Welcome to Playoffs Outsider. As a baseball fan with no dog in this fight, and no knowledge or expertise about any of the remaining teams, I do wish to blog.
Today we focus (as Playoffs Outsider will) on the Yankees.
The Yankees like to market class and tradition when convenient. They also have canonized George Steinbrenner, the Santa Claus-like lovable grandfather who just wanted to win. Brings a tear to your eye unless you are Billy, Billy, Billy, Billy, Billy, Lemon, Lou, Lou, Yogi, Dick Howser, and whoever else is on that list.
Today I got an email from the Yankees titled “C.C. ya in the postseason.”. There’s even a logo and everything. Jeter seems pretty excited!
Yep, getting all excited about the wild card.
I can tell you first hand that wild cards are something losers and little brothers get excited about. Wild cards are the domains of teams that get off to slow starts under Bobby Valentine. Wild cards are the realm of those who hope to get lucky.
Can a wild card win the World Series? Sure. Is it manly? Nope.
It is hard to reconcile the image of Saint George with this acceptance of second place. I guess the cuddly old codger would be giving some quote like “Gee whiz it’s great to know we’re in the playoffs! We can take it easy now and rest our players.”
Playoffs Outsider is looking to see how soon everyone in America comes to hate Conan O’Brien due to enthusiastic promotion from TBS.
1999 Mets start under Bobby Valentine: 17-9
2000 Mets start under Bobby Valentine: 14-7
and those were the good years! what about the slow start in 2001 (11-15) – he had to floor it all year chasing a crappy 2nd place WC. Winners like Saint George don’t accept that crap! Yogi Berra? Get his arse out of here!
Shannon, Shannon, Shannon…The Mets problem under Valentine wasn’t slow starts, it was slow finishes. They started September 2000 by losing 8 out of 10. In ’99, they had a 7-game losing streak that BEGAN on September 21st. And let’s not even revisit ’98 again. In fact, IIRC, the ONLY winning September under Valentine was in 1997.
Who knows why, but Valentine’s Mets were always a bit over .500 going into May, struggled in June, caught fire going into the All-Star break, hit a skid after the break, made good runs in August to reclaim 1st place, then stumbled through September. Twice they managed to snap out of it just in time to claim the Wild Card. In fact, one of those two times even required a play-in game.
That Bobby V is viewed by so many Mets fans as a hero when his zenith consists of 2 Wild Cards and losing a WS in 5 games says far more about the franchise than his managerial acumen.
MLB managers are some of the most overrated positions around. I’d argue that they have the least direct game impact of any professional sport. Aside from a crummy pitching change, the players are the only ones who truly affect the game.