By: Blake Tarrants, KCOU Sports

There are countless sayings about the game of baseball that bring out its lack of predictability. “Baseball is a game of streaks.” “It’s not about who you play, but how they’re playing when you play them.” However, no amount of sayings or old clichés could prepare us for the wild last week that was the divisional series.

According to MLB.com, this year’s ALCS matchup features the longest combined drought in baseball history. The Royals, of course, have not made it to the World Series since 1985, and the Orioles have gone without a World Series appearance since 1983. This combines for a total of 60 years between the two, which is the most in a post-season series ever, breaking the record of 59, set in the 1995 ALCS. Considering the fact that both teams swept seemingly superior, and definitely more postseason-experienced teams, the shock factor is only increased, and now all that remains to be seen is which unexpectedly hot team will prevail in the coming best-of-seven series.

On the other side of the league, the polar opposite is taking place. The Cardinals far outplayed the more talented Dodgers to make it to their fourth straight NLCS, while the Giants look to continue the pattern of winning the World Series in even years of this decade. St. Louis will be looking for revenge after San Francisco sent them packing back in 2012 on their way to a four-game sweep of the Tigers and the 2012 crown.

What does all this tell us? It tells us to strap in for the inevitable roller coaster ride that is to come. It’s the most inexperienced series ever on one side, opposite two teams whose current players are seasoned veterans of this type of baseball. It remains to be seen whether we will have an east coast vs west coast matchup, or a rematch of the 1985 I-70 series. However, regardless of how these two polar-opposite championship series transpire, the clash of young and old will be the theme of the 2014 baseball season.