The Front Row with JASON ELLIOTT Oct. 19, 2011

They've said you can't script October in baseball.

For what it's worth, I'm not sure you could write a story anywhere near what has happened in the sports world this month.

And there is still two weeks to go.

AFTER WATCHING them go up and down for most of the season in baseball, if anyone had the St. Louis Cardinals going to the World Series, they'd probably be lying.

In fact, with less than two weeks to go, the only people that believed they'd be where they are tonight, hosting Game 1 of the fall classic, might have been themselves.

They are, no matter how bad of a season it looked like, and now find themselves with a chance to beat the Texas Rangers for another improbable championship.

As the early part of September was unfolding, it might have seemed as if the Boston Red Sox were on cruise control, just coasting into the playoffs with an amazing record and all the talent money could buy.

One month later, they're not and Boston is still looking for a manager and general manager after they were made scapegoats for an epic collapse.

Theo Epstein, who helped Boston win two championships in a span of four years will try to do the same for the Chicago Cubs. Terry Francona, the guy who managed those Sox to championships, is still looking for a job.

Regardless of who wins this World Series, it makes me wonder.

After watching teams like the Philadelphia Phillies or New York Yankees fail to get past the first round, will anyone remember this year's champ?

COVERING THE sport of football for 10 years, I've never seen anything like the run of the Coeur d'Alene High team, especially within the past month.

The Vikings closed out September with an 88-12 win at Sandpoint.

While I’ve seen 88 points in a high school football game before, that was also an 8-man game and the other team scored 64 points.

And in those 8-man games, you almost expect a high score.

But when it comes to an 11-man game, the idea of a team scoring that many points almost never happens.

Almost.

Coeur d’Alene returned home on Oct. 7 to face Moscow in a nonleague game that could have had a similar result, had both teams not agreed to a running clock late in the second quarter to get the game in.

A test will come on Friday night when the fourth-ranked Post Falls Trojans visit Coeur d’Alene for a 5A Inland Empire League game. Chances are, the winning team will get a home playoff game, with the other just needing one more win to secure a trip to the postseason.

Lakeland needs only a win this Friday night against Moscow to clinch a berth into the state 4A football playoffs.

Late October, the drama is still there.

The conclusion is just waiting to be written.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at [email protected].