2013 World Series Game 1: Red Sox vs. Cardinals, Wednesday 10/23, 7 p.m. CT

You've already read a lot about this series; we've talked about these teams quite a bit during the playoffs, so there isn't a lot more that can be said, except this:

Of the 25 players on the Cardinals' active roster, only five (John Axford, Randy Choate, Edward Mujica, Carlos Beltran and Matt Holliday) have ever played a major-league game for another team (David Freese and Adam Wainwright were not originally drafted by St. Louis, but neither has ever played a big-league game for anyone but the Cardinals). I haven't checked, but I'd guess that's about as home-grown a World Series team as there has ever been.

Of the 25 players on the Red Sox' active roster, 14 are from outside the Boston organization: Craig Breslow, Ryan Dempster, John Lackey, Franklin Morales, Jake Peavy, Koji Uehara, David Ross, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Stephen Drew, Mike Napoli, Quintin Berry, Jonny Gomes, Shane Victorino and David Ortiz.

So there's more than one way to build a championship team, not that there aren't important Red Sox players that they developed themselves.

Just one ex-Cub -- Dempster -- is on the two rosters, and there's no guarantee he'll appear in the World Series. He's thrown just two innings this postseason.

Enjoy the game. Go Red Sox. Once again, I'm picking Boston in seven.

Game time: 7 p.m. CT. TV: Fox. Announcers: Joe Buck, Tim McCarver, Ken Rosenthal, Erin Andrews.

Pitching matchup:

MLB.com Gameday for Game 1

Baseball-reference.com game preview for Game 1

SB Nation game preview for Game 1

SB Nation Cardinals site: Viva El Birdos

SB Nation Red Sox site: Over The Monster

This will serve as your one and only game thread for today's game. Enjoy, and discuss amongst yourselves.