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The game of baseball has many hard to believe success stories, some of which have been made into films. The game proves the underdog always has a chance.
We are all aware of the happy fact that even the chief underdog has a chance, and a sport that has had many stories of improbable victories and thrilling turnarounds in matters of fortune is Major League Baseball.
The Rockford Peaches in 1943
Americans are famously devoted to the sport, and baseball being put on hold for the duration of World War 2 resulted in a massive interruption in many lives. To combat this lack, promoters for the game brainstormed the idea of an All American Girls’ Professional Baseball League, and put it into action.
One of the most noteworthy teams to come out of this League was the Rockford Peaches, comprised of dissimilar women from disparate backgrounds. The Rockford Peaches remained in place from 1943 to 1954, and over this period they managed to win the Championship 4 times. Their incredible story was retold in A League of Their Own, a 1992 film starring Madonna and Geena Davis.
The World Series of 1991
The World Series of 1991 involved not one, but two underdog teams.
In the previous season, both the Atlanta Braves and the Minnesota Twins had managed to land on the bottom of their respective leagues, but in 1991 they both went through an incredible transformation, and ended up competing against one another in the World Series.
When these two teams finally met, a nerve-wracking series resulted, and it required a total of 7 games in order for a result to be reached. The crucial single run that the Minnesota Twins managed to score during the last innings of the concluding game resulted in them emerging victorious. Wagers placed at the best betting sites in operation today, were they in operation then, would have made a killing!
The Boston Red Sox in 2004
It was not looking good for the Red Sox as they faced the New York Yankees in order to qualify for their place in 2004’s World Series, but, as they stood 3 – 0 down and were just emerging from a devastating 19 – 8 defeat, in game 4 they astonished everyone.
The defining moment arrived when Kevin Millar was replaced by Dave Roberts as the pinch runner: he craftily stole the second base, and went on to score a run that tied the score, which ended up forcing an innings which would decide the winner. A home run by David Ortiz led to game 5, which also ended up tied, and the play went on to 14 innings before the Red Sox emerged as the unexpected winners.
Thanks to this boost to the team’s confidence, they went on to triumph in games 6 and 7 easily, and then went on to squash the St Louis Cardinals with a score of 4 – 0 in the World Series.
The St Louis Cardinals in 2006
In an inspiring twist of fate, however, the St Louis Cardinals enjoyed their own extraordinary comeback 2 short years later: subsequent to a miserable season in which they had only managed to win 5 games, losing 10 of the last 14 played, no one on the team was enjoying a particularly good record. Of the squad, only Albert Pujols had managed to hit over .300, and only Pujols and teammate Scott Rolen had scored more than 20 home runs for the entire season.
The playoffs, however, turned the story on its head: they first beat the San Diego Padres, reaching the NLCs, and then overcame the New York Jets to go on to win the World Series 4 – 1 against the Detroit Tigers.
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