Worst Series

 

Did you enjoy last week's World Series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Texas Rangers? I wanted to. But didn't.

And not just because Arizona came out on the short end of the bat. 

Let's face it, these were two minor market teams. But through the lens of today's divisive politics I had every reason to root for Arizona (a state that went blue in 2020) and against the Texas Rangers, home of Senator Ted Cancun. Not to mention the D'backs (they didn't really think that through, did they?) had a partnership with my father's old employer, AVNET.

But the truth is we -- meaning fans of baseball -- all lost. 

I don't religiously follow baseball from March to October. I have a short attention span. And 162 games is probably 150 too many. Perhaps that's why relish and savor the World Series. Always have. Something about two teams, at the height of their proficiency, squaring off in what I had hoped to be a 7 game series.

I know the math doesn't work, but I wish they could all be 7 game series.

In the past three decades, the WS has produced so many Fall Classics. Including the 1992 matchup between the Atlanta Braves and the Toronto Blue Jays. That one ended on October 24. A Saturday. 

I remember because Game 6 was played the same day as my wedding. And half the men at the reception, hoping to avoid embarrassing themselves on the dance floor, retreated to the bar for baseball and drinking, America's real national pastime.

There's been plenty of drama since then. None of it happened last week. With the exception of the first game that the Rangers won 6-5, every game was a sleepy, humiliating blowout. Not because of errors. Or because of brilliant strategizing. But because on any given night one team never showed up.

Additionally, as pointed out by Ms. Muse, the announcers seemed to be in some Ambien-induced fog. Charisma deficient John Smoltz and Ron Darling should be working the offices of a funeral home not the broadcast booth. I miss Joe Morgan and Tim McCarver. Even guys like Alex Rodriguez and dare I say, Joe Buck, had me hanging on every pitch.

And for god's sake Fox Sports, if your former pitchers-turned-color commentary guys are going to drone on about 4 seam fastballs, 2 seam fastballs, change-ups, curve balls, sliders, even the occasional knuckleball, have the graphics department come up with some tutorial inset to demonstrate the difference. 

Maybe my Impending Dirt Nap Nostalgia is kicking in, and pardon the politically incorrect reference, but lately, "Baseball not been very good to me lately."

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Also, Happy Birthday to my first boxing sparring partner, my seat mate at Shea Stadium, my little brother, Larry.