Oh Boy, Here We Go Again

Well, last night saw the elimination of the last pre-World Series National League representative, the Arizona Diamondbacks, and the end of a less-than-stellar debut of Playoff Baseball on TBS. They covered three sweeps in the National League and one game over minimum in the American League. They were treated to 17 out of a possible 27 games. No-one put up a fight. But, that's the way the ball bounces. And now the National League representative to the World Series is the Colorado Rockies, a team that never should have been tied for the Wild Card, got a bogus call to win the one-game playoff, and who I eliminated from winning the whole shebang back on April 30.

Ohhh, they better not win. I'll be so pissed.

Oh, by the way, I'm pretty sure I'll be eliminating the Diamondbacks next week.

Err, Yes...

I feel confident in stating that the Los Angeles Angles of Anaheim in California, a subsidiary of Major League Baseball and the Church of Scientolgy will not win the World Series this year. Would that I were so confident before they were actually swept out of the playoffs. But, we live and we learn, and I still have one more elimination to make before the end of the year...

The Chicago Cubs were the first team to be swept out of the Division Series this year, on October 6. They were the 22nd team officially eliminated, but I had the long-term vision to eliminate them back on June 4th, my 10th elimination.

The Philadelphia Phillies were swept out of the playoffs the very same day, the 23rd team eliminated. I waited until August 28th to eliminate them, using my 20th elimination on them.



The 24th elimination came the next day in the American League, in California as the Angels themselves were swept. Again, this is another situation where I haven't quite gotten around to eliminating them, but I will.

The 25th team eliminated, and one of the most satisfying (sorry, Brian) came the next day when the Yankees were bounced once again. I don't know if they're going to let Joe Torre go or not, but I think you will see a very different Yankees team next year. I eliminated them on September 17th, using my 23rd elimination.

Postseason Elimination Time

Yeah, I'm late to the party on this one. But they were doing so well, and had some of the best pitching in baseball, which is supposed to beat great hitting. Well, so much for that. But the San Diego Padres are eliminated on my list now, and I have a good idea who I'll eliminate next week, too.

Who to Root For?

Who do I root for, now that the Blue Jays are eliminated from the playoffs. Who do I want to see win the whole dang thing, out of the possible choices. Well, it used to be mostly intuitive. Hate the AL East teams, get a feel about the history of the other teams, what kind of baseball town they are. And follow any favorite players that may be on other teams.

Eventually, I just started rooting for ex-Blue Jays that were on other teams. As long as I liked them, anyway. If they were considered traitors in any way, they were off my radar. Then I started factoring in how long the team had waited to win a World Series.

This year, though, it has become a mathematical equation. I have four factors that I am considering when choosing who to root for. 1) How long HAS it been since they won a World Series. Sorry, new teams, but not winning one doesn't mean the same thing as waiting 86 years to win one. 2) How many ex-Blue Jays DO they employ on their roster? Keeping ex-Blue Jays in the game almost always makes me happy. 3) Did I visit their stadium this year? I've sort of been rooting for the Phillies and Nationals all along on a secondary level this year. It'll be interesting to see how this translates to my New York trip next year. 4) Are they still alive in my World Series Survivor? Look, I want to have some success with this new concept. I've gone out on limbs here, and I want to look good and have the kind of success that will make me want to continue it next year.

1) The Chicago Cubs have not won a World Series in 99 YEARS! It's called the Curse of the Goat for a long and silly reason, but that makes them the team waiting longest for World Series Championship in all of baseball, let alone in the playoffs. The team that has been waiting the second-longest amount of time is also in the playoffs, the Cleveland Indians. They won their last World Series way back in 1948. From there we jump all the way to 1980 and the Philadelphia Phillies. The Rockies have never won a World Series, but they've only been around since 1992. The rest of the teams have all won a World Series in this decade: The Yankees in 2000, the Diamondbacks in 2001, the Angels in 2002, and the Red Sox in 2004.

2)The Boston Red Sox actually have FOUR ex-Blue Jays on their postseason roster: Mike Timlin (who was standing on the mound and got the save when the Jays beat the Braves in '92), Eric Hinske, Kevin Cash and Bobby Kielty. There are two other teams that have two ex-Blue Jays each: the Angels (Kelvim Escobar and Justin Speier) and the Diamondbacks (Doug Davis and Gold-Glover Orlando Hudson -- who is actually injured but a big favorite of mine). There are three teams that have only one player: Ted Lilly is on the Chicago Cubs, Jayson Werth is on the Philadelphia Phillies and Roger Clemens is on the New York Yankees. There are no ex-Blue Jays on the Cleveland Indians or the Colorado Rockies.

3) I went to Citizens Bank Park and RFK Stadium this year and bought the requisite Phillies and Nationals hats as souvenirs. Thus, the Phillies deserve a special bonus.

4) There are four teams I have not eliminated from the World Series Survivor competition: The San Diego Padres (blarf), the Cleveland Indians, the LA Angels, and the Arizona Diamondbacks. The last three deserve compensation.

So... After all this is done and said, this is the order in which I (and you, for that matter) should be rooting for teams in postseason 2007:

Philadelphia Phillies
Chicago Cubs
LA Angels
Cleveland Indians
Arizona Diamondbacks
Boston Red Sox
New York Yankees
Colorado Rockies

Of course, between the time I started writing this post and actually posting it, my top 3 teams went 0-5. Maybe this will help.

Last of the Red Hot Regular Season Eliminations

The Atlanta Braves were eliminated on September 27, the 18th team eliminated. I was close, they were my 19th team eliminated, on August 28


The Milwaukee Brewers were eliminated on September 28, the 19th team eliminated. They were my 18th team, whom I eliminated on August 21.


The New York Mets completed their ruin on what was supposed to be the final day of the season, September 30. They were the 20th team eliminated in actuality, but they were my 25th team to go, um, yesterday.

The San Diego Padres were the 21st team eliminated, in a one-game playoff with the Colorado Rockies, obviously my biggest mistake this year. I haven't gotten around to eliminating them yet, but I plan to do so soon.

A Too-Late Elimination

This is a first in World Series Survivor. A team has actually eliminated themselves before I could do it for them. The Mets completed a historical collapse this past weekend, banishing them from the playoffs. This performance, combined with the 2006 playoffs has branded the team as the THE Biggest Chokers of the 21st century, a title that can only be relinquished with the winning of a World Series, which obviously won't happen this year. Maybe next year, guys. But probably not.