Well, for a season where our "President" didn't throw out the first pitch, I'd say pretty much everything else was fantastic! September was one of the best months of baseball ever played, with all three divisions of the American League decided by 6 games or less. The National League east was no contest, with Atlanta kicking butt, but Florida just barely squeaking into the wild card spot. Now Florida is heading to the World Series. The National League Central, of which the Brewers try and play in, was the most closely contested. Oddly enough, the Brewers won the final series of the season with Houston, which gave the Cubs an invitation to the playoffs. As expected, Barry single handedly won the NL west.
These sorts of things were really no surprise, back in March, I correctly guessed 5 out of 6 of the division winners. Check for yourself! Go me. I was only wrong about the Expos. I should have given more consideration to the Braves. Not. I still don't understand how they tied for the best record in the MLB. Which is odd, because back then I said, "There's no real good team in the N.L. East." Oops.
September wasn't much of anything compared to what October has been. Its "cowboy out" for the Red Sox. Oh well. The favorite of this household gave it a valiant effort. Per usual in Boston, "There's always next year," or century (Link: funny article about the fall classic 100 years from now), or decade. The clock struck midnight at Yankee stadium at the beginning of the 11th inning. Moments later, Aaron Boone sent the boys in Red on their way home for the year.
The Cubs were leading the series 3-1. Then they were leading the series 3-2 when a fan interfered with a fly ball to left field that would have stopped the 8 run 8th inning for the Marlins. Then they were tied 3 games to 3 games.
For the first time ever, both the league championship series ended in a game 7. Want more? Each of the losing teams were 5 outs away from going to the World Series! Blame who you like - Steve Bartman for interfering, eternal ineptitude/goat curse, or The Sultan of Swat - but when it comes down to it, the Cubs and Red Sox just don't belong in the World Series.
If I were the executives at Fox, I would ask the Cubs and Red Sox to play a 7-game exhibition series, for "third place," for ratings, for the fans of these two teams and fans of good, competitive baseball all over the world. There have been 100 baseball post seasons, and this was the best. Why end it now?
As for the World Series - who cares. I'm tired of the Yankees. Not for the reasons that everybody else gives like, "they always win," or "they buy their championships." The Yankees win because they were able to farm good players into experienced superstars, like Jeter, Soriano and Posada, then build around those guys with imported stars and superior bullpen pitching. The young boys in Florida have their hands full. Too bad the Yankee pitching will be able to effectively shut down the Florida hitters. I sure won't be walking home fast from class, or setting my VCR for these games. It'll be a miracle if this series goes past 5 games.
Woo!!!
Enjoy! I personally will never be doing anything else again.
First score: 29