By Woodrow Carroll
We like the long shot, the dark horse, the surprise winner that few gave a chance of coming through with victory. The team or individual few gave little chance of victory sticks in our memory. Beating long odds stays in our memory. Of late, however, the favorite seems to be having its way.
• With the Major League Baseball (MLB) season getting into high gear, we might be well served to glance back at the 2020 MLB season, and, how the favorites largely prevailed.
Instead of the usual 162-game campaign, the 2020 MLB season was comprised of just 60 games. We were glad to see the 60 games, given the scare presented by COVID-19. The scare was of having no season at all.
Sixteen teams were a part of last season’s numerically inflated MLB playoff format, including both the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs. As it turned out, the two best teams in the big leagues made it to the World Series. There the MLB-best Los Angeles Dodgers, 43-17 .717, beat the American League-best Tampa Bay Rays, 40-20 .667, in the World Series, four games to two..
The Cubs were one of the teams to falter at home in he playoffs.
The Cubs, who finished 34-26, dropped two straight games to the Miami Marlins, a 31-29 club to open the playoffs.
The White Sox dug their own playoff grave. Falling eight times in their final 10 games, the White Sox, 35-25, finished one game in back of the Minnesota Twins in the AL Central. As punishment for faltering at the wire, the White Sox had to open the playoffs at Oakland. After beating the Athletics in the first game of the series, the Sox lost two straight games to end postseason play.
• Take a look at college football results from last Fall, especially, what the big boys, the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams, did. At the finish, Alabama ended the lone undefeated team in the FBS fraternity. Take note of the championship final between Alabama and Ohio State won by the Crimson Tide, 52-24. Alabama became the lone undefeated team in the FBS ranks by then.
Alabama’s success was no surprise. The sight of Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson, and Notre Dame, in the Final Four confirmed what many expected, COVID-19 or not!
• The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ 31-9 victory in Super Bowl LV over the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, calls for us to think twice if we claim we were stunned by what took place. The presence of Tom Brady at quarterback for the Buccaneers changed the dynamic. By the time Brady joined Tampa Bay after a long, and super successful run, with the New England Patriots, those who discounted his potential to guide any team to victory, did so at great risk.
• The recent finish to the NCAA men’s college basketball tournament that put Baylor and Gonzaga in the championship game was hardly a shocker. For most of the season the two schools were ranked one-two. True, we had upsets during the tournament which was to be expected, yet, the final had the two schools ranked above all other teams.
• The victory of Hideki Matsuyama in the Masters golf tournament Sunday was clearly grounds for celebration in Japan. Still, Matsuyama has been viewed as a golfer with all the tools to win big tournaments. To his eternal credit, that is what he did Sunday in Augusta, Ga..
True shockers in the sports world are few and far between when you get right down to it.