That the Red Sox won the World Series, ending 86 years of frustration, was not surprising; they were a team with a high payroll, a talented roster and smart management. Unless you really believe in curses, there was no reason to think that they could not be the champs.
        The Yankees and Red Sox, however, have an amazing ability to add a new, shocking twist each year to their rivalry. In their final postseason matchup in 2003, Aaron Boone ended the Red Sox' dreams with a walkoff home run. In 2004, the Yankees picked up where they left off, winning the first three games of the ALCS, including a 19-8 drubbing in Game Three.
        And then the Sox came back and won four in a row, something that no baseball team had ever done before. And then they beat up on the Cardinals, a team that had dominated the National League during the season.

        After their World Series Championship in 2002, the Angels made a fatal mistake - they stood pat. Despite decades of evidence that championship teams need to continue to turn over and reinvigorate their rosters to remain successful, the Angels made no significant changes; observers predicted doom and gloom, and they were right. The Angels lost 85 games in 2003.
        A new owner, Arturo Moreno, had different ideas in 2004. The Angels spent money on several big ticket free agents. The biggest was Vladimir Guerrero, a brilliant performer from the National League who had played his entire career in relative obscurity with the Montreal Expos.
        In today's online, interconnected global village, it's pretty hard for a star athlete to play in obscurity. Vladimir Guerrero probably came as close as possible, playing his home games for the doomed Montreal Expos, a team with no owner, few fans and no future. In 2003, the team moved right off the continent, and played a quarter of its games in Puerto Rico. Language was also an issue; Guerrero does not speak English, and played his home games in cities where the dominant languages are French and Spanish.
        Guerrero had a monster season in his first year in the American League; the Angels clinched the West division on the final weekend of the season, after a September in which Vlad hit .371 with ten home runs, ensuring that he would win the MVP Award. He also hit a dramatic, game-tying grand slam in Game Three of the ALDS, briefly keeping the Angels alive before the Sox won the game in extra innings.
        "Leadership" was a consistent theme throughout the Red Sox' season. Off the field, it was their second year under 29-year-old GM Theo Epstein, and their first under field manager Terry Francona. Catcher Jason Varitek was often praised for his veteran leadership, as was ace pitcher Curt Schilling. In the spring, the painful memories of Aaron Boone's home run quickly turned into laughs, when centre fielder Johnny Damon showed up to camp without having shaved or cut his hair all winter — and went on to have one of the best seasons of his career.
        But the postseason leader was their big DH, David Ortiz. In 2003, Ortiz was picked up cheap by the Red Sox, having failed to win a starting job in Minnesota. He had a big season, picking up some MVP votes after delivering some game-winning home runs during the season. He was playfully dubbed "the Cookie Monster", a reference to his size and huge grin.
        This season, he was even better. And when the playoffs began, he was unstoppable. In the ALDS, he buried the Angels with a home run off of Jarrod Washburn. He was the MVP of the ALCS after he delivered two extra-inning, game-winning hits against the Yankees. The "Cookie Monster" moniker was replaced with "Papi", a tribute to leadership role he had taken on and off the field.
        Another long road was travelled by Ortiz' teammate, Manny Ramirez, who ended winning the World Series MVP Award. It began a year earlier, when Ramirez was put on waivers; no team was willing to take him and his large salary. The Sox then attempted to deal Ramirez to the Rangers for Alex Rodriguez, but the deal fell through when the Sox were unwilling to take on A-Rod's salary.
        When the season began, the widespread belief was that Sox management no longer believed that they could win with Ramirez. But they had no choice. Manny, as usual, was a monster during the regular season; but in the disastrous first three games against New York, his baserunning and fielding mistakes drew criticism. Both player and team persevered, and Manny responded by mashing the Cardinals' pitchers in the Series.
        Miguel Tejada left the Oakland Athletics, and signed as a free agent with the Orioles. A lot of things went right in his first year in Baltimore; Tejada played in every game fourth straight season, a fitting accomplishment for an Oriole shortstop. He had a monster season with the bat, leading the American League with 150 RBI. He won the Home Run Derby at the All-Star Game. The only downside: the Orioles had a losing season.
        Another remarkable story in Baltimore was the performance of Melvin Mora. Enterting the season, no one knew what to expect from Mora, a journeyman who did not reach the majors until he was 27 years old. In 2003, he had stunned the league with a monster first half of the season - but an injury felled him in the second half. Was it a three-month fluke, or had Mora made a dramatic improvement at age 31?
        The latter, as it turned out. Mora was even better in 2004. Mora was one of the best hitters in the league, and after a rough start defensively survived his first season as a third baseman. Mora's remarkable improvement began after he became the father of quintuplets - reminded us that ballplayers are human beings, and that you never know for sure what they will do. Unfortunately for the Orioles, they offered little support for their two MVP candidates.
        Tejada may have been the best defensive shortstop in the American League; combine that with 150 RBI, and he has a compelling MVP argument. Guerrero did most of his talking with his bat, and rates just ahead of fellow sluggers Ramirez, Ortiz, Mora and Gary Sheffield. The difference between Guerrero and Tejada is slim, and given that Vlad led his team back to the postseason, I believe that he merited the MVP.
        One other player had a unique season that merited consideration. After winning the batting title in his rookie, Ichiro Suzuki's batting average had dropped to .321 in 2002 and then .312 in 2003. This season, he hit .255 in April. Suzuki doesn't walk often and rarely hits for power; given that hitting singles is the essential element of his game, the steady decline in his batting average was troubling.
        He snapped back and hit .400 in May. He slumped again in June, then finished the season on an incredible tear in which he hit .432 in July, .463 in August and .373 in September. Suzuki set a new record for at bats in a season, and also broke George Sisler's 85-year-old record for hits in a season, setting a new mark with 262 (he also set a record with 225 singles).
        Sisler, of course, set his record in a 154-game schedule. But Suzuki's mark is legit; like all hitters, he struggled at Seattle's Safeco Field, batting .338 at home but .405 on the road (Sisler, on the other hand, thrived at friendly Sportsman's Park; of his record 257 hits, 150 came at his home park).