Love for the Pennant Race
As some of you know, I’m mainly a baseball guy (I love football, but baseball is definitely my favorite sport). I absolutely LOVE this part of the year. The pennant races couldn’t be tighter and the college football and NFL seasons are beginning.
How great have the pennant races been? The Yankees and the Red Sox are battling it out, ½ game separating the two and they are not even the big national story right now. The run the Indians have been on has been incredible and the White Sox have been letting them back in the race. As late as 8 days ago, when I was in Chicago, most listeners and radio hosts agreed that the Sox had the division rapped up as they were 7 ½ up. Little did they know, the Indians would not lose that week and come into US Cellular only 3 ½ back. Both of the games they players so far have been great to watch, thank the Lord for the baseball package. The Indians got a 4 run lead in game one, but the White Sox battled back and took the lead going into the eight. Aaron Boone got the big hit with two outs in the top of the 8th on a 99 mph pitch to give game one to Indians. 2 ½ game lead for the Sox. Game two was equally as exciting. Aaron Boone started the scoring by hitting one off the reservation early in the game. But the White Sox would not be denied. They came back from 2-0, 3-2, and 5-3 defecits to tie the game each time, even taking the lead into the top of the ninth. Once again the Indians would not wilt and tied up the game in the top of the ninth at 6. At that point, the Indians had all the momentum in the world and once the game got to the tenth, I thought the Indians would close it out. But then, out of nowhere, Joe Crede hit a game-winning home-run. At no point was I ever considering that as an option. Just a role player stepping up at the right time. 3 ½ game lead for the Sox. One more game today, 3 more next week at the Jake. I can’t wait. My prediction is that Indians will catch the Sox by winning tonight and sweeping at the Jake. They just have too much heart.
The Yankees and the Red Sox are also having a great race. The Yankees have been behind all year and at one point or another everyone has counted them out. They are winning with pitchers like Chien-Ming Wang and Aaron Small. Randy Johnson has been struggling and Mike Mussina has been hurt. But the Yankees are only ½ game back of the Red Sox and 0 games back in the loss column (they have a game at Baltimore on Thursday night while the Red Sox will be off). This Yankee team is a lot different from past Yankee teams. This team has been battling uphill all year. They have not been the favorite since the season started, and they have needed role guys like John Olerud to carry them for stretches. Jason Giambi has somehow woken up and A-Rod has proved to be the MVP (people could argue this, but Ortiz does not play the field and their offensive numbers are very comparable) in the AL. This Yankee team is making it very hard for Yankee haters to hate them. The Bubba Crosby home run to win it on Monday night was awesome. Another role guy stepping in and making something happen. On the other hand the Red Sox have been struggling of late, but David Ortiz is pretty much single handedly carrying them right now. He has been an absolute mammoth the last couple of weeks. The series in Fenway to end the season will be nothing short of sensational. My prediction is the Yankees will somehow find a way to win the East. The Red Sox will make the playoffs as a wild card and the White Sox will be home.
Both Wild Card races have been awesome as well. For a while both leagues had 4+ teams competing for the spots. In the AL, the Indians and Yankees have been so hot that they have left teams like the A’s, Angels, and Twins in the dust. The NL has been a different story. No one talks about the wild card race in the NL, but the Astros, Marlins, and Phillies have been battling hard. They have left the Mets and Nationals in the dust. After the All-Star break, the Astros had the lead. About a month ago, the Phillies took it over and got up by as much as 2 ½ games. Then the Astros swept them and took the lead back. At the same time the Marlins inched to within half a game and eventually took the lead from Astros. Then the Astros played the Marlins and they split a great four game series. Now the Astros are back on top holding onto a 2 game lead. I think the see-saw battle is done and the Astros will hold on.
As a Ranger fan, I don’t want to comment on the AL West because with any sort of pitching they would be in the playoffs.
The other great thing about these races, is the teams in the races (except for the White Sox) pretty much win every day.
I have a proposition. The Angels are selling their playoff tickets entirely online. I don’t know if they are the only ones doing that, but I have a feeling they are not. I think that is absolutely terrible. There should have one day of sales that are purely walk-ups at the box office. If that means people have to camp out to get tickets, then so be it, at least the really dedicated fans will be able to get tickets instead of a ton of scalpers who just want to make a profit. And if scalpers do camp out to get tickets then at least they’ll have to put in some work to make a profit. After the first day, if there are still tickets available they should be distributed to ticketmaster and online sales.
I’m going to change subjects and quickly move on to a little football. I bought into the Vince Young hype during the Michigan game. He was amazing and that was one of the best games I have ever seen. In the NFL, the Rams are terrible. They will not make the playoffs this year or anytime soon in the future. They are old and getting older, slow on defense, give up a ton of points, and can’t score like they could in the past. Everyone talks about them like they are some high-powered offense that needs to overcome a defensive deficiency. I see it more like a 6-10 team who may only win 4 games because their defense stinks and their offense is not better than average.
