國民是否能承受等待世界大賽的壓力？ - 美國職棒

今天沒比賽打，乾脆來翻譯一下MLB官網文章。

來源：https://www.mlb.com/news/nationals-now-have-long-wait-for-world-series

Can Nationals handle the weight of the wait?

國民是否能承受等待世界大賽的壓力？

[Just ask 2006, '12 Tigers how long layoff before World Series worked out]

The good news for the Washington Nationals is that they are in their first
World Series. They beat the champions of the National League West and now they
’ve swept the champs of the NL Central. They were down two games to one to
the Dodgers and came back to win Game 4. They were down 3-1 in the late
innings of Game 5 at Dodger Stadium, and then Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto
hit back-to-back home runs against Clayton Kershaw, and Howie Kendrick began
turning into Mr. October for the Nats. Now here they are.

Waiting.

That’s the bad news for the Nationals, riding all this crazy momentum. They
wait and keep waiting until the series between the Astros and Yankees is
over. And while they wait, they hope that when they start playing again, at
either Minute Maid Park or at Yankee Stadium, that they won’t have suffered
from the Curse of the Tigers.

國民隊第一次進入世界大賽是好消息。他們接連擊敗國西、國中冠軍，在分區賽輸掉第三
場後他們扳平第四場；第五戰3:1落後時Rendon、Soto對Kershaw的B2B全壘打、然後
Howie Kendrick扮演十月先生帶國民上天堂。現在他們要迎接世界大賽--前的等待時間。
這對正挾瘋狂士氣的國民隊就不是好消息了。他們得一直等到太空人跟洋基系列賽結束後
才有球打，國民隊該祈禱這段時間他們不要受到「老虎魔咒」的影響。

Twice under Jim Leyland, one of the great managers of all time, the Tigers
swept the American League Championship Series, and then basically had to wait
a week to start the World Series. The first time was in 2006. They swept the
Oakland A’s. They were the ones riding crazy momentum. They had a talented
kid named Justin Verlander pitching for them. And then they waited while the
Cardinals and the Mets went seven long and dramatic games. That NLCS didn’t
end until the bottom of the 9th of Game 7 at Shea Stadium, when Adam
Wainwright --he was the talented kid pitching for the Cardinals that year --
struck out Carlos Beltran, looking, with a curve ball that seemed to start up
in the skyline of New York City and drop down to lower Manhattan, even though
the Mets had runners on the bases who could have won them the pennant.

The Tigers watched that one, and waited. And when they finally did start
playing baseball again, they looked more stale than stale bread, and lost to
the Cardinals in five games. All season long you play games, day after day
and night after night. Then you get a longer layoff than most players get
during the All-Start break. We hear all the time about how baseball players
are creatures of habit. The Tigers fell out of their habits and came crashing
to earth. It doesn’t mean they would have beaten the Cardinals if they’d
gone right from a Game 7 of their own to Game 1 of a World Series. But we’ll
never know.

名教練Jim Leyland曾兩次帶領老虎隊在美聯冠軍賽橫掃對手，然後在世界大賽前等一個
禮拜。第一次是在2006橫掃運動家，當時他們氣勢如虹，而且還有年輕而才華洋溢的投手
Justin Verlander。當年國聯冠軍賽一直打到第七戰，紅雀才在客場擊敗大都會，當時也
是英雄出少年的Adam Wainwright在九局下三振掉Carlos Beltran，空留三個大都會跑者
在壘包上。（按：此時川普正在本壘後的高級觀賽區眼睜睜看著Molina跳起來歡呼，非常
經典） https://i.imgur.com/SRvJEti.png

老虎隊看完這場比賽後開始打世界大賽，但他們變得無比死屍並在五場比賽中輸給紅雀。
平常打球是天天打，突然放了一個比明星賽後還要長的假期差很多。我們常聽人家說棒球
選手是「習慣」的生物，那老虎隊就是丟掉了那些習慣然後炸掉的。並不是說他們如果一
樣打七場後再跟紅雀對壘就會贏，但留下很大的想像空間。

Six years later, it happened to the Tigers exactly the same way. They swept
the Yankees in the ALCS, finishing them off with ease at Comerica Park.

And then they waited. Again. This time it was the Giants and the Cardinals in
a long and grueling and dramatic NLCS. The Giants finally won Game 7. While
Jim Leyland and the Tigers, whose two aces that year were a couple of pretty
decent right-handers named Verlander and Max Scherzer -- they won 33 games
between them that season -- once again waited to rejoin October.

