"Ding-Dong the witch is dead." Which old witch you ask? How about the one that kept the Houston Astros from a World Series berth for 43 consecutive seasons, since its birth in 1962 as the Houston Colt 45s. Roy Oswalt stared down the "ghosts of playoff failures-past" and pitched the Astros to the franchise's first World Series appearance in 44 seasons. Ironically, they will open the World Series this Saturday in Chicago against the White Sox, who are making their first Series appearance since 1959. The 46-year span between World Series appearances by the White Sox is the longest drought between appearances of any team in the history of MLB. Of course everyone knows the White Sox haven't won a title since 1917.
Individually, it's vindication for Houston's longtime All Stars, Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell, who both make their first-ever World Series appearance. In Biggio's case, he's waited longer than any player in MLB history to play in his first Worlds Series, having played in 2,564 regular season games. On the other end of that spectrum, Biggio's teammate Roger Clemens will be making a World Series appearance in his THIRD different decade! As for the losing Cardinals, it marks the second straight year in which they have won more regular season games than any team in baseball, yet failed to claim the title. St Louis manager Tony La Russa has 2,214 career wins, ranking him third all-time among managers in wins but La Russa's won just ONE title. While La Russa is considered one of baseball's best managers by almost everyone, it's hard to ignore the fact that his teams have done very poorly in the postseason. While he ranks 3rd on the all-time wins list, 19 managers in MLB history have won two or more World Series titles (Joe McCarthy and Casey Stengel lead the way with seven!), while La Russa's only championship came in the "Earthquake World Series" of 1989 with the A's.
The ACC takes center stage in CFB for the third straight Thursday night on ESPN (7:45 ET), as No. 3 Virginia Tech visits College Park to play the Maryland Terrapins. Tech has won seven straight road games (6-1 ATS) entering tonight's contest plus has quite a Thursday night streak going as well. The Hokies have gone 9-0 SU and 8-1 ATS (all as favorites) on Thursday nights since 1998! Tech was a 10-point choice early this morning with a posted of 48. Don't forget the Sun Belt Conference, as Florida International is at Troy State, where the Trojans (not THOSE Trojans!) are 9 1/2-point favorites with a total of 45.
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