Long World Series game was more what's right than wrong with MLB

I've heard few complaints about the length of Game 3 of the World Series, but this being sports and this being 2018, no doubt someone griped about it.

Sure it ended about 3:30 a.m. Eastern time and some who started watching at the beginning, over seven hours before that, could probably not make it to the end to see the walk-off homer to complete an 18-inning game won 3-2 by the Los Angeles Dodgers over the Boston Red Sox.

But can we blame Major League Baseball for anything here? I don't think so. The game started not long after 8 p.m. Eastern time and even had it gone four hours, that would have been an ending around midnight. And it's a weekend night when more people have off the next day.

But this dramatic game went 18 innings and was longest World Series game ever - in fact, the longest postseason game of any kind ever. A baseball game lasting over seven hours is going well into the night and morning unless it starts under the sun. In Los Angeles, it actually did.

The game turned out to epic, dramatic and an edge-of-the-seat watch for most of 7 hours, 20 minutes. It produced an awful lot that is great about baseball and nothing that is a problem.

One of the beauties of baseball is we never know how long the game will last or how many innings will be needed to complete it. Before this contest, no World Series game in baseball history had lasted more than 14 innings.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred told reporters there is nothing to gripe about concerning Game 3.

"It's one of those things you can't allow people to turn into a negative," he said. "It was a great game, a unique game, and it's one of those things that generates a tremendous amount of buzz and makes our game so much more remarkable.

"I don't think of it as a seven-hour ask," Manfred said. "Nobody knows, going into the game, that we're going to play 18 innings. The fact of the matter is, we recognize that it's helpful to provide as crisp a game as possible, with as little downtime as possible, but I don't think you can wring your hands over playing a seven-hour game in the World Series that turned out to be a great game. It's one game!"

A great game, indeed. Nothing to complain about this time.

Boston wins: The Red Sox are 2018 World Series champions. They beat the Dodgers 5-1 last night to win this series in five games. Boston beat the 100-win New York Yankees 3-1 in the American League Division Series and the 103-win Houston Astros 4-1 in the AL Championship Series.

So that is an 11-3 postseason (7-1 on the road) following a regular season record of 108-54. The Orioles saw firsthand how good Boston was this season, going 3-16 versus the Red Sox.

Boston won the World Series for the fourth time since 2004, also winning in 2007, 2013. There have been 11 World Series championships won by the current AL East teams since the Orioles' last title in 1983. Toronto won in 1992 and 1993 and the New York Yankees in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2009.

Yes, the Orioles are due.

Pearce was the MVP: Former Oriole, Ray, Blue Jay, Yankee, Astro and Pirate Steve Pearce was named the World Series MVP. At 35 and on his fifth AL East team, he won the MVP on the biggest stage. Pearce hit two homers in last night's win and over his last six World Series at-bats, he hit three homers and drove in seven runs. Pearce joins Babe Ruth and Ted Kluszewski as the only players 35 or older to have a multi-homer World Series game.

Before this year, the only previous time Pearce appeared in the playoffs was in 2014 with the Orioles. And now he's a world champion. He was such a gamer with the Orioles and such a great guy to deal with that it's hard not to be happy for him and what he achieved last night.

In June, the Boston Red Sox acquired Steve Pearce in a trade with the Blue Jays.

Safe to say it worked out. pic.twitter.com/vzq5LjkN8b

-- CBS Sports (@CBSSports) October 29, 2018

The Red Sox probably won this trade.

According to @EliasSports, Steve Pearce is the 2nd player to win World Series MVP after playing games with multiple teams during the regular season. (Donn Clendenon in 1969). https://t.co/spWt1hSZAt

-- ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) October 29, 2018