Australian pitcher Grant Balfour’s journey all the way to baseball’s World Series is a triumph for talent, tenacity and timing. The 30-year-old reliever was signed by then-struggling Tampa Bay last year, only to be cut in April.
But he won a reprieve a month later, with his return coinciding with a remarkable turnaround for the Rays.
The Rays’ run has continued all the way past the storied Boston Red Sox and into their first-ever World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies, starting on Thursday morning (AEDT).
Balfour will join fellow pitcher Graeme Lloyd, who won two championship rings with the New York Yankees in the 1990s, as the only Australians to have performed on baseball’s biggest stage.
It hasn’t come easy.
He had stints with the Cincinnati Reds, Minnesota Twins – with whom he saw post-season action in 2004 – and Milwaukee Brewers, before being traded to the Rays in 2007.
“It’s definitely tough getting your big break in the majors,” Balfour told AAP today.
“The chances of getting signed are minute and then actually getting to the big leagues are even smaller.
“Being successful in the big leagues is another step again and then getting all the way to the World Series.
“There are plenty of great players and Hall of Famers who never got the chance to play in a World Series.
“It’s a lifelong dream to get there and to win it would be unbelievable.”
The current Tampa Bay outfit which will start as favourites to beat the Phillies is a far cry from the squad Balfour encountered when he moved to Florida last year – and who started 2008 as 200-1 title shots.
“Back then it wasn’t a team with a good record, it was a last-placed team,” said Balfour, who only took up pitching seriously as an 18-year-old after starting out in baseball as a catcher.
“The feeling in the clubhouse wasn’t really good as far as the structure and the way things were going.
“But definitely this year, everything has just turned around.
“We’ve got a few veteran players, we’ve added some good younger players and it’s a bunch of guys with one thing on our mind – and that’s winning ball games.
“We’re like a big family, it’s 25 guys pulling for each other and each guy doing his own little bit, rather than one guy having to win a ball game on his own.”
And a key figure to that success has been Balfour, who has been in career-best form.
He has already moved on from conceding a three-run homer to Red Sox superstar David Ortiz is game five of the ALCS which sparked a Boston comeback from 7-0 down.
The Red Sox also won game six before Tampa Bay clinched the series at home in the decider.
“It’s something you learn from,” said Balfour.
“It was the first home run I’ve given up to a left-handed batter all year.
“Obviously it wasn’t a great time to give up a three-run homer but it’s the great thing about relieving, that you can come out the next day and pitch again and shut it down.
“The sooner you can get over things like that the better.”
Before Ortiz’s game five strike and Jason Bay’s home run in game four, Balfour had only given up only three home runs in 51 regular season appearances.
Batters are averaging a mere 0.143 against the right-handed flame thrower from Sydney.
And unlike the Phillies – who will have been inactive for a week when the World Series starts after powering past the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS – Balfour and the Rays are happy to continue riding the momentum from their best-ever season.
“For me getting just a couple of days off before getting back into it is a good thing,” said Balfour.
“Especially for a reliever, I’d hate to get six days off.
“But the Phillies are a professional team, they’ll keep themselves sharp.”
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