The Perfect World Series

I decided a few years back that there is a perfect sequencing for the wins in a World Series. The sequencing is this:  The home team loses the first game, then that team wins the next two, then loses the next two, then wins the last two and wins the series in seven games. It's perfect because it maximizes the drama and excitement for the fans.

Why would anyone bother to think about such as thing, you ask? I do not know; it's just the way I am. How does this set of events make the series more exciting than any other? OK, this I can answer. Consider:

• After 2, 4, and 6 games, the series will be tied. No team ever gets ahead more than one game.
• The home team will win every game except games 2 and 3. ( The World is Series is played two games in one city, then three in the other city, then two, if needed, back in the first city.) Home team wins are exciting because the fans are into it.
• The series lead will keep switching, with one team ahead 1-0, the other ahead 2-1, the first one back ahead 3-2, and then the other team winning the series 4-3.
• The series will end with the home team winning, and the stadium going crazy. Much more fun than the fans all going home crying while the only people celebrating are the visiting players.

However, the chances of a perfect World Series are pretty slim, because for it to be perfect, it has to happen exactly as I laid it out above, which means the chances are only about 1 in 128 that it could happen that way. And maybe you can guess, the current World Series is getting very close to hitting those 1 in 128 odds. The Giants are about to lose, and that would mean that the first six games have gone according to plan, leaving only tomorrow's game to possibly ruin the sequence. The Giants are on the verge of perfection, and they don't even know it. No one knows it except me. The Giants really want to avoid perfection.

It's kind of amazing, but the Giants have already played in a perfect World Series fairly recently. In 2002, they lost to Anaheim in seven games, and the sequencing of wins and losses was exactly what I laid out above. The Giants are on the verge of losing the perfect World Series, or maybe just losing in the perfect pattern, for the second time in twelve years.

Of course, the real perfect World Series happened in 1972. It was not even close to the perfect sequencing: The A's went up 2-0. Five games were won on the road. The series finished with Oakland winning in Cincinnati, with lots of sad Cincinnati fans watching. But the series went seven games, and six of them were decided by one run. And most importantly, the A's won, the first time a team I rooted for ever won a world championship. Good times.

Extra points if you can guess who that is in the picture without looking up his number, like I had to.