My my my... the AL East just got a bit more fun

Manny and Damon reunited?
Someone cue up Maroon 5. It is 2004 all over again.

Hey, Gabe Kapler was on the Rays last year. If they bring HIM back they will have all three outfielders who were on the field when the Sox won the World Series in St. Louis.

This off season has gotten so strange that the Rays have added more famous players than the Yankees.

Actually, even before the Rays decided to bring aboard two of the three biggest idiots, I hadn’t written off Tampa Bay.

Yeah losing Carl Crawford was bad… as was Rafael Soriano… and Carlos Pena….and Matt Garza…and Jason Bartlett…and Dan Wheeler…… and Joaquin Benoit…and Grant Balfour

But there is so much talent on that team that I can’t help but think that they might actually (dare I say it?) be better?

They still have a starting rotation of David Price, Wade Davis, James Shields and Wade Davis.

They still have Evan Longoria in the middle of their lineup and B. J. Upton who could still put it all together.

Reid Brignac could play short in Barlett’s place.
Jeremy Hellickson can start in Garza’s place.
Jake McGee is ready to take a role in the bullpen.
Desmond Jennings should be ready to play the outfield.

Some combination of Willy Aybar, Ben Zobrist and maybe even Damon could play first.

Adam Russell and Cesar Ramos both have some big league experience out of the bullpen with San Diego and will be in Tampa next year after the Bartlett trade.

Hak Ju Lee could give the Rays depth in the infield after the deal with Chicago.

Now you add a sparkplug like Johnny Damon to the top of the lineup.
And yeah, Manny is no longer Manny. But he still gets on base, has some pop and always has a little peak when he arrives with a new team.

Folks, the A.L. East is going to be fun again. People who hate to see either the Red Sox or the Yankees in the playoffs may get their wish for the fourth time in six seasons to see one of them play golf this October.

There will be LOTS of reasons to circle the Rays arrival in Fenway AND Yankee Stadium in red.

Remember Red Sox fans… it’s OK to cheer Manny and Johnny when they play the Yankees. In fact, I think it will be a nice nostalgic feeling.

The Montreal Rays or the Montreal A's? Why not?

In my last piece for The Hardball Times, I wrote about how Tampa Bay used to be an ideal spot for THREATENING to move your team. There was a baseball stadium just sitting there and the good folks of Minnesota, Texas, Chicago, Seattle and San Francisco all built new ball parks to keep their teams from the Sun Coast.

Now that the Rays are playing in Tampa Bay, they can't wait to get out of the very stadium that so many other owners were coveting.

Now most teams have either new stadiums or recently renovated ones. Once the Marlins move into their new digs in 2012, the Rays and the A's will be the only ones left playing it a dud of a ballpark.

There is talk about building a place in Fremont or San Jose for the A's, but California barely has enough money to pay their policemen, firefighters and teachers. Where is the dough to build a ballpark in the expensive Silicon Valley?

And the Rays proposed new ballpark (or Jabba's Sail Barge) will go up against a proposed railroad extension in Florida. Good luck having a ballpark beat improved transportation.

But as I wrote in a post from 2009, it is harder for a baseball team to relocate than any other sports team. If you want to move the 49ers to Fayetteville, Arkansas, there's a place for them to play tomorrow.

A baseball team would have a hard time finding a place where they can play a major league game that is just sitting there.

Or would they have a hard time?

What is the biggest American or Canadian city to NOT have a Major League team?

That would be Montreal!
And guess what they have?

A BASEBALL STADIUM THAT IS JUST SITTING THERE!

OK, it's not exactly Wrigley Field. It's Stade Olympique... the Olympic Stadium from the 1976 Games.
It's the big ugly eye sore sitting on the outskirts of one of the most beautiful cities in North America.

It's the money pit that sits empty and reminds everyone in Quebec that the Olympic Games were a financial disaster there and that the Expos couldn't stay.

It is the travesty in architecture that had the crane that was supposed to lower a roof on the stadium not work and an ugly canvas roof put on instead... all the while their neighbors in Toronto had figured out how to make a retractable roof.

The giant behemouth of a ballpark that looks less like a place to see a baseball game and more like the Starship Enterprise from The Next Generation after they did the saucer separation!

I've been to a game in that park.

It was awful and ugly and empty.

So why the hell am I suggesting to put a team back in there?

