While watching the Cardinals take on the Tigers, I am reminded of how much the baseball playoffs have changed recently.
The New York Mets and New York Yankees each won 97 games. Each lost to the teams that are representing their leagues in the World Series...so tell me, does anyone feel cheated?
The incredibly long, boring regular season has come to mean very little. True, the Tigers seemed like they were the best team in baseball all year because they got off to an incredible start, playing as high as .700 baseball through mid-June. However, both they and the Cardinals finished with LOSING records after the All-Star break (Tigers, 36-38), Cardinals (35-39). This marks the 1st time in the history of the World Series that both teams had losing records post All-Star break.
Ever since the Yankees reign of championships ended in 2001, MLB has seen a very strange group of teams go on to win titles. Starting with the Diamondbacks win, every champion since then has been more surprising than the next. The Angels in 2002 came out of nowhere. At one point in their season they were 6-14, and considering their history of failures, no one expected them to win. The Marlins of 2003 fell as far as 10 games under .500 before they changed managers and started their run. As if defeating the 100-win SF Giants in the NLDS wasn't enough, they rallied from 3-1 down to defeat the Cubs, having to beat Mark Prior and Kerry Wood on the road in Games 6 and 7 of the NLCS and then rallied from 2-1 down to win the next three and shock the Yankees in the World Series.
The 2004 Red Sox speak for themselves with what they accomplished. First ending the curse of the bambino, then performing an historic comeback from 3-0 down against the Yankees, something no team in baseball history had ever done. Then in 2005, the Chicago White Sox, who had gone 1 year longer than the famous Red Sox jinx of winning World Series, wins their first World Championship since 1917. With these recent shockers, I thought the only thing left to happen would be for the Cubs to win the World Series this season.
These are the thoughts I had in my head entering this postseason. What in the world could happen next? Well, the team that absolutely dominated the National League fell flat on their face against a team they won 14 more games then during the regular season. Only the 2001 Mariners, 1906 Cubs, 1973 Reds and 1954 Indians lost playoff series when having that many more wins than their opponent.
Knowing recent baseball history, I really shouldn't have been surprised. Only once since the New York Mets last won the World Series in 1986 has the team with the best record in the NL won the World Series. That happened in 1995 when the Atlanta Braves won their only World Championship. Think about it...since 1986 the team with the best record in the NL has only won 1 World Series. That is amazing.
Perhaps just as amazing was the futility of the Yankees in their ALDS matchup vs the Tigers. After dominating Game 1, the Tigers completely shut down the 26-time World Champs. Murderer's Row plus Cano went down almost to easily.
So while the rest of the world enjoys watching underdogs play in the World Series. I for one would like to watch the 2 best teams during the regular season play for the title.
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I understand how you could want to see the two best teams play. But are they really the best when it comes down to crunch time and they choke? You speak of the Yankees, they are always the best team we have seen them play for years and years. If another team comes in and beats them aren't they a pretty good team..if not deserving of the title best in the playoffs? I mean if we go by that then the basketball playoffs should have been the Pistons.. I think the best team is not who was the best all season but who when it comes down to it, gets the job done. The teams that go to the playoffs and world-series all have an equal chance of winning. The Yankees choked...and if we say... but they were so good in the regular season and had more wins their choke shouldn't count, we could say the same for the Tigers for example.. They choked during the regular season but are spectacular now..their chokes shouldn't count. The yankees got their pennant for being American League Champions. They fell short for the title, that's their own fault. The Tigers and Cardinals have proven themselves in the post-season, that SHOULD be Rewarded!
im a mets fan so that national league championship game was BS