Burden of History Weighs on Astros and White Sox in 102nd World Series
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
One hundred and three years is a long time to wait, but between the Chicago White Sox and Houston Astros, it’s just long enough to prepare for a league pennant and a shot at a world championship. The American League champions made their last appearance in the Fall Classic in 1959, but their most recent triumph predates even the infamous Black Sox scandal of 1919. Their counterparts from Texas, meanwhile, are making their first Series appearance after 44 years in the business – a major league record for futility.
Few observers expected these teams to slay the respective dragons of their leagues, but both came out on top behind a similar blend of lukewarm hitting and outstanding pitching and defense. Here’s Baseball Prospectus’s breakdown of every element of the 2005 World Series, complete with Value Over Replacement Player (VORP) ratings, which measure how much better, in runs, a player was over a freely available replacement at his position.
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