Well it is hard to make the case that the A's and the Rays would be hurt if they played in an empty ugly eye sore of a stadium.

Guess what? They both are playing in empty ugly eye sore stadiums already!

The A's play in what used to be the Oakland Coliseum. I used to go to games there a lot. It was a nice place to watch baseball. Now, after the Raiders parked an aircraft carrier into center field, it is a dump. And I went to a playoff game in that dump in 2003. There were at least 20,000 empty seats. During the 2006 playoffs when the A's made it all the way to the ALCS, they had an embarrassing tarp covering the entire upper deck to create the illusion of a bigger crowd.

The Rays play in the park that, as I covered in my Hardball Times piece, was obsolete before the Devil Rays played their first game. It took a month of playing there before people began to suggest "maybe they need a new place."

So how could playing in ANOTHER dump hurt the team.

There are some advantages to Montreal... besides its size.

Of course they love the Canadiens (probably more than they love being Canadians). But remember there was a point in the early 1980s that the Expos drew some of the biggest crowds in the National League.

Somewhere there is a fanbase that could get excited about baseball. And they could get excited about a team that wants to STAY in Montreal.

Yes, the 1994 strike forever scarred the fanbase and made it irreparable. But guess what? That was 16 years ago! There are 20 somethings in Quebec with no memory of Moises Alou, Larry Walker et al being robbed of a chance to bring a pennant to a French speaking people.

They don't remember the team being dismantled. They don't remember the Brochu ownership and the Loria group buying the team and the travesty of the contraction threat and MLB owning the team and bleeding them dry until Peter Angelos allowed a team to play in Washington.

Those aren't even blurry memories. For the young fans a new ball club in Montreal would be a fun novelty at first, and if they can play well, perhaps they would regain the popularity of the early 1980s.

As for older fans who do remember the wealth spring of great talent that played in Montreal.

Read my Home Grown vs Acquired post for the Expos. They had a HELL of a lot of great players.

Gary Carter and Andre Dawson wear the Expos cap on their Hall of Fame plaques. Tim Raines might be joining them.

Older fans with a new team might be reminded of the fun of following such a talented group instead of grinding their teeth over the strike related fiascos.

I've seen dormant Cleveland, Seattle and San Francisco fan bases, bitter over management, bad baseball and bad ballparks, become rejuvenated with a turn around, new management and a new direction.

Those fans not only were happy to have a winner, but thrilled to either be excited about baseball again or for the first time in their lives. Imagine a place like Montreal being awakened.

And, with the Blue Jays good but not exactly a powerhouse (and no longer the 4 million fans a season franchise), Montreal could once again be Canada's team.

How can that be worse than the other team in the Bay Area? Or the team that needs to give tickets away in Florida?

And who knows? If baseball can catch on in Montreal without the specter of moving, maybe that once rumored to be built downtown ballpark could become a reality.

Now of the two teams, the A's make the most sense.

As bad a stadium situation that the Rays have, they have decent television ratings and might be able to develop a base. And who knows? They might just build that stadium with a sail.

The A's? Many of their games aren't televised, their fan base is dwindling, the Giants own the Bay Area and if there is going to be a new stadium built in the South Bay, it will be to keep the 49ers from moving.

So why not head North of the border?
I wrote earlier about why I miss the Expos. Well, the A's can reap the benefits of all that the Expos left behind.

They can move from a 400,000 person city that shares its fanbase with the current World Series Champion to a city of 1.6 million that could have a true sports renaissance.

And the name could be altered to "Les Athletiques de Montreal."

Il semble belle pour moi!

The Rays proposed stadium... or Jabba the Hutt's sail barge?

Well if the Rays build this, they should only hope to have as big and lively a crowd as Jabba's crew. Just beware of R2 units shooting light sabers from their head. They can bring the party down in an awful hurry.

Either way, they should hire the Max Rebo band.

Tampa Bay—a place to move a team to, and from - My Latest for The Hardball Times

In my latest article for The Hardball Times, I take a look at the two different perceptions of Tampa Bay as a baseball location:

An ideal untapped revenue producer that was destined to lure an existing franchise...
And a misguided Major League location that just isn't going to work.

There seems to be no middle ground on the Sun Coast.

To read the article, click HERE.

Tampa Bay fans fans can send hate mail to info@sullybaseball.com

Red Sox get Carl Crawford! Two can play this evil game!

