2025 MLB Thread

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by actionjackson

Haven't been around much in quite a while. Bru, when did you stop cheering for the Yankees, and who do you cheer for now? Or is it just a case of the Yankees being out, so you decided who your next preferred team was?

Well, let me give you the skinny on this topic because I have talked about it too often, here and in other threads. I am aiming for what I call Pan-Sportsism; an appreciation for and a following of more than just local teams in just a few sports.

Reasons: Sure, it's partly based on how crappy New York teams have been in general in recent decades. But it was also the realization that parochial rooting was limiting my horizons. I wanted to step back and embrace more teams, more sports.

It may have been in this thread that I gave a golden example: In previous years, when the Yankees were out of it, I tuned out the postseason. That was an egregious mistake. Under those circumstances, I would have missed this spectacularly great World Series. Instead, I enjoyed the heck out of them, despite the ending.

Originally Posted by actionjackson

Well, I'm still hurting from the loss. Yet, I'm also laughing at the amount of stuff that had to not go our way, and had to go their way, for us to lose by (literally) an inch. Credit to the Dodgers for taking advantage of our awful baserunning, but we could've won this series so many different times. Not as painful as 1987 for me, but still...Painful.

This leads me to answering your second question: I root for whatever team grabs my fancy. In this Series, I rooted for the Mariners and the Brewers. When they fell by the wayside, I took up the Blue Jays.

And I ended up loving them for their effort against the monolithic L.A. Lodgers. What a scrappy team, what a gutty effort. As I said earlier, they have nothing to be ashamed of this season.

Part of this was rooting against the Lodgers and the way they bought this championship. At least the Jays made them work for it.

But I was also rooting for Toronto and Canada, for a reason that I cannot discuss here. God, did I want the Blue Jays to win, for that reason.

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

Well, let me give you the skinny on this topic because I have talked about it too often, here and in other threads. I am aiming for what I call Pan-Sportsism; an appreciation for and a following of more than just local teams in just a few sports.

Reasons: Sure, it's partly based on how crappy New York teams have been in general in recent decades. But it was also the realization that parochial rooting was limiting my horizons. I wanted to step back and embrace more teams, more sports.

It may have been in this thread that I gave a golden example: In previous years, when the Yankees were out of it, I tuned out the postseason. That was an egregious mistake. Under those circumstances, I would have missed this spectacularly great World Series. Instead, I enjoyed the heck out of them, despite the ending.


This leads me to answering your second question: I root for whatever team grabs my fancy. In this Series, I rooted for the Mariners and the Brewers. When they fell by the wayside, I took up the Blue Jays.

And I ended up loving them for their effort against the monolithic L.A. Lodgers. What a scrappy team, what a gutty effort. As I said earlier, they have nothing to be ashamed of this season.

Part of this was rooting against the Lodgers and the way they bought this championship. At least the Jays made them work for it.

But I was also rooting for Toronto and Canada, for a reason that I cannot discuss here. God, did I want the Blue Jays to win, for that reason.

Lodgers = Lodged Ball Beneficiaries?

I mean seriously. That's never happened in SkyDome before, certainly not in the period since the renovations were done. When that happened, I got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach that this was not going to be our year. You've got the 18 inning game, followed by two resounding wins. Then the ball gets lodged, and helps force Game 7, which we lose by an inch. Aaand...There I go again.

[monkeyman576]

i think the Mariners would have done better than the Jays against the Dodgers. Better pitching and baserunning, maybe not as good of offense, but I think we could have won in 7.

[Amazin69]

OTOH, I really didn't give a fig about who won (I don't much hate the Dodgers, and as a Mets fan, crying about payroll would be hypocritical af) and when the Jays pulled Scherzer in the 5th inning because OMG, Shohei is coming up, hide the children! I said that's enough and went to watch the Kings get stomped by New Jersey.


And so it goes…

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by actionjackson

Lodgers = Lodged Ball Beneficiaries?

No, but that is a very good guess! And I had the same feelings of foreboding after the 18-inning game and that damned lodged ball, costing the Jays a run.

I have been calling them the Lodgers because, having bought the penthouse of baseball, they are firmly lodged therein. Unwelcome squatters. But I will stop using the term now, as it seems to support their practices.

I hate the way big money has changed baseball. Ironic, eh? Coming from an ex-Yankees fan? Now I know how those other people felt.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

. . . as a Mets fan, crying about payroll would be hypocritical . . .

Say, now that you mention it . . . ()

[monkeyman576]

At least as the Mets and Yankees have shown, having a large payroll doesn't garauntee success.

[monkeyman576]

is it too much too hope that the Mariners have a shot at Munetaka Murakami(probably).