Baseball: Evenly matched teams promise epic World Series

Shane Victorino says the Red Sox will have to be at the top of their game when they play the Cardinals. Photo / AP

The resurgent Red Sox will try to cap a worst-to-first season with a World Series win over talent-laden St Louis in a battle of Major League Baseball's best teams that starts tomorrow.

The 109th World Series, which opens at Boston's Fenway Park, is one for the purists. For the first time since 1999, the teams with the most wins in the American League and National League have made it through the playoffs to the season-ending showdown.

Both Boston and St Louis posted 97 regular-season victories and both led their leagues in runs scored. The Red Sox wrapped up the American League pennant with a six-game triumph over Detroit in the AL Championship Series, while the Cardinals downed the Dodgers in six games in the NLCS.

"I've faced the Cardinals a lot over the years and that's one excellent baseball team," Red Sox right fielder Shane Victorino said. "We're going to have to be at the top of our game."

For the Red Sox, the entire season has been about rebounding from a dismal 2012 campaign that yielded only 69 victories and 93 defeats.

A roster makeover included the addition of Victorino, Mike Napoli and Jonny Gomes, with former pitching coach John Farrell returning to Boston as manager to guide the turnaround that the Red Sox say won't be complete without a World Series triumph.

"We've got to win four more games," right-handed hurler Clay Buchholz said.

The Cardinals are back in the World Series for the fourth time in 10 seasons, but they, too, have had to put behind them the disappointment of 2012. After lifting the title in 2011 they appeared headed back to the World series last season, only to surrender a 3-1 lead in the NL Championship Series to San Francisco, who went on to sweep the Tigers for the crown.

The Cardinals haven't displayed the kind of offensive power shown by the Red Sox, who had grand slams from both 37-year-old designated hitter David Ortiz and Victorino in the series against Detroit. However, the St Louis offence led by 17-year veteran Carlos Beltran has shown an uncanny knack for the timely hit.

Given how finely matched the teams are, game one could be the start of an epic clash between clubs that are meeting for the fourth time in US baseball's championship showcase.

World Series wins

27 New York Yankees
11 St Louis Cardinals
9 Oakland-Kansas City-Philadelphia Athletics
7 Boston Red Sox
7 San Francisco-New York Giants
6 Los Angeles-Brooklyn Dodger

- AAP