The MLB Playoffs provide more opportunities for Aaron Judge heroics.
It’s that time of year again where everyone takes a reprieve from football to watch the MLB playoffs. The regular season is over, and games that truly matter are upon us. Most don’t even know who or why which teams are in it, but they’re here to watch them anyway. Playoff games are unlike any other during the regular season. Fans treat every minute like the bottom of the ninth. The tension is electric. I’m here to fill you in on what you’ve been missing, and who to watch.
Baseball has always been about the losers.
Since the MLB expanded its postseason format in 1995, only 5 teams out of 22 with the best league record have gone on to win the World Series. This means a lot of underdogs have claimed the title in recent years. The World Series is oft the picture painted on the silver screens. On one side of the clubhouse, you have the team with an obscene bankroll that has paid out to have the hottest MVP caliber players money can buy. You may know them as the Yankees, Dodgers, and Red Sox. On the other, you have the outsiders, the down (in the count) and outers. The guys the oddsmakers gave a 1,000-1 chance. They grew up in the farm system undetected or managed to create a special bond with their teammates that metrics simply couldn’t measure. The MLB playoffs offer a suspension of disbelief the moment these two teams take the field, and that truly any outcome is possible.
Now let’s take a look at some of our favorite losers this year and why you should be rooting for them.
Houston Astros: Carlos Correa and Jose Altuve are absolutely the MLB’s scariest 1-2 punch. Not only that, but a late-season trade for Justin Verlander, who has been lights out since coming over, only made the Astros even more frightening. They are the feel-good story of the year. Having never won a World Series despite double-digit appearances, the Astros have all Texan eyes on them after the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey.
New York Yankees: An era of the old guard has passed. The days of A-Rod, Jeter, and Rivera have all but been replaced by what may as well be unproven toddlers wielding baseball bats. If toddlers were 6’7”, 280lbs and nicknamed the Judge-nator. They don’t fit your prototypical “loser” in the sense that they’ve always had money and all-stars, but they were not expected to make the playoffs donning such an inexperienced team. Which is unfortunate. Given the team’s winning history, I was looking forward to a few years of the Yankees dropping a few seasons.
Minnesota Twins: The biggest losers of the bunch. Seriously. They lost 103 games last season. At times you would think they were trotting out a Triple-A lineup most days. That’s really not far from the truth. Somehow they squeezed by and made it into the wild card spot. I say somehow, but in all reality, Detroit finally decided to tank this season and begin rebuilding with the White Sox not far behind them. Alongside that, the odds-on favorite to finish second, the Kansas City Royals, were mired in injuries and disappointing performances mostly from their starting rotation. Even so, the Twins are probably the most exciting to watch, if only just because no team in history has ever gone from worst to World Series Champs. Ever.
Colorado Rockies: In a season rife with power, the Rockies will need every bit they can muster to outhit their way past the competition. Coors field or not, everyone has been hitting balls like they’re above sea level. What makes the case for the Rockies so interesting isn’t their hitters though. It’s the depth and talent they have in their starting rotation for the first time in 10 years.
Arizona Diamondbacks: They have everything you’d expect from a playoff contending team; However, injuries and underperformance have plagued the Diamondbacks, and it showed last season when they dropped 93 games and A.J. Pollock coming off a stellar year only to be seriously injured during a slide in a preseason game. However, this season, and since the addition of J.D(inger) Martinez, they’ve been nothing short of amazing. Poor Detroit sold low on both Verlander and Martinez who are now paying dividends to their respective teams.
These teams, however, destined they may be, do not have a road ahead of them for the faint of heart. They will have to play each other first before they can make it all the way to the big dance and play against the high rolling, preseason darlings. A lot of things will have to go right(or wrong) for this group of losers. Kershaw will have to have another few of his infamous 7th inning meltdowns. Joe Maddon will have to fumble with his lineups beyond repair, and the Indians would have to remember how to lose. Luckily, baseball has always been about the losers.
