There are some things about this World Series that bug the crap out of me. I hate (hate hate) the constantly running graphic that says “San Francisco: First World Series since 2002!” like that’s some kind long wait or something. I hate the whining national media that’s treating Dallas (4th largest MSA in the US) vs. San Francisco (13th) like it’s Podunk vs. Pottsville just because the Yankees and Phillies didn’t make the World Series (man are they gonna be pissed for Pirates vs. Indians in 2014 …). It particularly irks me that Nolan Ryan (nationally) and Chuck Greenberg (in Pittsburgh) are getting a huge amount of credit for the Rangers’ turnaround that Jon Daniels, the GM and architect of the club, should be getting (please note that I’m not saying Ryan and Greenberg don’t deserve any credit because they obviously do: Ryan’s been the president since 2008 and without Greenberg’s strong push to get the club sold, the hugely important Cliff Lee deal that Daniels engineered likely doesn’t get approved).
But here’s what I like about this World Series: pretty much everything else. The Rangers are not by any means a small-market club, but they do have a low payroll thanks to the Tom Hicks necessitated purge of assets. They have a very smart GM (Daniels) who turned one of the league’s best pitching staffs into one of the best in an incredibly short period of time. On the Giants’ side of things, Brian Sabean’s not without his flaws but he’s built a good team by working from a talented young pitching staff and building up. If it worked for these teams, then hey, just maybe Neal Huntington’s arm-hoarding will pay off in the long run.
I could keep going on, too. It was great to see the insufferable, entitled fanbases in New York and Philadelphia absorb losses than neither saw coming. Watching Cliff Lee in the playoffs is like what watching Tiger Woods used to be like. He’s so good that you can’t even process how good he is until he’s done. Who doesn’t like goofy Tim Lincecum and his changeup that’s so good it should be illegal? And that’s not even mentioning Josh Hamilton or Good Player on Bad Team extraordinaires like Michael Young, Aubrey Huff, and Freddy Sanchez. Or Colby Lewis and his sojourn to Japan that made him an effective Major League pitcher.
There’s just a lot to like in this series. Some of it because it provides a sliver of hope or a model for a team like the Pirates, some of it because I love baseball and teams like the Rangers and Giants having seasons like they’ve had is pretty much exactly why. Personally, I’ll be pulling for the Giants out of loyalty to the National League, Freddy Sanchez, and Brian Wilson’s ridiculous beard (and maybe a smidge because of my eternal Barry Bonds grudge, because it’d be great to see the Giants win so close to the end of the Bonds era), but I wouldn’t even be a little upset to see the Rangers take home their first Commissioner’s Trophy. I’m just excited to be excited about the World Series again.
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