Hardball Heaven

Score one for the underdogs. Just like no one gave David Eckstein a chance to be an everyday starting shortstop in the major leagues - let alone to be the World Series MVP - no one gave the Cardinals a chance in hell of winning this series. It was all Tigers, all the time.

But Eckstein - that's him over there chugging some Cuervo, and he's probably got his arms wrapped around some porcelain right about now - didn't give up and neither did his team. Eighty-three wins doesn't matter if you happen to be playing your best ball of the season in late October. The Cards were, and the Tigers most definitely were not.

In the end, it's a Series without many Defining Moments. It will be remembered first and foremost for pine tar, pitchers doing political stem cell research ads, Tigers falling, flailing and making error after error, and that heinous Chevy ad that made me want to join Eckstein around the toilet.

But despite all that, I haven't missed a World Series celebration in the last 30 years and I wasn't about to miss this one. Call me a softie, but something about the on-field celebration gets me all choked up.