This is what Leyland said seven years ago after his Tigers had once again
swept a League Championship Series:

“I do think the lull between our playoff and the World Series did work
against us in 2006. Now, that's not to take anything away from the St. Louis
Cardinals. But all of a sudden, our emotion went from so high to just a blah,
looking at each other for six days of staring at each other with really no
action. That's hard.''

No action. Really hard. Even harder than they remembered. This time Leyland’
s Tigers, unable to shake off the rust, didn’t lose the World Series in five
games.

They got swept by Bruce Bochy’s Giants, the second championship club of the
manager’s three between 2010 and ‘14. In the spring of this year, this is
what Verlander told the Detroit media about his Tiger teams not winning the
World Series while he was pitching in Detroit:

"The reason was the time off before the two World Series. We had the talent
to do it for many years. When it comes to playoff time, it's kind of a roll
of the dice. It comes down to the hottest team at the right time. I think we
were that team, twice, and we got cooled off by the week layoff for the World
Series both times. It sucks; that's the name of the game. … It's probably
the one sport, this sport, where the time off like that wouldn't help you.
Every other sport I think it's a benefit, but this one, it is absolutely a
negative."

六年後，老虎幾乎複製了2006的流程，美聯冠軍賽在主場掃掉洋基。然後這次換成看國聯
紅雀打巨人，巨人辛苦打到第七戰贏下來。當時老虎隊手上有雙王牌Justin Verlander跟
Max Scherzer，這兩隻在2012合計拿了33勝。Leyland在2012年美聯冠軍賽後這麼說：「
我覺得2006年世界大賽前的空檔確實造成不良影響。不是說紅雀的冠軍不純，但一瞬間我
們球隊情緒從最高點降到像個屁。只能看著對面打球六天而我們什麼都沒辦法做，這很艱
困。」

這次老虎隊沒有重演2006的五戰輸掉世界大賽了，因為他們四戰就被Bochy帶領的巨人軍
掃掉。今年春天記者曾問Verlander對於在老虎打球時沒拿到世界大賽冠軍的想法，
Verlander表示「問題就是出在世界大賽前的空檔。我們有能力連年打季後賽，但只要進
了十月，一切就像擲骰子。最燙的隊伍在關鍵時刻也會出包，我覺得我們就是那隻隊伍，
被那個空檔陰了兩次，手感經過一個禮拜都冷了。這很鳥，但這就是關鍵。...這或許
是唯一一種休息沒好處的運動，在其他比賽能休息是優點，但在棒球絕對是缺點。」

He and his teammates found out the hard way. Twice. If his Astros go on to
win the ALCS, even in a long series, maybe he will be the beneficiary of the
other team’s layoff this time. Or maybe two of his old teammates, Scherzer
and An燢al S嫕chez, will change things all around for their new team.
Reverse the curse. Curse of the Tigers. Maybe it’s not really a thing. We’
ll see, starting next week.

假如這次Verlander所屬的太空人打了比較長的系列賽而贏下美聯冠軍，或許這次就換他
成為敵隊長時間休息的受益者。但也可能他的老隊友Scherzer跟Sanchez能為他們的新東
家改變這個套路，破除「老虎魔咒」。下個禮拜大家就可以親眼見證。

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這篇寫出很多國民支持者考慮的點。橫掃固然很好，讓不死鳥進G5G6夜長夢多，絕非好事

但過去在冠軍戰掃掉對手進世界大賽的結果是1-7，除了1995年的勇士外全部輸球

國民休息這個禮拜會怎麼練兵、休養、研究對手，面對強敵太空人/洋基都是硬仗


另外很有趣的是，大部分這篇文章提到的人現在也都活躍當中。

Verlander Scherzer Sanchez是老隊友，而且很有機會在世界大賽變成對手

V中年跟Scherzer分別成為太空人跟國民的王牌，Sanchez不減其在老虎季後賽時的身手

Wainwright Molina過了十三年成為老將，昨天還是在打國聯冠軍賽。

前者接手Hudson被打的七分大局，後者敲出一支全壘打。可惜最後被國民清盤。

當年被三振的Beltran正在面試大都會教頭一職，而且看起來挺有機會拿到Offer。

看著大都會在自家主場輸球的紐約大亨Trump正在當總統，進行推特治國活動。

不知道今年他會不會在白宮支持國民隊？

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