Game 1 of the 2021 World Series had shades of Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS. Charlie Morton and Curt Schilling.
Both showed balls, but who has the biggest of them all; Morton or Schilling?Curt Schilling’s Bloody Sock
Before he lost his mind, Curt Schilling had a habit of performing when it mattered. He’s no stranger to the postseason, winning the World Series MVP award in 2001 with Arizona. In Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS, The Red Sox needed a strong outing from him to keep their season alive.
However, Schilling was battling a right ankle injury. He had a procedure done to fuse the tendons around that ankle just before that game. The stitches ripped open, causing him to bleed.
But that didn’t fucking matter. Schilling delivered in a huge way by limiting the Yankees to just 1 run over 7 innings. This performance is one of legend in Red Sox lore and helped Boston claim the World Series for the first time in almost 90 years. This game was dubbed “The Bloody Sock Game”.
Definitely has toughness and balls for going through this shit during an elimination game.Now, 17 years later, history is (almost-sorta-kinda) repeating itself in the form of Charlie Morton.
Enter Charlie Morton
Charlie Morton, Atlanta’s starter in game 1, is also no stranger to post-season success, having won the World Series with the infamous 2017 Houston Astros club.
In the bottom of the 2nd inning, he took a 103 mph ground ball off his left leg. He appeared to be fine after the ball struck his leg, as he was able to run over and cover first base.
He proceeded to retire the next three Astros batters before exiting the game in the bottom half of the 3rd inning.The world was then informed that Morton had a broken leg. I feel that if he didn’t wince in pain on that final bitch, that tough bastard could’ve gone another few innings.
But what blew me away was that Morton apologized to his teammates afterward for not getting more outs.
Just shows you what kind of teammate and human being Morton is. He put the team first before his own health. A lot of times I disagree with things like this, but on the world’s biggest stage, you got to nut up or shut up.
Morton definitely nutted up.
Bloody Sock 2.0
Morton’s inning on his broken leg should be celebrated like Schilling’s game, though I know it won’t. Pitching on a broken leg has got to be pretty painful, but because he ‘only’ recorded three outs on it, he won’t get credit where it’s due.
Truthfully, we don’t know how much his staying in the game really impacted the outcome of it, as the Braves won comfortably 6-2. With baseball being the game it is, we can never really write anything off!
If the Braves manage to win it all, Morton WILL be looked at as a hero.
Former professional High School Baseball player. 12 Handicap Golfer. Patrick Reusse blocked me for calling him old.