Washington Overcomes Comparison To 2007 Colorado Underdog
Wild Card Rockies Could Not Muster A Single Win Against The Formidable Red Sox
Just like that, the comparisons to 2007 have stopped. It took no more than five innings, after which the underdog took an insurmountable lead and held on to win game one 5-4.
In the 2007 World Series Boston was heavily favored over the Colorado Rockies, odds which turned out to be pretty accurate. Twelve years later the Houston Astros had a similar line before game one against the Nationals, in spite of Washington's revered starting rotation.
A team that can place the likes of Max Scherzer and Stephen Strassburg on the mound in back to back to games would be unlikely to list as huge underdogs, especially in a best of seven series. In this current case, however, their opponents have an even better rotation, including Justin Verlander, Garritt Cole and Zach Greinke.
Neither of the rotations from the 2007 World Series could have matched those of the current teams, but Boston clearly had arms far superior to Colorado. Josh Beckett, Jon Lester and Daiseke Marsuzaka certainly gave Boston a formidable trio, who also had a potent offense supporting them.
Those bats went on display immediately after Beckett struck out the side in the top of the first, as Dustin Pedroia hit Jeff Francis's second pitch into the seats at Fenway Park. The Red Sox then got doubles from Kevin Youkilus and J.D. Drew around singles by Manny Ramirez and Jason Veritek, accounting for two more runs that gave them a three to nothing lead.
Boston went on to score ten more times in a 13-1 victory, which made the odds look justified. In spite of a first inning run when Matt Holliday drove in Willy Tavarez, Colorado was shut down by Curt Schilling the rest of game two, as the Red Sox eked out a 2-1 win.
Shifting the Series to higher altitude made little difference, as Boston on the strength of doubles from David Ortiz and Jacob Ellsbury scored six times in the third inning. Four runs and six innings later the Red Sox wrapped up a 10-5 victory in game three, reinforcing the acumen of the oddsmakers.
Ortiz drove in Pedroia to start what turned out to be the elimination game, which Boston took 4-3 behind starting pitcher Jon Lester. Colorado had come into the Fall Classic as clear underdogs and, unlike the 2019 Nationals, the Rockies could not defy the odds.
Washington, by winning game one, has already proven the oddsmakers wrong. The Wild Card team that won far fewer games than the Astros, pulled off an upset by taking the opener in Houston.
David Ortiz Was A Big Reason The 2007 Red Sox Were Such Heavy Favorites