It's starting to feel a lot like 2003, 2004 and 2005 in here. And your pal Sully couldn't be happier.

As I wrote back in 2007, the Red Sox are an evil empire as well. And MAN it is fun to root for the bad guys!

The Red Sox picked up the best two left handed bats available and didn't have to give up Jose Inglesias,, Ryan Kalish or Daniel Bard.

They've gone from having a rotation of Darnell McDonald, Daniel Nava, Bill Hall and the 14th caller on WEEI in left field to one of the best in the game.

And oh yeah, removed him from a rival.

EEEEEVIL!

Right after they picked up a home town San Diego hero who almost led a band of low paid misfits to the playoffs.

EEEEVIL!

And it is awesome.

I know the Yankees made two big signings, but let's face it: Bringing back Jeter and Rivera isn't exactly addition. It's AVOIDING subtraction.

Now if Cliff Lee can sign with the Rangers, this Red Sox fan will be dancing like Papelbon circa 2007.

Get a healthy Kevin Youkilis and Dustin Pedroia. Add J. D. Drew on a contract year. Mix in the new left handed bats of Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez. And keep in mind Big Papi will be batting 6th or 7th!

And oh yeah, have Lester and Buchholz head up the rotation and Papelbon in his walk year eyeing the big bucks.

Forgive me if I don't care if you hate the Red Sox.
I'm giddy for 2011 to start.

Cue the Darth Vader theme!

(And enjoy this odd video I shot at a John Williams concert in the Hollywood Bowl... lots of Star Wars geeks doing some conducting with light sabers.)

Come to Fenway, Carl

It's a little better than the Trop.

There is the Green Monster in left rather than those stupid rings in the Trop that you could hit with a flyball.

And oh yeah, they don't have to literally GIVE tickets away to fill up the place.
I think you'll like it.

I know trying to sign Crawford away from Tampa, which the Red Sox are evidently trying to do, makes my team as greedy and as vulture like as the Yankees.

And do you know what?
I don't care!

My team plays for fans who PAID ADMISSION.

Am I high or did Bengie Molina just steal a base?

I SWEAR I've never used a hallucinogenic... but I my eyes are telling me that Bengie Molina stole a base... and my brain can't handle that.

Maybe I dropped acid earlier today and didn't know it.

If he did steal that base, it takes the sting out of the triple he hit against the Red Sox last July.

Then again, maybe I'm high.

I'll ask the dragon I am sitting next to if he saw it too.

SULLY vs. A FISH

Earlier this month made my picks for the post season series... as did my wife.

When I made MY picks, I compared them to the picks of my kids (who just liked the sounds of certain teams) my sister in law (who was more interested in which players were vegans) a coin flip (always reliable) and my fish, Red.

When Red made his choices, I held up a picture of the logo of each team playing in the series and I saw which direction he swam in.

Well so far each of MY picks have been right.
And so have Red's picks.

We both picked the Yankees... we both picked the Phillies... we both picked the Giants.

But here's the rub.

I picked Tampa Bay over the Rangers.
Red picked the Rangers over Tampa Bay.

So tonight is the rubber game.

Oh yeah, it means a lot to the Rays and Rangers... either a chance to have home field advantage in the ALCS or go home.

But think about it from MY point of view.
This is my chance to pick all four series correctly. Something I haven't done in literally YEARS!

And if I fail, I will have lost to a fish.

It's one thing to lose to the chance of a coin flip, or the silliness of my kids, or the randomness of my wife or sister in law's picks.

But to lose to a fish... it is something I can not bear.

So like Santiago or Quint, I am obsessed defeating a fish.
Is it a healthy?
No.

Is it luck?


"No. I am not ... lucky. I am not lucky anymore."

"The hell with luck," the boy said. "I’ll bring the luck with me."


(That's right, Mo Fo's... I'm quoting Hemmingway.)

Teams that avoided the big collapse

One of two things are going to happen today at the Trop:

The Rays will complete a remarkable comeback in a series where they were 5 outs from elimination and looked dead from the neck up.

Or

The Rangers will have fought off a gigantic scare and win their first ever post season series.

Both are pretty dramatic.

We hear a lot about the teams that have come back from deep holes to win the final 3 games of a post season series.

Teams down 2-0 in a best of 5 series or down 3-1 in a best of 7 series who storm back and win. (Only one team pulled it off being down 3-0… I don’t remember which one.)

