2011 Post Season

If I ever needed a concrete reason to explain to someone why I find baseball so amazing, I would point to this year's post season.

While Basketball and Football both have salary caps, Baseball still goes on without one - and the variance between team spending is huge (202 M for the Yankees all the way down to 39 M for the Royals). But still, the races for titles have been closer this year than in years past. Baseball cannot be bought by the highest bidder (I'm looking at you Yankee fans), at the same time, it cannot be manufactured on a computer screen by crunching numbers (I'm looking at you Billy). There are far too many variables in this game, and sometimes it's the team that was last in the race last year who is bringing home a title to Arizona. Or the the second biggest payroll is now a game away from losing their post season birth to the second lowest payroll in baseball.

I love that the game will always even out itself out. No matter how down and out a team might be, it seems that it's that very team that's picking itself up and making a playoff run the very next year. Even a team like the Astros can make a difference down the stretch by pulling out a squeeze bunt in the bottom of the 14th to keep the Cards a game back from the Braves.

Baseball will always right itself, with new talent coming in, and managers moving talent around - there will always be suspense in the game. It's not always the best team on paper that will be the best team on the field, baseball doesn't seem to succumb to what the analysts think will happen. This may be true with any sport, the Eagles defense was supposed to keep everyone out of the end zone but apparently have been busy these last two weeks. And everyone from Cleveland knows the story of the Heat, and their epic failure to make good on Lebron's promises to South Beach. But to me, this happens more times in Baseball then it does with other sports. There are too many games, and too many variables for anything to be considered a fluke - and at the end of the day, the best team will go home as champions.

Who would have thought that both the Brewers and the Diamonbacks would be post season bound this year? That's amazing stuff! These are two teams coming together to play a kids game like adults and showing that even the "little guys" can be champions. That to me is what makes the longest season in professional sports (I know Basketball feels like it lasts forever, but no one else holds a candle to 162 games) interesting at every turn. With 2 games left in the regular season we have 4 teams competing for 2 spots still. Were not even in the post season yet and we already have teams fighting for their lives.

The Tribe isn't in the dance this year, but lets take a look back to the beginning of the season when every single publication predicted them finishing last in the Central. Maybe eat your words on this prediction, boys. Not only did we have a fantastic season, finishing second in our division, but we're poised to make an even more impressive run next season.

Baseball is a game where no one is ever the clear, predetermined, champion. It's always one man, one performance, one concerted team effort away from something magical. And if you have any kind of fancy for the fantastic - I would pick a team now, and watch the post season unfold in front of you. There's bound to be some miracles in the works.