"Cinderella" vs. "The Little Team that Could" will be one Hell of a series
The Detroit Tigers beat the Yankees 3-1 in the ALDS, have won their way to the ALCS, are now 4 victories away from a World Series appearance.
Wow. Who knew?
Much like "The Detroit Lions are in the Super Bowl," mentioning the Tigers in the same sentence as "World Series" are words I was not sure I would ever (That would be "Never" in the Lions case) hear again in my lifetime. We Tiger fans suffered through 2 decades of a Neifi Perez level of immense, unspeakable suckage. I'd love to say that I saw this coming. I'd also love to say that I got Matt Millen fired. Neither would be true...
So here we are, approxoimately 5 hours before the first pitch. and I'm not sure what to think. I'd love to compare the lineups, as I did with the Yankers. But I don't know the A's. Barry Zito could bite me on the ass, and I wouldn't know him from Nick Swisher. Why? Because Zito has never bit my ass, and I can count the number of times I've watched the A's play on both hands. Those being the 9 games they played against the mighty Tigers. Which season series the Tigers did take, 5-4, by the way...
It's hard to work up any type of hate for the A's as well. Unlike the Evil Empire... That was a team, and fanbase for that matter, that you could easily build up a good case of rightious indignation, rage, hate, all the up to level we Lions fans despise Matt Millen.
As for the A's? I could rail against them if they were still the Charles O. Finley owned A's, with Bert Campaneris, Reggie Jackson, Vida Blue, Joe Rudi (Cancel that, I kind of liked Joe Rudi, always thought he was underrated), Gene Tenace, Rollie Fingers, et all. That was a polarizing bunch of psycho head cases, from the owner on down. The A's current incarnation could be a team I'd be rooting for, if the Tigers weren't playing them.
Honestly, in many ways, the Tigers and A's are mirror images. Both have a former White Sox icon in exile, solid starting pitching, good bullpen, iffy closers, decent defense, and an offense that isn't overwhelming, but gets the job done. The ALCS looks to be a very evenly matched series, one that could easily go the full 7 games. Obviously, the Tigers are this year's Cinderella, the "It" team, the one that most of the country may end up rooting for, but you can say much the same about the A's, in more of a "Little team that could"way.
The one thing the A's have going against them is all of the "Moneyball" crap that the MSM monkeys will sling over the next week. Since the A's don't have a storyline comparable to the Tigers rag to riches one, and those monkeys HAVE to have a storyline, expect all the A's talk to revolve around the small market team that makes good thanks to their "Genius" GM, and his "Moneyball" philosophy. I'll give you an over/under of 50 as to how many times we'll hear the "Billy Beane throwing a chair thru the wall when Bonderman was drafted" story on FOX.
Unfortunately, as compelling as Tigers - A's looks to be, it has become the B-series, despite the fact that it may be the more competitive. We've seen the media overload that comes from playing the Evil Empire. (Christ almighty, could the Joe Torre MSM manufactured "Drama" become anymore annoying?) That same media elite will now move on to the NLCS, which has 2 of MLB's marquee franchises. The New York Mets alone will divert the MSM's short attention span, let alone the Cardinals with their (Debatably) "Genius" manager and Albert Pujols.
Unlike the NLCS, where the Mets will be favored (It would be more clear cut if the Mets had their top 2 starting pitchers healthy), the ALCS could be called a toss up, too close to call. A series that may be as compelling as the last time these teams met in the postseason, the 1972 ALCS, which was one of the best playoff series that no one ever talks about, save for Bert Campaneris' attempt to decapitate Lerrin LaGrow. (Over/under of 10 on the number of times FOX shows that footage)
So where does this all leave us? With one HELL of a competitive ALCS.
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