With all the big comebacks, doesn’t it always seem like the team that ties the series has the momentum and winds up winning it?

But what about the near misses?

What about the teams down 2-0 in a best of 5 or down 3-1 in a best of 7 and force a deciding game… only to lose it?

The comebacks that fall just short. Or for the other team, narrowly avoiding a gigantic choke.

If the Rangers win tonight, they will have dodged a massive bullet.

What other teams avoided an epic collapse when they let their opponent off the matt to force a deciding game, only to compose themselves and win the do or die finale?

The 1972 A's did it in BOTH the ALCS and World Series... not a bad showing.

We here at Sully Baseball don’t just ponder questions like that?
We list them:

THE TEAMS THAT AVOIDED A MASSIVE COLLAPSE

1912 BOSTON RED SOX
Red Sox had a 3-1-1 lead over New York Giants in the World Series. (One tie due to darkness.)
Giants won 2 in a row to force deciding 8th game.

FINAL GAME:
GAME 8: RED SOX win 3-2 in 10 innings.
2 outs away from losing the series, the Red Sox score 2 aided my Fred Snodgrass dropping a fly ball and win the World Series.

1967 ST LOUIS CARDINALS
Cardinals had a 3-1 lead over Boston Red Sox in the World Seres
Red Sox won 2 in a row to force deciding 7th game.

FINAL GAME:
GAME 7: CARDINALS win 7-2.
Bob Gibson is unstoppable and throws a complete game victory and hits a home run for good measure. Jim Lonborg is no match for him on only 2 days rest.

1972 OAKLAND A'S
A's had a 2-0 lead over Detroit Tigers in the ALCS.
Tigers won 2 in a row to force deciding 5th game.

FINAL GAME:
GAME 5: A'S win 2-1
Reggie Jackson steals home to tie the game in the second but tears his hamstring. Gene Tenace drives home the go ahead run in the 4th. Vida Blue throws 4 innings for the save, getting Tony Taylor, the potential pennant winning run, to fly out.

A's had a 3-1 lead over Cincinnati Reds in the World Series.
Reds won 2 in a row to force deciding 7th game.

FINAL GAME:
GAME 7: A'S win 3-2
The A's took the lead in the 6th while the Reds threatened with the bases loaded and 1 out in the 8th. They had the tying run on base and the World Series winning run at the plate in the 9th, but Rollie Fingers got Pete Rose to pop up to win the Series.

1981 MONTREAL EXPOS
Expos had a 2-0 lead over Philadelphia Phillies in the Divisional Playoff.
Phillies won 2 in a row to force deciding 5th game.

FINAL GAME:
GAME 5: EXPOS win 3-0
Steve Rogers out dueled Steve Carlton and the defending World Champion Phillies in Philadelpha with a 6 hit shut out. Rogers drove in 2 runs himself with an RBI single in the 5th.

1981 NEW YORK YANKEES
Yankees had a 2-0 lead over Milwaukee Brewers in the Divisional Playoff.
Tigers won 2 in a row to force deciding 5th game.

FINAL GAME:
GAME 5: YANKEES win 7-3
The Brewers took an early 2-0 lead on Ron Guidry who only lasted 4 innings. But Reggie Jackson and Oscar Gamble hit back to back homers to give the Yankees the lead for good.

1992 ATLANTA BRAVES
Braves had a 3-1 lead over Pittsburgh Pirates in the NLCS.
Pirates won 2 in a row to force deciding 7th game.

FINAL GAME:
GAME 7: BRAVES win 3-2.
Pirates ace Doug Drabek took a shutout into the 9th inning. But a Pendleton double and an error by Jose Lind knocked him out. With two outs, seldom used catcher Francisco Cabrera hit a two run pinch hit single to win the game and the series for Atlanta.

2008 TAMPA BAY RAYS
Rays had a 3-1 lead over Boston Red Sox in the ALCS.
Red Sox won 2 in a row to force deciding 7th game.

FINAL GAME:
GAME 7: RAYS win 3-1.
The Red Sox took an early 1-0 lead and carried that into the 4th. The Rays got to Jon Lester and Matt Garza shut down the potent Red Sox lineup. But when Boston loaded the bases in the 8th, it looked like they were going to pull ahead. Rookie David Price came out of the bullpen and struck out J. D. Drew and pitched the 9th for the save.



