I got a nice long piece on the Nats playoffs coming up (hopefully Monday). It starts in the same place that the first part of this piece over at Citizens of Natstown does, the same place we ended up on Twitter the day after with Chris Needham. But it's a long one so you'll have to wait. In the meantime - who ya got?
I'll say that my rooting interest is pretty light at this point. I didn't want Cardinals Giants. I didn't want the Royals. I preferred the Tigers over the Orioles as well but with the caveat the NL didn't end up Cards/Giants, and it did. So I would have wanted the O's. Not a great post-season for the ol' Harper.
My rooting interests would probably go O's, Giants, Royals. The O's mainly because of Buck who's been a very good manager that took 20 years to get his due. Plus the O's have been good recently but not for a long enough time to become a stabbing thorn in the Yankees side. The Giants... I got nothing against the Giants post-Bonds other than a general tiredness of seeing them win.
Why do the Royals fall so low? I'm not an underdog guy. I'm a reward the teams that do the best over 162 game guy. We've discussed this before but really I'm not a playoff guy. I think they are wildly entertaining but at the same time they usually work against what should be the goal - rewarding the team that was best over the season. That's what I think. So the Royals - a slightly better than average team that caught some breaks during the regular season to get into the playoffs and then got hot at the right time - is close to the exact opposite of who I'd want to win a championship.
Still - better than the Cardinals. And that completely is because they've won a lot recently, I won't deny that. And it also is a fan thing. I really don't hate the players all that much outside of one or two who's names won't be mentioned here. But the fans, and everyone except them understands this, love to project a "best fans" attitude, which is barely passable in bad times and completely and utterly among the most insufferable things you've ever dealt with in good times. Sure all teams have that same sense of "we're special", but St. Louis has happily used that as THE defining trait for the franchise. I can get past team bravado - the "we do things the right way" is annoying but at least it's team focused - but FAN bravado? That always gets me.
So I guess I'm going with the perfect Halloween series - Giants and O's (alternatively "The Jon Miller series") with maybe the O's winning?
Royals.
ReplyDeleteIt would kind of make me sick to see the O's in the Series before the Nats get there. Angelos tried to keep the Nats out of DC and then tried to cripple them with the TV contract. He's even suing the Nationals in court right now.
And the Cards and Giants have won plenty enough already.
And the Royals are the most fun team to watch and are the most unique team left, winning with great defense, relief pitching, and speed.
Not sure if I feel like watching any baseball, but it's definitely the Royals I want to win it all.
As much as I like the O's their fans are so unbearable now, I don't know if I could handle them winning the series. I like the Giants mostly because Grant Brisbee is an awesome writer. I hate the Cardinals. I will probably lean Royals(because I can totally relate to that fanbase as I am a Redskin fan) vs Giants.
ReplyDeleteI'll be rooting for whichever AL team makes it to the World Series. Skipping the NLCS, but hoping, I guess, that the Giants win because St. Louis fans are insufferable.
ReplyDeletePeter Angelos. 'nuff said. So although I like Buck, go Royals.
ReplyDeleteAs for the NLCS, if the Giants don't shut up the cocky Cardinals and their "best fans in baseball", then I have no interest whatsoever in the World Series.
I've been a baseball fan all my life, and I never thought I'd say this, but the 4 teams left in the playoffs make this about as uninteresting an October as I can remember. And if I, a die-hard baseball fan, am feeling this way, imagine how non-baseball fans are feeling...I predict much lower ratings for the AL/NLCS and WS than usual...
I just can't root the Orioles, too much bad blood with Angelos. If it's a Cards-O's series, I actually might not be able to watch.
ReplyDelete100 percent concur, btw, on the smug Cards fans. Most annoying fans in baseball.
ReplyDeleteI just don't want the Giants to win, because I already have plans to be at their home opener in 2015, and do not want to have to suffer through their ring ceremony.
ReplyDeleteI went into this postseason with a rooting interest in only 2 things: Nats win it all, or else anyone but the Cards and Giants.
