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To repeat as World Series champs, a little luck is needed

John Farrell will try to lead Boston to a second straight title for the second time in team history.

John Farrell will try to lead Boston to a second straight title for the second time in team history.

What Joe Torre's Yankees did in the postseason from 1996 until the 2001 World Series appears more freakish with every passing year: They played .746 baseball in postseason games (53-18) in winning 14 out of 15 series. They were Wooden's UCLA teams, too good to be beaten by chance. In today's game, without a dominant team, what greater competitive balance means is that there are more teams in the postseason and more teams with a legitimate chance of winning the World Series. Chance rules October more than ever.