The saddest day of the year is the day baseball season ends
So, the end of the 2012 MLB Regular Season has arrived. For 20 teams, that’s the end for another season. Included in that number is my team, the Tampa Bay Rays. A relatively closely fought contest with Baltimore, LA Angels and, what appeared to be the A’s was finally lost earlier in the week for an American League wild card spot.
My first ‘proper’ season has been an eventful one. It has witnessed 3 perfect games, including Félix Hernández against the Rays, and 4 no hitters. The season started with the longest opening day game in baseball history courtesy of the Blue Jays and the Indians. Anniversaries included the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park and the 50th anniversary of Dodgers Stadium.
I am clearly disappointed that the Rays didn’t make it to the playoffs. It would be easy to blame the Orioles for turning in their first winning season in 14 years. In fact, they haven’t seen the playoffs since 1997. However, for me the season was lost in an 8 day period in September where the Rays were 1-7 and included a sweep by the Orioles. A long term injury to Evan Longoria decimated the batting power and highlighted the real need to get batting strength in depth. Pitching was excellent and David Price finished the season with 20 wins and the best ERA in the American League.
Looking forward, October 5th brings 2 wild card games where winner does take all. The Atlanta Braves travel to St Louis to take on the reigning champions and the winner will earn the right to play the Washington Nationals in the National League Division Series (NLDS). In the American League, the Orioles will travel to the obviously shellshocked Texas Rangers. The Rangers were pipped by the A’s to the AL West title after the A’s were 13 games behind the Rangers at the end of June. Clearly, Brad Pitt’s agent will already be looking for a sequel to Moneyball and who knows the outcome this time? The New York Yankees lie in wait for the winners in the ALDS.
Making up the other ‘half’ of the NLDS is the matchup between the San Francisco Giants and the Cincinnati Reds. The ALDS will see the form team A’s play against the Detroit Tigers. Both series will start on October 6th and 7th and will be over within the week. To finish the playoff pictures, the winners of each series play in their respective Championship Series (ALCS / NLCS) and the two winners meet in the World Series. Following so far? Good. The National League champions will get home advantage in the World Series due to the fact that the National League won the All Star Game in Kansas in July. Simple.
My tip to win the World Series is….the New York Yankees. As much as it hurts to say that, I think they will be tough to beat. The Nationals have the best record this year but that doesn’t count for much. The A’s are in form and on a roll but I don’t think they’ve got what it takes. I’ll leave the last word to Tommy Lasorda, “The best possible thing in baseball is winning the World Series. The second best thing is losing the World Series”.