Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Worst Case Scenario

It can not be overstated how bad the past 2 and 1/2 weeks have been to MLB. Consider the following...
  1. The Mets (a huge draw) miss the playoffs in an impossible collapse
  2. The playoff games are broadcast on TBS, where the casual fan is not looking for postseason baseball. TBS decides to employ basketball announcers and the dullest, most inexperienced ex-ballplayers they could find to cover the games. They also seem to have chinced out on cameras, because they lacked definitive angles on nearly every important play.
  3. The smaller market is about to go 6-0 in these series. It appears this will culminate in an Cleveland/Colorado World Series that is sure to have millions of Americans giving Cavemen one last try.
  4. There hasn't been any drama. If the Indians win Game 5, there will have been 2 more than the bare minimum playoff games played in the first two rounds; Four sweeps and one Indian loss in each round.
  5. Word leaked that the Mitchell report will name several prominent, and previously unaccused ballplayers.

Barring a Red Sox comeback, baseball probably needs a Rockies championship to salvage this shit show. Yes, I essentially argued the opposite point a couple of days ago. (Warning: Don't click link unless willing to navigate maze of extraneous commas) The problem is that the red-hot underdog angle is really the only one left to play. Nobody cares about the Cleveland's World Series drought. America hasn't connected with this Indians team in any substantive way. They are a great team, perhaps the greatest in baseball, but they lack marquee names (not talent). The Rockies have the same problem. At least they have the September comeback and the winning streak to generate a mild buzz.

2 comments:

Mookie said...

Damn, I was just about to write a very similar post. You can ask Jimer. It was all outlined.

Taud's Pal said...

You already made an outline? I was still working on my brainstorming tree.