Article: Sox - Yankees AL East Race

[speedy]

Handicapping the AL East Race: A Fan's Perspective

[kenyan_cheena]

The title of the article seems to suggest that there'll be a suggestion in it of how to make it harder for the Yanks and Sox to win the division, but there's nothing like that in there.

[Goody]

"I am a lifelong Red Sox fan who has had the good fortune of watching the sport's greatest rivalry play out on center stage. As frequent contenders for playoff and World Series championships, the passion and intensity of the Red Sox-New York Yankee rivalries is as a level not seen elsewhere in baseball or in sports in general."

This was at the end of the article.

I think the title was a way to get people who aren't Yankees or Sox fans to read the article?

Yes, we're proud of you for being a fan of a good team and a good rivalry. Glad its fun for you. Luckily my team is in the West where I can watch them suck without feeling like I don't have a chance for legitimate reasons. Its pretty even market wise across the board in the AL West...other than Oakland who has a disadvantage in the money department.

...otherwise I'd have probably stopped following long ago. I don't know how Blue Jays, Orioles and Rays fans can stomach it, quite frankly. But at least its fun every year for the markets that have the most population and bandwagon fans from out of market.

If the NFL totally throws out the salary cap or any other controls on monopolizing the most talented players, you'd see the most epic rivalry in all of sports after about 10 or 20 years. It would include New York, New England, or Chicago. But they don't allow that. So we have MLB's Bosox/Yankees.

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by Goody

I think the title was a way to get people who aren't Yankees or Sox fans to read the article?

Yes, we're proud of you for being a fan of a good team and a good rivalry. Glad its fun for you. Luckily my team is in the West where I can watch them suck without feeling like I don't have a chance for legitimate reasons. Its pretty even market wise across the board in the AL West...other than Oakland who has a disadvantage in the money department.

...otherwise I'd have probably stopped following long ago. I don't know how Blue Jays, Orioles and Rays fans can stomach it, quite frankly. But at least its fun every year for the markets that have the most population and bandwagon fans from out of market.

If the NFL totally throws out the salary cap or any other controls on monopolizing the most talented players, you'd see the most epic rivalry in all of sports after about 10 or 20 years. It would include New York, New England, or Chicago. But they don't allow that. So we have MLB's Bosox/Yankees.

Jays fan here. I just do my best to ignore it. TBQH this rivalry has become a complete yawner to me. The reason is simple: too much of a good thing is not good. I'm sick of hearing about the Yankees and the Red Sox. It gets extremely tedious after a while. There are 28 other teams in baseball, but just like in Animal Farm: All the teams are equal, but some are more equal than others. I want to see all 30 teams covered in a more balanced way, rather than two waaay up on a pedestal, and the rest of the plebes. It's sad really.

[Goody]

Originally Posted by actionjackson

Jays fan here. I just do my best to ignore it. TBQH this rivalry has become a complete yawner to me. The reason is simple: too much of a good thing is not good. I'm sick of hearing about the Yankees and the Red Sox. It gets extremely tedious after a while. There are 28 other teams in baseball, but just like in Animal Farm: All the teams are equal, but some are more equal than others. I want to see all 30 teams covered in a more balanced way, rather than two waaay up on a pedestal, and the rest of the plebes. It's sad really.

Its pretty boring. My team is out of it so I want to watch some new stories in other divisions. The Pirates are letting me down there. Detroit is my 2nd favorite team so the AL Central story is kinda fun because Cleveland started out so strong when it wasn't expected. There would be no story there if they were stuck behind two powerhouse salary/free agent teams.

[MadBum]

Originally Posted by actionjackson

Jays fan here. I just do my best to ignore it. TBQH this rivalry has become a complete yawner to me. The reason is simple: too much of a good thing is not good. I'm sick of hearing about the Yankees and the Red Sox. It gets extremely tedious after a while. There are 28 other teams in baseball, but just like in Animal Farm: All the teams are equal, but some are more equal than others. I want to see all 30 teams covered in a more balanced way, rather than two waaay up on a pedestal, and the rest of the plebes. It's sad really.

I agree. I haven't watched Redsox-Yankees in two years (long time, I know) just because of the massive overexposure. I'm sick of both those teams now, so I'll watch any baseball but AL East (sorry, Blue Jays!). Of course, that has a lot to do with me not liking really slow baseball and the DH as well, but I disgress. That's why I exclusively watch the MLB Network; it's not perfect, but it's better than ESPN, aka RedSawx/Yanks channel.

Also, **** the Yankees and Red Sox.

[CommishJoe]

Originally Posted by Goody

The Pirates are letting me down there.

Yeah, that was disappointing. I was following the Pirates for a while. I suppose you can still root for them to finish at or above .500. It would be great if they can build on this and improve next year.

[Bluenoser]

Originally Posted by CommishJoe

Yeah, that was disappointing. I was following the Pirates for a while. I suppose you can still root for them to finish at or above .500. It would be great if they can build on this and improve next year.

Yes, they sure did an about turn in a hurry, too bad. Would have been fun to see them stay in contention later into the season. I love Aug/Sep baseball, and the more teams in contention, the better the baseball imo.

I too hope they build on this and challange again next season.