How great have the pennant races been? The Yankees and the Red Sox are battling it out, ½ game separating the two and they are not even the big national story right now. The run the Indians have been on has been incredible and the White Sox have been letting them back in the race. As late as 8 days ago, when I was in Chicago, most listeners and radio hosts agreed that the Sox had the division rapped up as they were 7 ½ up. Little did they know, the Indians would not lose that week and come into US Cellular only 3 ½ back. Both of the games they players so far have been great to watch, thank the Lord for the baseball package. The Indians got a 4 run lead in game one, but the White Sox battled back and took the lead going into the eight. Aaron Boone got the big hit with two outs in the top of the 8th on a 99 mph pitch to give game one to Indians. 2 ½ game lead for the Sox. Game two was equally as exciting. Aaron Boone started the scoring by hitting one off the reservation early in the game. But the White Sox would not be denied. They came back from 2-0, 3-2, and 5-3 defecits to tie the game each time, even taking the lead into the top of the ninth. Once again the Indians would not wilt and tied up the game in the top of the ninth at 6. At that point, the Indians had all the momentum in the world and once the game got to the tenth, I thought the Indians would close it out. But then, out of nowhere, Joe Crede hit a game-winning home-run. At no point was I ever considering that as an option. Just a role player stepping up at the right time. 3 ½ game lead for the Sox. One more game today, 3 more next week at the Jake. I can’t wait. My prediction is that Indians will catch the Sox by winning tonight and sweeping at the Jake. They just have too much heart.
The Yankees and the Red Sox are also having a great race. The Yankees have been behind all year and at one point or another everyone has counted them out. They are winning with pitchers like Chien-Ming Wang and Aaron Small. Randy Johnson has been struggling and Mike Mussina has been hurt. But the Yankees are only ½ game back of the Red Sox and 0 games back in the loss column (they have a game at Baltimore on Thursday night while the Red Sox will be off). This Yankee team is a lot different from past Yankee teams. This team has been battling uphill all year. They have not been the favorite since the season started, and they have needed role guys like John Olerud to carry them for stretches. Jason Giambi has somehow woken up and A-Rod has proved to be the MVP (people could argue this, but Ortiz does not play the field and their offensive numbers are very comparable) in the AL. This Yankee team is making it very hard for Yankee haters to hate them. The Bubba Crosby home run to win it on Monday night was awesome. Another role guy stepping in and making something happen. On the other hand the Red Sox have been struggling of late, but David Ortiz is pretty much single handedly carrying them right now. He has been an absolute mammoth the last couple of weeks. The series in Fenway to end the season will be nothing short of sensational. My prediction is the Yankees will somehow find a way to win the East. The Red Sox will make the playoffs as a wild card and the White Sox will be home.
Both Wild Card races have been awesome as well. For a while both leagues had 4+ teams competing for the spots. In the AL, the Indians and Yankees have been so hot that they have left teams like the A’s, Angels, and Twins in the dust. The NL has been a different story. No one talks about the wild card race in the NL, but the Astros, Marlins, and Phillies have been battling hard. They have left the Mets and Nationals in the dust. After the All-Star break, the Astros had the lead. About a month ago, the Phillies took it over and got up by as much as 2 ½ games. Then the Astros swept them and took the lead back. At the same time the Marlins inched to within half a game and eventually took the lead from Astros. Then the Astros played the Marlins and they split a great four game series. Now the Astros are back on top holding onto a 2 game lead. I think the see-saw battle is done and the Astros will hold on.
As a Ranger fan, I don’t want to comment on the AL West because with any sort of pitching they would be in the playoffs.
The other great thing about these races, is the teams in the races (except for the White Sox) pretty much win every day.
I have a proposition. The Angels are selling their playoff tickets entirely online. I don’t know if they are the only ones doing that, but I have a feeling they are not. I think that is absolutely terrible. There should have one day of sales that are purely walk-ups at the box office. If that means people have to camp out to get tickets, then so be it, at least the really dedicated fans will be able to get tickets instead of a ton of scalpers who just want to make a profit. And if scalpers do camp out to get tickets then at least they’ll have to put in some work to make a profit. After the first day, if there are still tickets available they should be distributed to ticketmaster and online sales.
I’m going to change subjects and quickly move on to a little football. I bought into the Vince Young hype during the Michigan game. He was amazing and that was one of the best games I have ever seen. In the NFL, the Rams are terrible. They will not make the playoffs this year or anytime soon in the future. They are old and getting older, slow on defense, give up a ton of points, and can’t score like they could in the past. Everyone talks about them like they are some high-powered offense that needs to overcome a defensive deficiency. I see it more like a 6-10 team who may only win 4 games because their defense stinks and their offense is not better than average.
posted by bbwillrk @ 5:54 PM
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