Wednesday, October 15, 2008
At last...
It looks as though a team will not ride a wave of euphoria to the World Series. The Dodgers have shown all of the reasons why they won 84 games, and will indeed lose the NLCS to the much better Philadelphia Phillies. It is good to see the system actually work in this case, though it has still done the Angels and Cubs wrong.
Go Phillies.
Go Phillies.
# posted by Unknown @ 10:21 PM 
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Dear Joel,
In the parables of the Prodigal Son and the Vineyard Labourers in the gospel of St Matthew we see a familiar character in the first-hired servant in the former and the elder brother in the latter. This is a figure who is mathematically correct and not condemned for his opinion by Christ in either story, yet in both cases the character that clamors for justice misses the greater revelation of the God who not only “works vindication and justice for all who are oppressed” but further “...is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” The Gospel repeats to redundancy that we must be favour the underdog. In Big Lebowski terms this translates into “No Walter you're not wrong, you're just an asshole.” Our human sense of justice, which is but a shadow of the divine justice mapped out throughout the Old and New Testaments, often puts itself at odds with the greater picture seen by God.
In the Eighties, before there was a wildcard, Global Positioning or catwalk home runs, mathematical outliers certainly had a harder time getting into october, but it was possible (cf St Louis 1944), as the limping 88 LA team proved. They beat a vastly better Mets team which had won 100 games (6 better than the blue crew) and which had a staff spearheaded by Doc Gooden in his prime and a lineup with a yet-to-be incarcerated Daryl Strawberry. The Dodger's 4-3 series win was meant to be Pyrrhic, though as the 104-win Oakland wrecking machine had already plowed through the Bostons like Ted Kennedy at an open bar. They advanced to face a limping group of 2nd stringers that had muscled to a .248 team batting average. And we all know the result.
I bring this up not as the most blatant instance of underdog triumph but rather as comparison: next year La Russa took his boys all the way and beat some team from 'frisco. Everybody remembers Gibson limping around the bases in '88, but what they remember from '89 is an earthquake. And since i know you are five times the Dodger historian that i am i wont bring up '81 where LA didnt even win its own division yet still won the trophy thanks to their slugging mexican rookie pitcher. Keep in mind that of the Dodger's six crowns, only once (1955) did they have baseball's best record.
Then of course we could go into the '69 Mets, '87 Twinkies, the '02 Marlins &tc....
Joel, i understand your sympathy with the Cubs, but i remain a steadfast partisan of baseball's playoff system as is. As Billy Beane pointed out, winning the world series takes having two different teams, one to win in the regular season and one to win in the playoffs. (he should know: his A's have yet to make it past the ALDS). And i think this has made the world series teams since 1995 more dynamic, and arguably more full of the ultimate intangible, winning spirit, an intangible which the two examples in the parables could not factor in. I'll jump on your bandwagon for ditching the uneven regular season schedule. But I for one think the playoffs now are alot more enticing than they were pre-wild card (god bless you, Bud Selig!) This is not due to the extended advertising opportunities (which i do enjoy thoroughly) but to something deep in our psyche that makes us want to see the downtrodden succeed. The list is short of sports films not about a group of ne'er do wells making it bigtime and ousting the statistically better team. Maybe its Hollywood, maybe its “Wa”, maybe its your baseball gods. But i for one take comfort in the fact that the ordering of the universe is not done according to who should statistically win, because i would be the first one left grumbling “next year”. So yes i rooted for the Dodgers till Nomar popped out in the ninth of game 5, and i'll be back rooting for them again in '09 no matter how many wins they squeak out.
Signed,
a friend
In the parables of the Prodigal Son and the Vineyard Labourers in the gospel of St Matthew we see a familiar character in the first-hired servant in the former and the elder brother in the latter. This is a figure who is mathematically correct and not condemned for his opinion by Christ in either story, yet in both cases the character that clamors for justice misses the greater revelation of the God who not only “works vindication and justice for all who are oppressed” but further “...is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” The Gospel repeats to redundancy that we must be favour the underdog. In Big Lebowski terms this translates into “No Walter you're not wrong, you're just an asshole.” Our human sense of justice, which is but a shadow of the divine justice mapped out throughout the Old and New Testaments, often puts itself at odds with the greater picture seen by God.
In the Eighties, before there was a wildcard, Global Positioning or catwalk home runs, mathematical outliers certainly had a harder time getting into october, but it was possible (cf St Louis 1944), as the limping 88 LA team proved. They beat a vastly better Mets team which had won 100 games (6 better than the blue crew) and which had a staff spearheaded by Doc Gooden in his prime and a lineup with a yet-to-be incarcerated Daryl Strawberry. The Dodger's 4-3 series win was meant to be Pyrrhic, though as the 104-win Oakland wrecking machine had already plowed through the Bostons like Ted Kennedy at an open bar. They advanced to face a limping group of 2nd stringers that had muscled to a .248 team batting average. And we all know the result.
I bring this up not as the most blatant instance of underdog triumph but rather as comparison: next year La Russa took his boys all the way and beat some team from 'frisco. Everybody remembers Gibson limping around the bases in '88, but what they remember from '89 is an earthquake. And since i know you are five times the Dodger historian that i am i wont bring up '81 where LA didnt even win its own division yet still won the trophy thanks to their slugging mexican rookie pitcher. Keep in mind that of the Dodger's six crowns, only once (1955) did they have baseball's best record.
Then of course we could go into the '69 Mets, '87 Twinkies, the '02 Marlins &tc....
Joel, i understand your sympathy with the Cubs, but i remain a steadfast partisan of baseball's playoff system as is. As Billy Beane pointed out, winning the world series takes having two different teams, one to win in the regular season and one to win in the playoffs. (he should know: his A's have yet to make it past the ALDS). And i think this has made the world series teams since 1995 more dynamic, and arguably more full of the ultimate intangible, winning spirit, an intangible which the two examples in the parables could not factor in. I'll jump on your bandwagon for ditching the uneven regular season schedule. But I for one think the playoffs now are alot more enticing than they were pre-wild card (god bless you, Bud Selig!) This is not due to the extended advertising opportunities (which i do enjoy thoroughly) but to something deep in our psyche that makes us want to see the downtrodden succeed. The list is short of sports films not about a group of ne'er do wells making it bigtime and ousting the statistically better team. Maybe its Hollywood, maybe its “Wa”, maybe its your baseball gods. But i for one take comfort in the fact that the ordering of the universe is not done according to who should statistically win, because i would be the first one left grumbling “next year”. So yes i rooted for the Dodgers till Nomar popped out in the ninth of game 5, and i'll be back rooting for them again in '09 no matter how many wins they squeak out.
Signed,
a friend
Wonderful thoughts...but I find more exciting the two best teams playing one another. As drama, the playoff system is ripe with possibilities, no question. But is it the nature of baseball? That's my fundamental question. And, as a lifelong Dodger fan, I am willing to admit the skeletons in the Dodgers closet (especially in the 80's), and still have thoughts on what would be more true to baseball and its uniqueness. Thanks so much for taking the time to write...I really enjoyed what you had to say.
rabidgandhi, that was possibly the longest (and also possibly the best) blog comment I've ever seen. Your holistic method of philosophizing over baseball with the Bible, The Big Lebowski and Ted Kennedy, is beautiful - well done. And I must agree with you, I too enjoy the post-season unfairness.
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