Jorge Soler was named World Series MVP on Tuesday night after homering in the Atlanta Braves’ title-clinching Game 6 win over the Houston Astros.
Soler, who hit three home runs and had six RBIs in 20 at-bats, also zoomed to the top spot of the Tribune’s former Chicago Cubs playoff power rankings after entering the World Series ranked No. 8.
Teammate Joc Pederson, who held the top spot going into the Series, fell to No. 2 after a 1-for-15 performance in the Fall Classic but still looked exquisite with his pearl necklace.
Here are three observations from the World Series.
1. Remember when Jorge Soler and Kyle Schwarber were part of the Cubs’ outfield of the future?
Soler signed a nine-year, $30 million contract with the Cubs after leaving Cuba but was dealt to the Kansas City Royals for closer Wade Davis after the 2016 championship.
Then-Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer called the Davis-Soler deal a “good baseball trade, win-win on both sides,” while former team President Theo Epstein said it was all part of “the plan.”
The Cubs always knew Aroldis Chapman would not be returning and they would need a new closer for 2017. Davis was available and had only one year remaining on his contract.
“Over the next couple of years, we’ll make more trades where we say goodbye to position players who are hard to part with but give us the pitching we need,” Epstein said after the deal. “We have a good feel now for who our core guys are. If we’re trading position players, we would be trading more from a prospect base than anything else.
“We knew this day was coming. One of the reasons we invested heavily in position players in the draft and international markets is because they’re good bets to return value. We’ve identified a core who will be hard to move. Some prospects have a chance to join that core, but others we’ll end up trading. That was part of the plan all along.”
Schwarber’s ascension through the Cubs farm system and ability to play a corner outfield spot — and the signing of right fielder Jason Heyward after the 2015 season — sealed Soler’s fate. Soler started to live up to his potential in his third season in Kansas City, thanks in part to working with hitting coach Dale Sveum, his former manager with the Cubs, and hit a league-leading 48 home runs with 117 RBIs in 2019.
But he hit only .192 with 13 home runs and 37 RBIs this year with the Royals before being sent to the Braves for a Class A pitcher. Schwarber was nontendered by the Cubs last winter and went on to make the All-Star Game with the Washington Nationals before helping the Boston Red Sox to the postseason.
Davis saved 32 games for the Cubs in 2017 and made the National League All-Star team. But after being used in four of the five games against the Nationals in the NL Division Series, he was inexplicably absent early in the NL Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Manager Joe Maddon called on starter John Lackey instead of Davis in the ninth inning of Game 2 with the game tied 1-1. Lackey served up a three-run home run to Justin Turner, and the Cubs went on to lose in five games. Davis pitched two innings for the Cubs in their Game 4 win — the last time this group won a postseason game.
2. Astros manager Dusty Baker did the impossible in the World Series.
He had some fans who despised the Astros for their sign-stealing scandal rooting for them to win, just to give Baker the championship that has eluded him during his long managerial career with the San Francisco Giants, Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Nationals and Astros.
This one didn’t sting as much as the Giants’ 2002 loss to the Anaheim Angels, Baker said, because he felt that one was in hand.
“I think you get over it,” he said after Tuesday’s loss. “Other people don’t let you get over it.”
In other words, he’ll always be reminded of not winning a World Series as a manager.
Baker, 72, said he hopes to come back with the Astros in 2022 and has “unfinished business.” But he’s without a contract, so who knows?
The Astros will be contenders again, even if free agent Carlos Correa leaves, and should challenge for another American League pennant along with the White Sox, New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays, Toronto Blue Jays and Red Sox.
If this is the end for Baker, he still has done enough to merit a spot in the Hall of Fame, as White Sox manager Tony La Russa concurred during the ALDS.
But hopefully he returns. Baseball, like life, is more interesting when Dusty Baker is around.
3. The clinching game epitomized the World Series.
It was a snore with the Braves leading 6-0 by the fifth inning and starter Max Fried dealing. (It was literally a snore for me — I fell asleep watching the game.)
Only the Braves’ 3-2 win in Game 4 held my interest from start to finish. The Astros’ comeback from a 4-0, first-inning deficit in Game 5 could’ve been a classic but turned into another four-hour slog that only delayed the inevitable.
I assume the final ratings will reflect my pre-Series assumption that America wasn’t all that interested in the matchup between a team once accused of cheating and a team whose fans can’t stop performing the tomahawk chop.
Too many unknown relievers. Too many repetitive commercials. And the games, as usual, lasted forever. Meanwhile, the Braves organist, who is talented and creative, played nonstop during three home games.
Too much organ music, like too much Joe Buck, is never a good way of retaining viewership.
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