Mark's Blog

As everyone who would care knows by now, the Marlins won the World Series, defeating the New York Yankees 4 games to 2. I incorrectly predicted Yankees over Marlins in 6 games. It's pretty clear that the Yankees are a better team, especially given the 10-game difference in regular season records, but they ran into some strong pitching from the likes of Josh Beckett and Brad Penny, and their rotation was out of synch after going the distance with the Red Sox in the ALCS. For all the talk of the Yankees payroll, they had too many unproductive hitters, and shaky-at-best fielding. For the offseason, they need to resign Andy Pettite, get a solid free-agent starter to replace the supposedly-retiring Roger Clemens, and a right fielder (Vladimir Guerrero?!), at the minimum. Slumps from Giambi and Soriano, in particular, and a few injuries didn't help their chances either in the series. I liked Torre's move of batting Soriano lower down in the order (maybe not 9th), since his on-base average and free-swinging ways are not suited for a regular leadoff spot. The spot is surely meant for Jeter, with his usual .380-.400 OBA and decent speed.

As for the Marlins, they now hold the strange distinction of never having won a division title, but never having lost a postseason series (6-0). I haven't followed them much, and I don't think they'll be a favorite to repeat next year, but they had a great run in the playoffs. It remains to be seen whether the team will be gutted again, or whether they will try to build on this season and make a serious effort to win again.