So there you have it...
7 teams avoided the ignominious fate of blowing a big post season lead.
Will the Rangers join them? Or will they be the latest team to shake their heads and say "We HAD this!"?

Can't Evan Longoria afford a new cap?

Seriously... if he lost his hat, buy a new one! He signed a $17 million contract. Go on line and get a new one.

Why chase down that poor schmuck to a helicopter?

And why is some yahoo going to Rays games (and taking public transportation) getting on a private helicopter?

Sorry, but these things bother me.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2010 AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK YANKEES

The Rangers are still looking for their first home playoff win in their history... and after being 5 outs from sweeping their way into the ALCS, they are forced to play a winner take all game and either get eliminated or win but not have Cliff Lee ready for games 1 or 2 of the ALCS.

Is there ANYONE who thinks the Rangers could actually beat the Yankees?

And if the Rays win, they'll be throwing someone other than David Price in game 1.

Meanwhile the Yankees will be rested, ready and have Sabathia ready for game 1 and probably Games 4 and 7.

At this point can ANYONE honestly say that the Yankees won't win one, if not BOTH games on the road and storm back to the ALCS?

Yankee haters... our nightmare is coming true.

Hey Tommy Hunter... no pressure

All you have to do is win today.

And oh yeah, get the Rangers to forget the fact that they were 5 outs away from winning the first post season series in the history of the franchise.

Oh yeah, if they don't win tomorrow, then they have to go BACK to Florida and face David Price in a do or die game.

The direction of the franchise is at stake.

So no pressure. Just win.
Relax.

Girardi is not so dumb now, is he?

When the Yankees and Rays were going down the stretch, there were a lot of Yankee fans killing Joe Girardi for not playing all of his veterans in every game. "They HAVE to win the Division!" was the rallying cry.

I heard one person KILLING Girardi for not using Mariano Rivera in both games of a double header in the last meaningless weekend of the series.

The Rays won the Division... the Yankees are the Wild Card... and it doesn't matter.

Who is looking good now?

The Yankees need one win at home and they are off to the ALCS.
The Rays can't afford to lose on the road or they are playing golf.

It is like when the Twins caught the Tigers for the Division Title on the last day of the 2006 season... but the Twins got swept out of the Division Series and the Tigers won the pennant.

Which team would you rather have followed? The Division winner who couldn't win a post season game or the team that went to the World Series?

Joe has been there and done that... that 28 on his back isn't for Division Titles.

Joe thinks it is more important to have Mariano ready for THESE games rather than the tail end of a "who cares?" double header in Boston.

I have a feeling most Yankee fans agree.
(So would Tampa fans.)

THIS IS THE GREATEST RANGERS TEAM OF ALL TIME

This team has already scaled the Mount Everest of the Rangers franchise.

They've won 2 post season games.

In fact the 11 runs they've scored in the first two games are pretty damn close to the 18 runs they scored in the franchise's first 10 post season games combined.

Look, I know the Rangers have bigger fish to fry... and they are one win and one Twins loss from having home field advantage in the ALCS with Cliff Lee throwing Game 1.

But it must be nice to know that at this moment... even if they LOSE to the Rays in the next 3 games... they've reached the highest peak in the history of the team.

The bar has been reset... and no doubt the Rangers want to raise it higher.

A SULLY BASEBALL VIDEO - What does Fox want?

Michael Young swung

Yup...
He struck out.

The video showed it.

Instead they had to strike him out AGAIN and he hit a three run homer to break a playoff game wide open and possibly sink the Rays.

Now were the Rays winning this game if Young struck out?
We don't know.

But we DO know is they unraveled after they were denied the strike out they earned.

Remind me why Qualls needed to get FOUR strikes again?

Oh yeah... the HUMAN element.

(We are setting up for a disastrous Denkinger-esque call this post season... some critical game will be turned on a bad call... if only we had the technology to FIX that.)

The Great Irony about the Tampa Bay Rays and today's game

All year long, the Rays played great baseball but the fans didn't show up.

Today, fans packed the Trop but the Rays didn't show up.

The Rangers matched their greatest post season ever

The Rangers went into today's game with a grand total of one post season win in their history.
Now they have two.

To understand how insane that is to double a team's post season success in one day, just imagine if the Yankees played a post season game... and in the process won the World Series 27 times in that day.

Thus the storied history of the Rangers just got some story to it!

