Plenty of new faces in Series

In Major League Baseball, if you reach base once every four-at-bats, they reward you with millions of dollars.
Forget the money. Right now, we would be tickled with a .250 batting average in our division series predictions.
Two weeks ago, we were certain we'd be seeing the Atlanta Braves and Arizona Diamondbacks back in the National League Championship Series.
We were even more positive that the New York Yankees and Oakland Athletics would play for the American League pennant.
How wrong can you get?
The small-market Minnesota Twins -- the poster boys for contraction before baseball labor war ended -- knocked off the A's in five games. The team Commissioner Bud Selig targeted for elimination last November is trying to advance to its third World Series since 1987.
Angels upset Yankees
But registering even higher on the Richter scale was the Angels' stunning upset of George Steinbrenner's $140 million ballclub.
The no-name Angels (a large-market club owned by a deep-pocketed owner masquerading as a stumbling mid-size team) clubbed the Yankees' vaunted pitching staff with a division-series record .376 batting average.
So instead of watching the usual suspects of Roger Clemens, Mike Mussina, Andy Pettitte and David Wells pitch this week, we'll see new faces like Brad Radke, Rick Reed, Eric Milton, Joe Mays, Kevin Appier, Ramon Ortiz, John Lackey and Jarrod Washburn.
Representing the National League in the World Series will be either the St. Louis Cardinals (who last won it all in 1982) or the San Francisco Giants (who last won the title in 1954 when the franchise was based in New York and the victim was a team that played next to Lake Erie).
This year's world champions will either be a team that has never played in the World Series (Angels) or teams snapping droughts of 11, 22 or 48 years.
For baseball fans starving for competitive balance, it doesn't get much better than that.
Soccer showdown
This year, the Mahoning Valley has five decent Division I girls soccer teams: Canfield, Poland and Howland from the Metro Athletic Conference and Boardman and Fitch from the Steel Valley Conference.
When the soccer coaches met 10 days ago to pick the tournament bracket, Poland received the top seed (and home-field advantage throughout district play), North Canton Hoover was second, Canfield third and Howland fourth.
Poland earned the top spot because at the time the Bulldogs had just one loss -- to Canfield.
The Cardinals had two losses -- to Copley and Hawken, reportedly two of Northeast Ohio's better teams. Boardman had two losses, one coming against Canfield.
Howland had a tie against Canfield and a loss to Poland.
Fitch had one loss -- to Boardman.
Who should be No. 1?
Should Poland have been seeded ahead of Canfield? Should Boardman or Fitch have received a top-four seed? Does it matter?
Who knows.
Three area coaches (Canfield coach Jon Ulicney, Boardman coach Fawzi Mujahed and Fitch coach Carlo Trafficante) questioned the seeding on bracket day, all choosing to play in Poland's half of the bracket rather than Hoover's.
Now, this is not to knock Poland's players or Coach Jim Sutman. Despite losing twice to Canfield, the Bulldogs can tie the Cardinals for the MAC title.
Since the pairings were set, Poland has lost to Fitch (4-0) and Canfield (2-1), Boardman tied North Canton Hoover (3-3) and Fitch hasn't lost.
The good news: The district tournament should be a very entertaining event for soccer fans.
The bad news: Only one of Poland, Canfield, Boardman and Fitch can advance to the district final.
XTom Williams is a sportswriter for The Vindicator. Write him at williams@vindy.com.