Remember last season, around the trade deadline, when every analyst in America was calling for the Tigers to trade Tarik Skubal because their “window” wasn’t open? Then they went on a run, made the playoffs, did it again the next season without trading Skubal? People have already started talking about the Pirates trading Paul Skenes. They have their own issues, but trading Paul Skenes won’t solve them.
You hold on to a player like Skubal because you (should) play to win the World Series. Who cares if the aging curves and the charts tell you to trade him and get prospect capital to try to win in a few years? The Tigers held on to their guy, even if it wasn’t the baseball-economically shrewd move, and they have a chance to win the World Series because of it. If he walks for nothing but a compensatory draft pick in a few years, so be it. Go Tigers.
First of all, a Blue Jays World Series ensures the Yankees lose as quickly as possible, and I don’t just want the Yankees to not win the World Series, I want them to go down in a flaming wreck in short order!
But this wish is twofold. It’s not just that I always want the Yankees to lose, but I also don’t want the team the Sox very nearly swept in two games in the Wild Card series to have any ounce of success going forward this postseason. The last thing we need is for the Yankees to go to the World Series and ownership and the front office to look at that and say “Wow, look how close we are! That team we almost beat at the start of October is World Series material. We must be right there.”
Hell no! I want them buried under avalanche so deep you won’t be able to find them until spring. If Toronto completes the slaughter and then goes on to win it all, it not only sends a signal to the folks on Jersey Street that the product they put on the field against the Yankees wasn’t even close, but it also clearly signals the behemoth you have to beat is right inside of your own division. It’s just different when the monster is in your house.
Of all the possible scenarios that can play out over the next few weeks, this is the one that gets the most movement in the “we need to act aggressively this winter” camp. It’s been 16 years (Yankees in 2009) since the Red Sox had to watch another team in their division lift the World Series trophy, and I think that happening again with a championship up north would be good start in helping to set off an entire AL East arms race.
Oh, and in addition to all those dynamics, I also wrote for Bluebird Banter for a few years following the Troy Tulowitzki trade in 2015. The Blue Jay fans were wonderful to me and they deserve a deep playoff run with the passion and pride they have for their city, their team, and their country.
Finally, on top of all that, I actually like the idea of a Blue Jays vs. Dodgers World Series on the whole. For the first time, it would truly be a WORLD series with the interest you’d get on the event from Canada and Japan (with the Ohtani factor) in a matchup like that. Plus, you’d drag up all those amazing Ohtani free agent stories where he wasn’t actually on the plane going to Toronto. Amazing stuff! Give me that all day, every day for a week while continuing to bring the game to more places on the planet!
Beat the Yankees. Keep the World Series in the AL East. Let Toronto have their moment again. Can’t go wrong!
Chicago Cubs or Seattle Mariners
Sentimental favorites, maybe, but I think the Mariners might actually do it. Starting pitching is solid, despite the loss of All-Star Bryan Woo for the ALDS. Their bullpen is strong (though Matt Brash has been known to make me sweat). The offense has been able to do only just enough so far to make it work, but once they really come alive, this should get exhilarating. Let the Year of Cal Raleigh continue.
I’m usually in favor of rooting for a fanbase that has never seen a championship, so the Mariners and Brewers qualify here. I’m giving the slight edge to Seattle because they were aggressive at the deadline in a way that I wish Boston had been. Trading for Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suarez, two impact bats that they needed to get into the top tier in the American League, securing a first-round bye that they may not have done without the two of them. I also think that if Bryan Woo can return for the ALCS, they have the best pitching staff in the playoffs with Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, Woo, and Luis Castillo, and an elite closer in Andres Munoz on the back end. Throw in (my) MVP Cal Raleigh, and I think they have a legitimate shot.
The Philadelphia Phillies
It’s a team loaded with likable players, a city I love and visit a ton, and a ballpark that’s always hyped up in October. Plus, as strange as this is to say in certain corners of the Red Sox internet, I don’t actually harbor any ill will towards the man who built the greatest Red Sox team of all-time.
