The 2013 World Series is expected to be the first in 55 years with a particular quirk. Something happened in the 1958 series between the Braves and Yankees that has not occurred in any subsequent World Series. Until this one.
What is this unusual occurrence?
Congratulations to John Autin! He identified that this is the first World Series since 1958 in which the game 1 starters both have 95 career wins with a .600 career winning percentage, and have both previously appeared in a World Series clinching game playing for their current teams.
In fact, neither of those two answers was the unusual occurrence I had detected. So, I’ll add a third answer – that Adam Wainwright and Jon Lester, like Whitey Ford and Warren Spahn in 1958, are both 29 years old or older and, unlike 18 other pairs of age 29+ game 1 starters since 1959, Wainwright and Lester have both played for only one franchise.
