Early World Series Notes and Thoughts

Two League Championship Series played, and it produced an all wild card World Series between the Kansas City Royals and San Francisco Giants.

Some early thoughts and notes:

This will be the first ever Kansas City vs San Francisco post season meeting in any of the 4 major sports leagues. It is not a ratings dream: at this point, football is far more popular than baseball.

In that football regard: San Francisco QB Joe Montana led the 49ers to 4 Super Bowl wins, and later playing for Kansas City near the end of his great career, he led the Chiefs to the AFC Title tilt.

The Royals will have the home field advantage and the team with that advantage has won 23 of the last 28 World Series contested, starting in 1985, the first season in which the LCS was a best of seven series.

No team that won its LCS “at the plate” as the Giants did last night on Travis Ishikawa’s 3 run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning, has beaten a team that did not win its LCS at the plate in the subsequent World Series.

Only the great 1976 Cincinnati Reds, who won game 3 “at the plate” won its subsequent World Series, sweeping the New York Yankees.

However the Yankees had won the pennant on Chris Chambliss’ home run leading off the bottom of the ninth inning of game 5 vs the Royals.

Altogether all 7 teams that won the LCS “at the plate” and faced a team that did not, lost in the subsequent World Series.