It means the planets finally aligned just right. Many of us have held the opinion, that MIL had little shot at reaching another WS, let alone - winning one, unless just the right amount of serendipity occurred. That's what it was going to take to overcome the insultingly tilted playing field allowed to the big market teams. That planetary alignment includes - cheap older vets having a career year (Bauers), cheap young guys blossoming simultaneously into true difference makers (Chourio, Mis, Henderson, Pratt, Lara), older but still cheap players emerging or rounding out into their full potential (Turang, Mitchell, Megill, Ashby), and a still affordable, anchor vet taking it up another notch (Contreras), affordable trade pickups making an impact (Hamilton, JoJo, Harrison, Drohan). Overall decent health, starting pitching aside was a factor too. By and large that it what has happened this year.