None of the four series went the distance, although the LA Angels may have been a successfully-executed 9th inning suicide squeeze away from forcing a Game 5 last night. In one of the worst attempts at it that I've ever seen, the runner streaked from third on the pitch only to have the batter feebly wave in a bunting motion at a pitch right down the middle of the plate... and miss! The runner still almost made it safely back to third base, but was tagged out just a few steps short. Had the Angels been able to pull off that exciting play, they'd have been up (at least) 3-2 on the Red Sox heading to the bottom of the 9th, which might have put enough pressure on the home team to get them to choke. Instead, buoyed by their amazing good fortune in the top half of the inning (the other team has a runner on third, with only 1 out, and they didn't score?), they pushed across their own 2-out run to win the game and the series.
In fact, it was the Boston/LAA series that provided most of the drama, as Game 3 in that series went 12 innings before the Angels forced a Game 4. The fact that every Game 1 winner went on to win their series, with no series going 5 games, seems to me to be cause enough to expand the Divisional round to best-of-7 in the future.
At any rate, it's Dodgers/Phillies in the NLCS and Red Sox/Rays in the ALCS. If Boston and LA prevail, then Manny Ramirez would be making his return to Fenway Park in Game 1 of the World Series! That potential matchup would also see ex-Yankee skipper Joe Torre once again going up against his old nemeses from Boston. Hopefully the Championship Series will provide some great entertainment before we get there, though!
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