Ooooh yeah baby playoff fever!!

[vaticanplum]

Let's take note of a few things, shall we?

1. The Mets have been Oh Mr. Fantastic Fabuloso Team all season long, and now two days before the season is over, they've dropped entirely out of first place. I just saw Mr. Met hiding his eyes on TV directly after I witnessed an interview with David Wright during which he honestly looked as if he was addressing the recent global apocalypse. Meanwhile, I have my friend the lifelong Phillies fan sending me tearful e-mails from Egypt, where he's due to spend the entirety of the next year, and he is just beside himself at what's going on and why he's not there. And all of a sudden I'm feeling deep kinship with the Phillies, who have a star over the I in their name like some dumb teenage girl. I really thought my life couldn't get any lamer.

2. The Cubs took the NL Central tonight having won something like 11 games this season, and I felt kind of happy for them and their dumb dumb fans. Whatever.

3. The Yankees have a largely home-grown team, and no one has seemed to notice, but whatever, and they could win the World Series and kind of actually be a great story after that farm systemness and the first half they had and no one would care, but whatever. it's great, it's great for them that they're the wild card instead of the shoo-in winner. I think this is a really different team than last year, a hungrier team, and I don't care that I've thought that every year for several years running now.

4. The Red Sox are still a good team, and this makes me happy because good teams should be in the playoffs.

5. The Angels and Indians are really good. Really really good, honestly. A lot of us live in Ohio and we're not supposed to notice this about the Indians, and I wonder how many people outside Cleveland notice the Indians at all, but they're kind of groovylicious in their own confused way.

6. The NL West and the NL East could make this Monday very interesting. I don't even entirely understand all the possibilities but I will probably lose sleep over it. This is awesome.

7. Like many people, maybe most people, I have a life and a job that are sucking the life out of me at the moment, but even in little snippets I can get excited about all these teams and all this ridiculousness that I half know and don't really care about -- in some cases, actually dislike. I think this world is bananas, but baseball in September makes it make a little more sense.

8. The Diamondbacks honestly look like a set of living Ken dolls. Good for them.

Oh yeah baby playoff fever...catch it!!

[wheels]

I am rooting heavily for the Tribe this October. Most of my friends are from Cleveland, and they're not acting as jerky about the Indians as they did in the mid ninties, so I can get some vicarious thrills from them.

Plus, I'm a big Mark Shapiro fan.

What with all of the economic struggles in that city right now, those folks need a ring in the worst way.

[blumj]

Originally Posted by wheels

I am rooting heavily for the Tribe this October. Most of my friends are from Cleveland, and they're not acting as jerky about the Indians as they did in the mid ninties, so I can get some vicarious thrills from them.

Plus, I'm a big Mark Shapiro fan.

What with all of the economic struggles in that city right now, those folks need a ring in the worst way.

As a Sox fan, I'm a little relieved that my team didn't draw the Indians in the DS. As a baseball fan, though, I can't wait to watch the Indians/Yankees DS. Because I think they're probably the 2 deepest, most complete teams right now in the whole postseason.

[KronoRed]

Hmm...I guess I'll go with the Phillies, assuming they don't keel over in the next 2 days, gotta root for a team with a K machine

Or anyone who plays the cubs, the cubs being bad is the way it's meant to be.

In the al? ugh, the yanks and red sox are boring, I don't care much for the angels, so Indians it is.

[M2]

A few notes on the Sox. Almost no one left the park after the game tonight. The Yankees game went up on the scoreboard and the packed house stayed to watch it. Last night, with the team threatening to score in the 8th and 9th, the sky cracked open and a drenching rain began to fall (I was actually surprised the game didn't get delayed, we actually had some flooding on my street, which is roughly two miles from Fenway). No one left then either.

That's either a case of committed fans or proof that when you've had to mortgage your house to afford a ticket, you stay until they kick you out of the park.

I imagine this division win means a lot to Tim Wakefield, who is the only guy left from the last Red Sox division winner in '95. Wakefield is now 3rd in Red Sox history in wins, IP and Ks. In the first two categories he's behind Roger Clemens and Cy Young. In Ks he's behind Clemens and Pedro Martinez.

