams have deep rotations and heading into the series it looks like the RED SOX have the advantage...but who really knows? The two teams are stacked and it should be very entertaining and could go seven.
