Quote:
Originally Posted by jimivintage
Hey, look at how strong the AL Central and AL West look compared to the AL East NOW?? 
AL Central = Tigers and Royals, but the Indians had a chance through game 160.
AL West = Angels and A's, but the Mariners were in it until the end, too.
I would fully expect all 6 of these teams to be in contention next year, and I'm sure another team will sneak in there somewhere.
No Yankees, Red Sox, or Rays this year???? Craziness!!
Jimi |
The KC run is great. Just a reminder to any who may think Bud Selig deserves eventual hall consideration-- if he'd had his was many of these teams would have been contracted (A's, Royals, Twins, etc). What a joke that was, but he did eventually accomplish his own personal re-alignment with the Brewers (I'm sure I may have oversimplified there-- so Bill G please add any Selig/Brewer- switch from AL to NL history gaps)
Anyway, I'm so glad these teams survived that proposed purge and love when any on that list (as well as other small to mid market) excel Sept/Oct. I also do like and embrace that baseball doesn't have a salary cap, and that there's still huge financial inequity--- it just makes unlikely runs/seasons like this more satisfying.
Now baseball and the networks need to get on board and learn how to sell these stories! Royals vs Giants (or even more so Pirates had they survived) would be a great matchup (Royals remind me of the WS Giants teams), but seems would be doomed from a ratings standpoint. After over a decade of being bombarded (on ESPN and by MLB) by Yankees Red Sox, seems the "casual" and "homer" fans have forgotten about others teams/cities. This year is a great year to try and bring them back (pre-1994 style).