Who I want to win the World Series
Whenever the Red Sox are out of it, I always enjoy picking favorites for each MLB playoff series, just for fun. This year I realized I'd actually be happy with anyone winning the World Series, with one exception you might be able to guess. Nonetheless, here are my prepostseason rankings:
- Oakland Athletics. I love Billy Beane, I love Moneyball, and I ... well, that's about it. It would be nice to see the sabermetric approach win the World Series (without being overshadowed by some curse being broken and the worst collapse in sports history) in hopes that the lesser lights of baseball sportswriting can stop making fun of the A's for knowing how to turn on a computer. (Side note: This won't actually ever happen.)
- New York Mets. Yes, I've been living in New York too long, and yes, I have too many friends who are Mets fans. This is also a fun team whose fans have the same animus towards New York's other team that I do. Did you know the Mets had a losing record for games Pedro pitched this year?
- Detroit Tigers. Let's call this a distant third. Still, you gotta love the guys who come out of nowhere.
- Minnesota Twins. Same reason.
- San Diego Padres. Does San Diego ever win anything? I feel like the biggest events in that city in the past decade have been Anchorman and when that surfer
chickwoman almost became mayor. - St. Louis Cardinals. Uh, I like Albert Pujols?
- Los Angeles Dodgers. Uh. Could we get a Bill Simmons column out of this?
- The Republican Party. I would seriously rather see the Republican Party win than ... ok, that's not true.
- Any non-life-threatening illness that can take out Derek Jeter. I think Jeter could stub his toe, sit out the playoffs and still win over baseball's crusty old sportswriters with his confidence and iron will to win. Also, his postseason stats are not as good as A-Rod's; as they say, you could look it up.
- Anyone but the Yankees.
- If national security hangs in the balance, the Yankees. Maybe.
This means I'm rooting for Detroit over the Yankees (really), Oakland over Minnesota, the Mets over LA, and San Diego over St. Louis. Ortiz for MVP!