First of all, kudos to the now two-time American League West Champion Oakland A’s, who for the second-year-in-a-row, battled the favored Texas Rangers from the season’s outset and, instead of waiting until the very end of the season to nail down the division title, they roared down the stretch run and claimed the crown going away.
I would think that after the past three seasons, the Rangers are going to avoid the Bay Area as much as they can, and who would blame them considering the San Francisco Giants rolled past them to become the 2010 World Series champions, and then the A’s left them in their dust to capture the American League West in 2011 and this year.
Speaking of the Bay Area, it’s again a major player in both the American League playoffs and World Series thanks to Oakland.
Hopefully the A’s will take over for the dethroned champion of two of the past three World Series, the Giants, and keep Major League Baseball’s biggest prize in the Bay Area.
One more comment on the Oakland A’s – the American League manager of the year is Bob Melvin, period, make it a wrap.
There are other names brought up ahead of Melvin for the AL honor, and they’ve led their teams into the playoffs, but Melvin has proved himself in one of the toughest challenges in professional sports – being a repeat champion.
Oakland is the two-time West champion, and whatever happens in the voting for MVP manager, what Melvin – a Bay Area native and one-time Giants catcher – wants is the World Series trophy where it belongs in its honored Northern California home, this one in the East Bay.
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While speaking about the Bay Area, there’s no arguments in this corner with defending champion Oracle Team USA’s unprecedented sailing comeback on that beautiful San Francisco Bay.
Erasing New Zealand’s insurmountable-looking lead to win and retain possession of the America’s Cup, Oracle’s breathtaking rally from the brink of defeat to a rousing victory is an achievement that ranks as one of the greatest comeback sports stories of all time.
While newspapers have listed other inspirational sports comebacks, including the Boston Red Sox overcoming a 3-0 deficit to beat the New York Yankees for the American League pennant, before going on to win the World Series for the first time in forever.
There have also been epic comeback moments listed in football, basketball, ice hockey and golf.
But I’m wondering why hasn’t anybody mentioned the San Francisco Giants’ amazing six rallies from the elimination brink to capture last year’s National League pennant, which was followed by four straight wins over the Detroit Tigers to claim their second World Series title in three years.
Those half a dozen San Francisco comebacks over both the Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals in the National League playoffs was two shy of Oracle’s eight, but the Giants were every bit as dramatic in how they won the World Series as Oracle was in winning the America’s Cup when you put it into perspective.