The World Series is the championship of baseball, America’s pastime. In some countries, like Venezuela, it is the most popular sport in the nation. It may not be the most popular in the United States, but it is the official pastime.
They play 162 games during the regular season to determine where a team stands as the playoffs begin. Then it’s seven games to determine the champion. And there is only one goal in baseball: to win the World Series.
The World Series is comparable to football’s Super Bowl, to basketball’s NBA Finals.
What is so great about baseball? Many people call it an extremely boring sport. That is simply because they do not understand the game.
It has been called a chess match at 90 miles per hour. Chess is a completely strategic game. Imagine doing that with a ball coming at you at 90 miles per hour.
Baseball is the only game in which the defense actually has the ball. No other sport can say that, with the exception of softball, which is just a different version of baseball.
It is the only sport in which the defense cannot score points. You may say that when a football or basketball team’s defense creates a turnover, it becomes the offense. That is true. However, that cannot become true in baseball. The defense’s only hope is to create three outs so it can become the offense once again.
What is the hardest thing to do in sports? Kicking a field goal in football? Maybe making a 3-pointer in basketball? Nope.
The hardest thing to do in sports is to hit a Major League fastball. In some cases, from the time the ball leaves the pitcher’s hand, it takes three tenths of a second to make it to home plate. It is 60.5 feet from the mound to home plate.
In 1941, baseball’s greatest hitter, Ted Williams, said it was the hardest thing to do in sports. To this day, no one has made a valid argument against him.
Baseball is America’s game, invented in America by Americans.
The best in the world come to the United States to play. Many of them are from south of the border. Their last names show that. There is an enormous number of latin players in the Major Leagues. This adds to the diversity of the game.
I used to be like many who criticized the game for being too boring. Then my neighbor offered me a job working at the Baseball Academy, a baseball training facility. While employed there, I learned the game and why it was so difficult. I understood it more. I knew why players did certain things.
Now, when I watch a baseball game, it means more to me. I enjoy watching it. As a matter of fact, I don’t like to get started watching a game because I know that it will take up a good amount of my time watching it when I have something else to do. It is difficult for me to get into a game and then just leave it.
It is almost tiring to watch a baseball game because I try to figure out what each pitch is.
“It’s a 1-2 count. What pitch is the pitcher going to throw? A fastball? A curveball?”
It isn’t a game that involves as much physical involvement as basketball or football, but baseball requires intelligent and witty people to play it. It’s a mentally challenging game.
So why is the World Series so cool? Simply because it is the last seven games of the year. Win four of them, and you’re the World Champions. Lose four, and you’re a forgotten team.
It is the toughest game to play, mentally. It requires the utmost skill. For everything to click, it has to be perfect: timing, placement, footing, everything.
It is a game of perfection. Therefore, the World Series is a series of perfection.
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