So the White Sox have won the World Series. And in many ways it paralleled the Red Sox World Series win last year. Consider this:

Off-the-field comparisons:

Last year was the Red variety
This year was the White variety

Last year was Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline”
This year was Journey’s “Don’t stop believin’”

Last year broke an 86-year drought
This year broke an 88-year drought

Last year broke the 84-year “Curse of the Bambino” (Babe Ruth sold to Yanks in 1920)
This year broke the 86-year “Curse of the Black Sox” (Eight White Sox throw 1919 World Series)

Last year it was for more than just the city of Boston, but the entire New England area.
This year it was for less than the entire city of Chicago, but just the south side area (the Cubs dominate the north side.)

On-the-field comparisons:

Both teams opened the playoffs with a sweep, and did so with power.
Both teams lost the opening game of the ALCS, in a close game.
Both teams won the ALCS by winning four straight, doing so with good pitching and timely home runs.
Both teams swept the World Series to make it eight straight wins.

Both teams were absolutely dominant throughout (even if there were a number of close games) essentially winning 11-straight broken up in the middle only by a short hiccup.

At the same time, both teams got a great number of breaks. In fact, both turned their losing “streak” around on a critical play in the ALCS in the bottom of the ninth inning at home of a game they looked to possibly lose. In the Red Sox game it was more dramatic, in Game 4 down by one run trailing 3-0 in the series, getting a stolen base from Dave Roberts that was ever so close. He could have easily been called out, but he was correctly called safe. Who knows what would have happened if he was called out – they probably would have lost. Next batter, Bill Mueller, drove him in, David Ortiz got the winning home run in extras, and the Sox never looked back, winning seven more in a row.

In the White Sox case, it was Game 2, A.J. Pierzynski strikes out but decides to run to first and we all know what happens. The umpire rules that the ball hit the ground and allows Pierzynski to stay at first; problem was he didn’t make the call until after the catcher Josh Paul had rolled the ball to the mound thinking it was the third out. So a controversy ensues (which I got into in my last two posts). Even though most people seem to think it was clearly caught, to my eye it was as close as the play at second base on the Roberts stolen base, only not as conclusive. It may very well have hit the ground. Anyway, that was critical because “Mr. Clutch” Joe Crede got a double and drove in Pierzynski for the winning run, and the Sox never looked back, winning seven more in a row.

On top those two plays, there were more breaks that the teams got that parallel each other.

The Red Sox got a break in the ALCS in extra innings when a ball hit by the Yankees that clearly would have scored a run bounced into the crowd, it forced the runner to stop at third on the ground-rule double. The Yankees didn’t score, and the Sox won in the bottom of the 14th.

The White Sox got a similar break in the World Series when a ball down the line caught part of the wall to keep it in shallow outfield and kept a run from scoring. The Astros didn’t score the run, and the Sox won in the top of the 14th.

It looked like the Sox may have blown a play when Bronson Arroyo tried to tag Alex Rodriguez running down the first base line and the ball ended up knocked away. But the umpires got together and properly ruled that Rodriguez intentionally slapped the ball out of the glove and was called out.

On the flip side, it looked like A.J. Pierzynski was tagged out by an Angels’ pitcher running down the first base line and that’s what the umpire called, even though the pitcher had the ball in his other hand and the glove he tagged with was empty. But the umpires got together and properly ruled that the ball was not in the glove he tagged him with and he was called safe.

I can’t think of any other similar controversial calls or non-calls - like the Jermaine Dye hit by pitch or catcher’s interference on Steve Finley - in the Red Sox case, but suffice it to say both teams got a fair share of breaks, but more importantly capitalized on them with home runs and even grand slams.

And of course, in both cases, their World Series wins brought tremendous joy to legions of long-suffering fans in the entire New England area last year, and the south side of Chicago this year.