Darrell Davis: Setting up the Fall Classic

Baseball fans are loving this World Series.

Not Blue Jays fans. Baseball fans. Blue Jays fans don’t care about baseball, they care only about their favourite team.

So let’s tell them the Cleveland Indians are playing the Chicago Cubs in a best-of-seven championship series. It features two cursed teams and baseball’s longest championship droughts — Cleveland last won in 1948; Chicago in 1908. Historians are having fun, noting that the Cubs 108-year drought predates sliced bread and, more seriously, the 1947 appearance of Jackie Robinson, who broke baseball’s colour barrier.

The managers are terrific. Chicago’s Joe Maddon, who could pass as the world’s most interesting man, led the Cubs to MLB’s best record. Terry Francona, a former Montreal Expo, has won World Series managing the Boston Red Sox and did a masterful job leading his current team past Toronto in the ALCS.

Young stars and outstanding pitchers. Few sports are more fun. Game 1 is slated for tonight.