Futon Report: A World Series Without a Powerhouse

The last five World Series have featured classic "David vs. Goliath" matchups:

• 2000: The defending champion Yankees vs. the "other" New York guys, the Mets
• 2001: Those Yankees again vs. the nascent Arizona Diamondbacks
• 2002: Bonds & the dangerous Giants vs. the "Rally Money" Angels
• 2003: The Yankees + Giambi + Contreras + Matsui, vs. the young-team-old-manager Florida Marlins
• 2004: The 105-win St. Louis Cardinals vs. the any-minute-they'll-choke-again Red Sox

Even 1999's World Series featured two "powerhouses," when the Braves and Yankees was touted as the final showdown of the two best teams from the '90s.

But this year, whose the favorite?

Hmm. Well, let's see. The White Sox won 99 games, but ... no ... the Astros have great pitching — er... the Sox are fundamentally sound ... then again the Astros ....

You could go back and forth forever, until the series is over. Neither of these two teams have a distinct advantage. But it's beyond being close. If the Astros played the Yankees or Red Sox, then the Astros would be the team heralded as the underdog. Moreover, if the White Sox played the Cardinals or Braves, then the White Sox are the team looking to dethrone a team with tons of recent success.

Both of these team have had long droughts of disappointment. While the White Sox haven't won the World Series since 1917, they haven't even been around this late in the game since '59 when they were "upset" by the L.A. Dodgers in six games.

The Astros never even saw the World Series up close. An expansion team in 1962, the Astros have made the playoffs eight times — five of those coming in the last nine years — and didn't win a postseason series until last year.

To put it simply, there is no powerhouse team this year.

Quick, name one player on the White Sox. (And Frank Thomas is injured.)

As for the Astros, guess who led their team this year in homers, RBI and OPS: Nope, not Jeff Bagwell or Craig Biggio. It's Morgan Ensberg.

Bagwell and Biggio no longer play the vital roles they used to. Bagwell has been hurt all year, and although Biggio is still a contributor, his on-base percentage was the lowest mark (.325) since his first full season in 1989.

Article Author: Matthew T. Sussman

Sussman is the founder and former editor of Blogcritics Sports. Twitter: @suss2hyphens

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