2008 Woodie Awards
Let the real games begin
Andrew Mashas
Issue date: 11/1/07 Section: sports
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All it took was one pitch for Boston to almost complete the full role-reversal with their arch rivals, the New York Yankees. Winning two World Series in four seasons must be very surreal for some of the oldest Red Sox fans. I'm talking about the ones who actually remember 1986, 1975, 1967, or possibly even 1945. But what we're seeing now is possibly the next dominating team in Major League Baseball. With two rings on his hand, Theo Epstein has the potential to really build a team for the future with the group of young guys that have the potential to be superstars in the league. They have such a big group of young talent with Pedroia, Dice-K, Okijima, Beckett, Lester, Youlikis, Ellsby, and Papelbon. None of them are over the age of 28 and still have their best years ahead of them. Just when you thought Boston was getting too old, they turn the page and usher in more amazing talent. Sure it might take a season or two to really get things together but once they do they could go on a run that we haven't seen since the Yankees in the late 90s. Besides, they still have the dynamic duo or Ramirez and Ortiz. But this kind of dominance is unchartered territory for Boston. Old Boston fans are used to their dominating team wearing green jerseys and bouncing an orange ball around. It's always been the Yankees to clean up every single year; that's the way it's been for generations. But now we see Boston taking the helm and the Yankees struggling to rebuild a shattered team. The last thing Boston wants is to become the next evil empire.
However, now that we've gone through another somewhat anti-climactic World Series (3rd sweep in 4 years) the real craziness will commence. Two days after the World Series, 100 players filed for free agency, which along with trades, could make for another crazy off-season. There's still the winter meetings, the charity events by each team, the countless weeks of negotiating, and then spring training. Oh yes, and who doesn't love the thousands of rumors that are going to flood Sportscenter for the next couple of months. We've already seen some crazy managerial changes and the A-Rod Olympics are about to start. On that note, the apology from baseball-killer Scott Boras was the fakest thing I've ever seen. He knew exactly what he was doing because he feels, as does A-Rod, that he's more important than the game. We've already seen Edgar Rentaria traded to Detriot right out of the gate. Just because the season is over doesn't mean the insanity is.
However, now that we've gone through another somewhat anti-climactic World Series (3rd sweep in 4 years) the real craziness will commence. Two days after the World Series, 100 players filed for free agency, which along with trades, could make for another crazy off-season. There's still the winter meetings, the charity events by each team, the countless weeks of negotiating, and then spring training. Oh yes, and who doesn't love the thousands of rumors that are going to flood Sportscenter for the next couple of months. We've already seen some crazy managerial changes and the A-Rod Olympics are about to start. On that note, the apology from baseball-killer Scott Boras was the fakest thing I've ever seen. He knew exactly what he was doing because he feels, as does A-Rod, that he's more important than the game. We've already seen Edgar Rentaria traded to Detriot right out of the gate. Just because the season is over doesn't mean the insanity is.