Thursday, September 20, 2007

National League Pennant Races

By Michael Haas

Today we'll branch out from the regular old baseball talk, and discuss the national league. Personally, it's painful to watch these games, as I wish the Twins were still competing. But I do have opinions I'll share, and I'd like to get some others opinions. perhaps get a pool going?

AL:

The four teams going to the playoffs will be the Indians, Yankees, Red Sox and Angels. The only question is: Who will be the Wild Card entrant?

My Take: I don't care. I hate the Yankees slightly more than the Red Sox, but as long both those teams lose to the Indians and the Angels, it doesn't really matter. ESPN would like you to believe that this race matter, but it DOES NOT. As for the playoffs, I hope that the Indians make the World Series for just one reason - so the AL Champion list can look like this:

2005 - Chicago White Sox
2006 - Detroit Tigers
2007 - Cleveland Indians
2008 - Minnesota Twins
2009 - Kansas City Royals


The NL:

Right now, the teams in the playoffs would be the Cubs, Mets, Padres and Diamondbacks. But the Brewers are just one game behind the Cubs, and the Phillies are only 2.5 games behind the Mets for the East, and the Padres for the Wild Card.

My take: I've always said that I niether like nor dislike any National League team. But I'd like to ammend that right now. I don't like the Brewers, and I don't like the Cubs.

I don't unnecessarily dislike the Brewers, It's just that I would rather have them perform badly for two reasons:

1. I like tradition. The Brewers are traditionally bad. This is the same reason I wanted the Cubs to lose to the Marlins and the Red Sox to lose to the Cardinals.

2. If the Brewers were good, Minnesota would have nothing to brag about. ( in the sports world - Minnesota is still way better than Wisconsin no matter how our sports teams fare. )


I don't like the Cubs for two reasons:

1. Most Cubs fans from Chicago I've come across tend to dislike the Twins. The Twins and Cubs have played each other something like 9 times in their whole entire histories. Get real, Cubs fans. It's not fair to hate one team simply because you like another one.

2. The state of Iowa loves the Cubs. Enough said.

After some careful thought, I've decided to root for the Cubs to win the NL Central. I like Lou Pinella, and I hate the White Sox.

As for the other teams - - eh, I guess I'd cheer for the Mets just because I like Reyes and Wright and Castillo. And maybe they'd take away from those Yankee fans. Maybe.



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9 comments:

Daymonster said...

Everything about me should dislike the cubs. But I don't. Here are my reasons.

1. My gf likes them, and actually knows about them so I can talk to her about baseball (but only in the context of the cubs).

2. I would like live near a world series atmosphere when I am old enough to enjoy the experience on a drinking level.

3. I fucking hate the White Sox.

4. Pinella, Jones, and Santo make me smile.

5. Once they win they can shut up about how such lovable losers they are and go back to seeing them as overpaid underachievers like we have always seen them.

Anonymous said...

Pills:
Haas you are saying you can't dislike a team simply because you like another, but clearly this is your stance on lots of teams around the AL, in that you dislike them cause you love the Twins?

haasertime said...

I should have clarified that. I don't like other teams around the AL because of the Twins - yes thats true. But that's because those teams directly compete with the Twins.

The cubs almost never compete with the twins.

thats why for the most part, i don't dislike any of the NL teams.

It would be (almost, sortof) like a Vikings fan hating the Toronto Argonauts.

Daymonster said...

Haas, let me handle this.

I believe what he is saying is that, it can't be the reason if those teams play eachother maybe 3 times a decade (cubs vs. twins) if they are in their division than you can't really like more than one team.

Daymonster said...

ooops. looks like you already set the record straight. disregard my comment.

Anonymous said...

Pills:
But correct me if I am wrong, the Twins and the Cubs are both after the same prize, a World Series Championship. So comparing the immortal purple and the Ricky Williams led Toronto Argonauts is not quite the same. I do not mean to be a nit picker but I am just saying.

Daymonster said...

yes, that's fair (although I hardly think ricky, "leads" the Argonauts). but, i would say it's more like hating real Madrid, and loving Manchester united. while they do play each other occasionally (champions league) they do not play each other regularly because they are in separate leagues.

Football is different, the two conferences mean nothing, they play each other often, you really should only have one allegiance but baseball offers the fan a possibility for multiple (2) favorite(ish) teams.

TwinsWin83 said...

I too would like to see the Cubs win just to shut up all of their fans but then again Bostons fans are just as, if not more, annoying now then they were before 2004. But then again I dont think Cubs fans are as loud and obnoxious as Boston fans to begin with so maybe it would be ok.

Plus I saw this hour long special on HBO not too long ago about the history of the Cubs over the past 100 years and it made me feel kinda bad for all the really really old Cub fans who have never seen them win a title.

I really dont think the Cubs could win the series this year though even if they make the playoffs, then again the Cards proved last year that a bad teams can get hot at the right time and end up beating much better teams.

I look at it like this: if the 98' Vikings didnt win the Super Bowl with that stacked team they arent ever meant to win the Super Bowl. Kinda like if the 03' Cubs didnt win the World Series with the team they had and Wood and Prior throwing like they were at that time then they arent meant to win it again. Some teams are just cursed.

Anonymous said...

Stop cubs fans from bithcing? Wasnt the the same argument made for red sox to finally win, so their insufferable fans wouldnt bitch about how hard the last century has been? And arent the fans worse than ever? Its better to have a lovable loser then a jerk who thinks they are better than everyone else. In my humble opinion, baseball needs perrenial losers to keep the balance of perennial winners i.e. the yankees.

On a side note, german keyboards are weird, lots of the letters are mixed up.