ReplyDeleteEvery other team, with the obvious exception of the Angels, would have been a nice story in my mind. Now it's down to the O's and Royals to keep this postseason from being utterly heartbreaking for me.
I watched the 2012 NLCS to root against the cards. I don't have an interest in the Senior Circuit this time. I'll be rooting for a good ALCS, and rooting for the AL team against (god willing) the giants.
ReplyDeleteCan all 4 teams lose somehow?
ReplyDeleteIt makes me nauseous to think of any of them winning. I vote none of the above.
Agree with Harper that the better teams should be rewarded.
ReplyDeleteAgree that Showalter is cool. But I can't stand that "O O-O-O-O O" moron chant. And F Angelos.
F the Cardinals for reasons that don't need further explanation. F the Giants for what just happened (mmm sour grapes), Peavy and Hudson in particular.
So, I don't know. Royals, I guess? Plus I kinda like their uniforms, and I still have my George Brett glove from Little League.
Can't all 4 of them lose? Is that even possible. Giants fans have eclipsed Red Sox fans in both number and annoyingness. I mean root for whomever, but at least know something about baseball. This is especially bad since Kuiper and Krukow do such a great job explaining the game. The Orioles are owned by Peter Angelos, the Royals have been run by like multiple people were drunk for a decade or two in a row and the Cardinals have eclipsed the Yankees as my most hated team in baseball by giving us Joe Buck AND Tim McCarver AND Bob Carpenter. Unforgivable. Probably root for Giants Royals because Kansas City's fans shouldn't pay for their management's ineptitude, plus Joe Posnanski pretty much makes up for everything else. So here's to Joey Pos, hope the Royals win.
ReplyDelete@Jimmy Grant Brisbee? He's no Jeff Sullivan. Plus he killed Baseball Nation. L7 loser. Just kidding I love G-Briz. One of the best 4-5 baseball writers out there with guys like Posnanski, KLaw, Jonah Keri and Jeff Sullivan.
ReplyDeleteRoyals, then O's then Giants... Cards last... hate STL!
ReplyDeleteIf the O's win, does the DMV get to claim an end to our 23 years of championship drought in the four major sports? I'd say no, since we didn't get to when the Ravens won it all. Although it's weird, because I'm a guy who grew up with Eddie Murray and Cal Ripken posters in my room, so it feels a little different than the Ravens (ahem, Browns) - who just kind of landed her.
ReplyDeleteI 'm rooting for (AL Champion) to win it all. That's about it.
Royals.
ReplyDeleteScrew the O's.
That is all.
With Kilgore's story saying the MLB panel determined MASN owed the Nats $300m, there is no way I can root for the O's now.
ReplyDeleteI'm with those saying KC mainly because of Posnanski.
Harper, it would be nice to hear your take on Boz's latest "Nats need to build post-season fortitude" piece. While I agree with the need for better post season management, the poor performance of the veteran stalwarts (Werth, LaRoche) who are supposed to be the October leaders, doesn't build my faith in post-season "types". If you're cold, you're cold. Sorry, it is a crap shoot. Gio and Storen did wilt under pressure, but the leaders didn't step up.
ReplyDeleteAnd, while SF and StL seem to have a post season mojo, the Royals are blasting out as if they've been doing this for years. Can't see any Boz-described fortitude there.
Other than giving MW an intensive class in October game management, I don't see how we better prepare a Nats team. Its a crapshoot.
There really is no alternative choice. Go Royals. Don't deserve it, but nobody does (not as much as DC, that is). Since we can't have it, give it to the upstarts. So there.
Harper, what did you think of Kilgore's piece today on LaRoche? Do you agree LaR is as good as gone?
ReplyDeleteRoyals over the Cardinals in 7. Joe Buck and Tim McCarver are openly despondent on air. A grave injustice occurs as Ned Yost adds "World Series Champion manager" to his resume. And somewhere, John Tudor punches an electric fan and breaks his hand again,
ReplyDeleteThank gawd we don't have to listen to O's fans and management crow about going to the WS.
ReplyDeleteFor the Angelos now that the MASN rulling is out, how a bout a nice warm cup of shut the Flok up and pay up the $300mil