Storin: Pay attention to this baseball postseason

St. Louis versus San Francisco and Baltimore versus Kansas City.

Winners go to the World Series.

That is what this baseball season has come down to and I am getting the feeling that few care. I just don’t hear anybody talking about baseball at a time of the year when interest in the sport should be flourishing.

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate what the four playoff finalists have done. They are most deserving to be in the Final Four and the fans of each are as rabid as any in the country.

One of the problems is that this post season is devoid of a team to hate.

No New York Yankees.

No Boston Red Sox.

First time since 1989 that both failed to make the playoffs at the same time.

And to add to the lack of interest in these parts, you can throw in the absence of the Atlanta Braves, whose DNA in recent years calls for regularly making the playoffs and just as regularly losing in the first round.

This is the exact opposite of the Cardinals and Giants, two teams that have a knack for flying under the national radar until October.

What goes unnoticed is that no National League team, other than the Cards or the Giants, has appeared in a World Series since 2009. That is pretty impressive.

For comparison sake: it has been 15 years since the Braves made it to the World Series and 19 years since Atlanta’s only championship.

Giants Manager Bruce Bochy has never received the acclaim of Bobby Cox.

How many fans outside the Bay Area know that Bochy’s teams have won seven consecutive post season series since 2010. Not to mention 11 victories in his past 12 playoff games and 15 in the past 19.

Name another manager that has ever done that.

The Giants have earned a reputation as a team that wins “ugly.”

For instance, in Tuesday night’s 3-2 victory over Washington, the three San Francisco runs were scored on a bases loaded walk, a ground out to the first baseman and a wild pitch. That’s three runs on a total of zero hits.

Then there was last Saturday night when San Francisco trailed 1-0 with two outs in the ninth inning.

Nationals manager Matt Williams then made the bonehead decision of the year and went to his closer Drew Storen to relieve Jordan Zimmerman, who had allowed no runs and three hits. A single and a double later, the Giants had tied it.

That turned it into an epic 18-inning game that the Giants won, 2-1, on a home run by Brandon Belt.

Ugly win? Maybe, but in my book the Ugly Man in this game was Williams. He defended his decision by saying that is the way he managed all season and Washington won more games than any other National League team.

How often have we heard that excuse? Sounds like something straight out of Atlanta.

Quite often what works in the regular season doesn’t in the post season. Sometimes the best thing a manager can do is resist the urge to do anything. Sit tight and let the game play out.

Bochy is that kind of manager. The less experienced Mike Matheny may be too. This is only his third season as Cardinals manager and third post season. Looks like an interesting matchup.

Maybe it’s time we paid attention.

This story was originally published October 8, 2014 at 6:43 PM with the headline "Storin: Pay attention to this baseball postseason."