[Johnny Footstool]

The Yankees. Meh. Sorry, but I just can't get excited about them. They could invent a way to cure cancer by hitting doubles and I just wouldn't care. Because they're the Yankees.

[Rojo]

Rooting for the Pads. Wouldn't mind the Indians or Phils. The Redsox, Yanks, Cubs and DBacks can bite me.

[GAC]

Rooting for the Indians. They are tied with the Sox with the best record in baseball (95-65), yet IMHO, are not getting the respect they deserve.

[Outshined_One]

Originally Posted by vaticanplum

2. The Cubs took the NL Central tonight having won something like 11 games this season, and I felt kind of happy for them and their dumb dumb fans. Whatever.

[GAC]

I hope Bartman is sitting down the 3Bline again.

[MrCinatit]

I became an instant Phillies fan back in '79 for some reason or another - might have to do with some guy signing with them. Though I lost interest in them after the '83 season for some reason, a little bit of me still does appreciate them a whole lot.

Interesting point about the Yankees. I think one of the reasons the team frustrates me so much is for their tendency to want to buy the better players out there - and for it to blow up in their faces so many times.
Recently, the likes of Abreu, Randy Johnson, Sheffield, Mussina and A-Rod have sometimes been good players - but none of those guys have helped them get the ring. When they dominated during the late '90s, they didn't do it with the row of eye-candy sluggers or flame throwers they have been collecting - they did not do it with a bunch of great players...they did it with some great teams. Yes, they had very good players, but it seems they knew how to better play as a team. Maybe I'm just imagining all that.

As much as I have a like for the Phillies, I like the Indians a whole lot more. In the late '80s, I went to quite a few games at the Mistake on the Lake. Those were some very bad teams - but it seemed like around that time, the franchise was "getting it." Instead of collecting tired old vets and youngsters with no business being in the game, they were collecting good young players. I saw a few of their minor league teams, as well, and you could tell the foundation was there.
Since then, the Indians seemed to have consistently been oh so close, but oh so far. Yes, they have had some very rough spots - but this year seems to be one of those special years the Indians have been having a few more of recently.
This is the team I would love to see go all the way this year.


Even with the Reds out of it, every night during our break at work, our supervisor pulls out his cell phone and starts going over the scores. All four of us seem to know exactly where each team stands, and what is needed to be done that night. It has actually been rather fascinating watching the fall of the Mets and Brewers this year, as well as the potential collapse by Boston.

[LvJ]

Allowing the Cubs to clinch against us made me shiver and come very closing to vomiting. I was really disappointed.

However, in the playoffs.... Go D'Backs and Indians. More specifically, Go Brandon Webb!

[KronoRed]

Originally Posted by GAC

I hope Bartman is sitting down the 3Bline again.

He should take a long vacation out of the city..far far away

[blumj]

Originally Posted by M2

A few notes on the Sox. Almost no one left the park after the game tonight. The Yankees game went up on the scoreboard and the packed house stayed to watch it. Last night, with the team threatening to score in the 8th and 9th, the sky cracked open and a drenching rain began to fall (I was actually surprised the game didn't get delayed, we actually had some flooding on my street, which is roughly two miles from Fenway). No one left then either.

That's either a case of committed fans or proof that when you've had to mortgage your house to afford a ticket, you stay until they kick you out of the park.

I imagine this division win means a lot to Tim Wakefield, who is the only guy left from the last Red Sox division winner in '95. Wakefield is now 3rd in Red Sox history in wins, IP and Ks. In the first two categories he's behind Roger Clemens and Cy Young. In Ks he's behind Clemens and Pedro Martinez.

BTW, the whole crowd waiting at Fenway thing last night was pretty remarkable, as it turned out. It's just kind of amazing that so many of them sat there waiting for Mariano Rivera to blow a 3 run lead to the Orioles and even more amazing that he did.

[MWM]

I've never been to Wrigley, but will most lkely be at game 3 next Saturday. I generally wear my Reds gear when I go to any baseball game, but I will refrain from doing so in this case.

And if the Red Sox and Yanks are in the ALCS, I will probably go to Game 2 in Boston (M2, I'll be in touch as I think I'll have an extra ticket). I LOVE playoff baseball, no matter how bad the Reds are.