Baseball: What is the World Series?

Fri 27 Oct 2017

As French-American historian Jacques Barzun said back in 1954,

“Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball.”

Baseball is the quintessential American sport and no summer in America would be complete without seeing at least one baseball game. If you are on a Study Abroad program in the US, find out where the nearest baseball park is and go see a game. Some of the most famous baseball parks are: Wrigley Field (Chicago), Fenway Park (Boston), Camden Yards (Baltimore), and Yankee Stadium (New York).

What is the World Series? 

If you are in America when October rolls around, you will be inundated with news about the playoffs and the World Series. The World Series is the finale to the baseball season, which runs from August to September. It is a best-of-seven playoff championship - the team that wins the most games out of seven wins the coveted Commissioner’s Trophy. The 2017 World Series is between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros. The Dodgers have won the World Series six times in the past, but the last win was back in 1988. In comparison, the Houston Astros have never won a World Series title.

Some of you may wonder why the championship is called the World Series, if only teams from America play in it. There are two answers to this question:

1. Some believe that the name originated from the original sponsor of the champion, the New York World Telegram newspaper.
2. Others state that the championship was originally called the World’s Championship Series and this was later shortened to just World Series.

The 2016 World Series was hotly contested between the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago Cubs – two old baseball teams. The Indians date back to 1915 and Cubs all the way back to 1870!  Both teams had won the World Series twice before, the Indians in 1920 and 1948 and the Cubs in 1907 and 1908. But it was the Cubs that clinched the trophy, their first win in 108 years!

Who will win this year?

As you can imagine, the World Series is serious business. Fans are riled up and the media goes crazy predicting who will win. If you are living in one of the cities that is home to one of the teams in the World Series, you will see how serious and crazy things get. The two teams take turns playing at their home baseball parks - this year, the first two games were played at Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles), the next four games will be played at Minute Maid Park (home of the Astros in Houston) and the last two games back at Dodger Stadium (if necessary).

Seeing a World Series game is a dream for most baseball fans and tickets sell out quickly. This year World Series tickets are going for an average of $2,000. But this is still much less than last year, when two historic teams with huge fan bases played – tickets cost over $6,500! But if you are lucky enough to get a ticket to one of the World Series games, it is well worth going. The atmosphere, the fans, the game, you can’t beat that.

What to do near campus

Check with your campus to see if there is a baseball team you can join or perhaps there is an organised trip to watch a baseball game.

http://www.oncampus.global/usa/oncampus-boston/boston.htm

http://www.oncampus.global/usa/oncampus-suny/student-life/new-york-state.htm

http://www.oncampus.global/usa/oncampus-texas/student-life/texas.htm

http://www.oncampus.global/usa/oncampus-cal-state/student-life/california.htm

http://www.oncampus.global/usa/oncampus-rhode-island/student-life/life-on-campus.htm