It's getting late — too early — for snakes

There are realities you can't avoid in baseball. Two of them coincided in this Rangers-D-Backs World Series. On the one hand, the Rangers brought the power and contact offense that knocked down all types of pitches especially away from home. They shockingly beat the Rays, then swept the Orioles, and came back against the Astros. They won all eight of their road games leading up to the World Series, a streak never seen before in postseason history.

We will return to it.

On the other hand, then there were the Serpents. Going through the Milwaukee Brewers showing reaction and finishing power was a good prelude to facing an October without bets in their favor. Silencing Dodger Stadium was another sign of, “Wait, these guys have something special” — if not, ask that question to veteran Clayton Kershaw, who ended up stunned and demoralized in front of his home crowd.

When you look at these 2023 Dodgers, you see one of the mega-favorite teams of this postseason — although, in the end, “we found out what their starting rotation was made of,” that Dave Roberts tends to take the helm out of his hands in October, and even with one of the elite lineups in the game you can end up slumping in three games and wind up traveling back home. It has happened many times to the Dodgers. It could happen again.

The D-Backs didn't give up and, in fact, it happened again. When you can beat the Dodgers*, like the Snakes did, you at least start to earn a handful of credibility ballots. But it's October. True, it's not easy to get that far, especially when you have to face the Philadelphia Phillies. You lose two road games, but it's these talented D-Backs, who have always come back. And the miracle happened again!