It's no secret to those who know me even a little that not only is baseball one of my main obsessions, it's also responsible for my entry into the world of collectibles, as it was for so many, through those bubblegum scented packs of cards I used to sift through as a boy.
So I'm excited today--play-in game, love it! Bud and the boys ought to just add a wild card team and mandate this sudden death 1-game series into the format. I mean beyond the excitement we've seen this game inject into the sport for three years running now, it really does present a fairer first round whereby the team with the best record will now have a series with a team that's been extended to the absolute limit (despite this being for the AL Central crown, I think you catch my drift, it's exciting).
So that said, anybody can win today. It's one baseball game. Flip a coin. But it's that need for survival and advancement at the end of the day which separates today's Tigers-Twins game from the 162 games they've each played previously.
That goes for the entire format, 5-games or 7. It's baseball, anyone can get hot. If the Nationals had a pass in and were hot at the right time they could upend even the '27 Yankees. I'm not arguing that they would, but just stating that they could, and that's what makes this time of year so exciting and yet at the same time for about half the fans often so dreadfully deflating.
The next generation of Americans will be as thoroughly educated in the technicalities of base-ball as our English cousins are in the intricacies of cricket. Many a man to-day has felt a little defrauded by the increasing space his morning paper gives to the game, and has been inclined to look with disapproval upon the devotion of his boy at school to something apart from his studies. As the present generation of boys become men, however, there will be a softer spot in their hearts for a pastime whose ways they know and whose fascinations they remember.
That's the open of a 7-page article about the National Pastime, titled Base-ball - For the Spectator by Walter Camp, in the October 1889 issue of Century Magazine. How long ago was this? Well, this is before the American League was even founded in 1901, before the famous Baltimore Orioles teams of the 1890's, published at a time when the New York Giants were on their way to beating out the other 7 National League teams and on their way to victory over the American Association's Brooklyn team in a 9-game series. Hall of Famers on that '89 Giants team were Roger Connor, Buck Ewing, John Montgomery Ward, and two of today's least mentioned members of the 300-win club, pitchers Mickey Welch and Timothy Keefe.
The only drawback to the Century article is that none of these names are mentioned. While the article focuses on rules and strategies of the time, in itself interesting subject matter, it does preface this with a brief history of the game from the 1850's, make mention of the 1869 Cincinnati Reds, breeze through the formation of the National League in 1876, and cover some of the more dominant teams from that time through publication.
The Century article does include 10 illustrations, most small sketches of generic ballplayers in action such as those above, though it also carries this drawing of the field of play:
In a world ruled by rapid change how reassuring is it that baseball is still survives in a recognizable form today. Yes, you'd likely stop the heart on our 1889 fan if you transported him to a ball park today, but assuming you could revive him and sit him down he'd find his element once the players take the field.
So, fast forward 120 years and here are my 2009 playoff picks:
Yankees over Tigers or Twins
Red Sox over Angels
Rockies over Phillies
Dodgers over Cardinals
Yes, I'm a Yankees fan, and I'm excited because I think this is pretty clearly their best all around team since the late 90's. All of the National League bullpens scare me, especially the Phillies, but they've all got some questions. In the end the N.L. is a coin toss for me, but if pressed I'd take the Dodgers over the Rox with the Yanks winning the whole thing...unless their major regular season flaw rears it's ugly head--mismanagement of Joba, man that guy scares me right now!
If you've got your own picks feel free to put them below. Hey, we're just fans, but whose got stronger opinions than fans:
