The Major League Baseball Playoffs Have Arrived

Major League Baseball is perhaps the most grinding of all professional sports as contenders forge a grueling marathon of a season only to finish with a mad sprint to the championship. After six long months of preparation, competition and highs and lows, the character of the contenders is put to the test against the rest of the league’s most deserving teams. Memories await, and in the conclusion one team will cement the legacy of their season with a World Series title.

Could there possibly be anything better about October than this?

Excitement is the key to sports, because it gets at the heart of why people watch: entertainment and enjoyment. The playoffs are a great example of this. The stakes are high. The smallest mistake could be the difference between winning and losing. All the hopes and dreams can be washed away in an instant.

But for one team that dream will not die, for one team nothing is washed away and the magic will carry through to the glorious finish. To be that team, to be a part of that magic, to feel what it feels like to be a champion, this is the juice that every players thirsts for.

With respect to other sports, there is no greater reward than the baseball playoffs. Yes, everyone loves the Super Bowl. But beat a team four times in a best-of-seven series if you really want to prove you’re the champions. Any team can get lucky once. No team gets lucky four times. Meanwhile the NBA plays a long season similar to baseball, only about fifty less games and about half of the league makes the playoffs. Then the playoffs are months and months long.

In baseball fans have a team that they have followed all year long. It was wintery and cold when the season began, it was hot and suffocating when the season really caught fire, and now at its climax it is brisk and maybe even winter again when it is all said and done (but let’s hope not). Following a team through 162 games is a commitment for any fan, especially when so many are left in disappointment at the end of the season.

There is no harder plight than that of a Chicago Cubs fan, let’s not forget. It seems like next year will never come to Wrigley Field.

But for many other fans the dream is still alive, the buzz is electric and there is an incredible sense of optimism and hope permeating through the air. For us locals in Broward County, there is reason to root for two teams that boast our former players. Former Flanagan slugger Mike Napoli is a part of the AL West Champion Texas Rangers, and Napoli will be playing in his first postseason action with the team after 14 career playoff games all with the Anaheim Angels. Meanwhile, playing in his first postseason action is Detroit Tigers catcher Alex Avila, formerly of Archbishop McCarthy. The Tigers are champions of the AL Central, posing the opportunity that these two players could face each other during the playoffs.

The most likely scenario of that occurring would also be with a World Series berth on the line. Could it be any more exciting than that?

Don’t look now, but the playoffs have already begun. On the final night of the regular season fans were treated to four teams competing for two playoff spots. In the American League the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays entered play tied for the AL Wild Card spot with identical 90-71 records, while in the National League the Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals shared the Wild Card slot with records of 89-72.

Chris Carpenter was outstanding to lead the Cardinals to an 8-0 victory, and then the redbird players were left to watch as the Braves went into extra innings tied with the playoff-bound Philadelphia Phillies 3-3. Atlanta completed its September swoon by falling 4-3, finishing 9-18 on the year to open the door for St. Louis to steal the wild card playoff berth.

For the Red Sox, things were going their way as they led the Orioles and could see that the Rays were trailing. But then a lengthy weather delay ensued and the tides shifted while Boston sat helplessly waiting the chance to finish their game while clinging to a 3-2 lead they would ultimately give up with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Meanwhile the Rays had trailed the Yankees 7-0 going into the eighth inning before pouring on six runs and keeping their dim hopes a bit brighter. In the bottom of the ninth Dan Johnson tied the game on a solo homerun to right field. Then in extra innings, just moments after the stadium announced Boston’s loss, Evan Longoria laced a line-drive home run that catapulted Tampa into the 2011 postseason. The Tampa Dome rocked and everything else that ever happened in the season was forgotten in that moment as they celebrated with their Wild Card team.

The playoffs have not officially begun and we are already witnessing the drama we all crave, the excitement we all deserve, and the thrill that hangs on every pitch and every at bat. For two more teams, the dream is already over after this night, the season lost in bitter disappointment following devastating late-season collapses.

But for all us fans the thrills have only just begun.

The World Series is the pinnacle of all baseball accomplishments. It is what every kid dreams about while throwing pitches or taking swings in their yard. The thrill to achieve on the largest stage facing the hardest competition is what motivates ballplayers to work hard during those chilly winter days. It is what keeps players going through those long, grueling “dog days of summer”. It is what keeps fans hope alive in their hearts, watching intently and sharing their hearts with those players trying to make it all happen.

Ah, the baseball playoffs. Thank goodness they are finally here.

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