Equally nutty... the Rangers scored more than twice as many runs in today's game as they scored in the 1998 and 1999 Division Series combined.

Actually Bengie Molina matched the post season home run and RBI totals of the 1998 and 1999 squads today.

This is why they got Cliff Lee. So much for home field advantage in the Division Series.

Now don't forget. They won Game 1 in 1996 against the Yankees as well... and they didn't win another post season game until this afternoon.

Game 2 is arguably the biggest game in the history of the Rangers.

And let me ask again... are you excited, Rangers fans?

Wow... a packed house in Tampa Bay for a playoff game!

I wonder how many of those tickets were free.

A guide for Red Sox fans in picking a playoff team to root for

So the playoffs are starting and the Red Sox are on the golf course.
Does that mean we Red Sox fans should just NOT watch the playoffs?

Of course not... just because our team is dead doesn't mean our interest should be.
Seeing that I was too young to remember 1975, I never saw the Red Sox play in October until 1986, when I was 14. Yet I never missed a post season... I would just temporarily adopt a new team to root for.

It's fun and involves a lot less pain if they lose.

So here is a guide for Red Sox fans to help you make a decision in picking which of the 8 playoff teams to root for.

CINCINNATI REDS

Why Red Sox fans should root FOR the Reds

- It is nice to see storied traditional franchises win. (Do we need ANOTHER Marlins World Series winner?)

- A title would be the icing on the cake for Dusty Baker, a great baseball lifer who had near misses with the Giants and the Cubs.

- WKRP in Cincinnati was a great underrated show.

- Old friend Bronson Arroyo is still pitching for the Reds. How can you not love Bronson?

Why Red Sox fans should root AGAINST the Reds

- I don't care how many titles we've won since... the Sox should have won the 1975 World Series and seeing Cincinnati celebrate again would be too much to handle. Seriously, watch the Ed Armbrister play again and tell me you are rooting for Cincy!

- I'm still bitter that all we got for Bronson Arroyo was Wily Mo Pena. We got snowed.

SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS

Why Red Sox fans should root FOR the Giants

- The fans have been tortured in a "Pre 2004 Red Sox" kind of way.

- They lost a World Series where if Willie McCovey hit a ball a foot higher they would have won.

- They lost a World Series because an Earthquake hit. Forget the Bambino... they had a FAULT LINE trip them up.

- You know who... Mr Juicer... is no longer there.

Why Red Sox fans should root AGAINST the Giants

- How much suffering can those fans really be going through? Even in their WORST day, they are living in the San Francisco Bay Area!

ATLANTA BRAVES

Why Red Sox fans should root FOR the Braves

- Winning a title without Glavine, Maddux or Smoltz would shut up the critics of Bobby Cox.

- Jason Heyward is a great budding super star and baseball needs super stars front and center.

- The Braves were once a Boston team... and rooting for them is as close to rooting for a Boston team as we are going to get!

Why Red Sox fans should root AGAINST the Braves

- Wasn't there... ahem... domestic charges against Bobby Cox? And now I'm supposed to root FOR him?

- Braves fans couldn't even sell out NLCS games and their playoff tickets are always available minutes before first pitch. How can you root for a team whose fans don't even support them?

- The Braves broke our hearts when they left town... and has Boston sports ever recovered? (OK, yes, but still. They dumped us!)

PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES

Why Red Sox fans should root FOR the Phillies

- It would be nice to see a dynasty in baseball outside of New York. It might even tick off New York fans which is always fun.

- It's easy to root for Charlie Manuel. He's like Grady Little, but with a backbone.

- It's impossible to NOT root for Ryan Howard.

- A pitcher as good as Roy Halladay deserves a ring.

Why Red Sox fans should root AGAINST the Phillies

- Hey! If there is going to be a bunch of insecure Native Northeasterners with a New York inferiority complex having a baseball dynasty, it had better be US!

- Not that we Red Sox fans are angelic Boy Scouts... but doesn't it seem like every time there is a knuckle head fan being tazed or doing something stupid like vomiting on a little girl, it tends to be in Philadelphia?

TEXAS RANGERS

Why Red Sox fans should root FOR the Rangers

- They are the only franchise to never win a single playoff series. It's fun to see a team finally reach the top and know you are witnessing the best moment in the team's history.

- It is a nice redemption story for both Josh Hamilton and Ron Washington. Hell, you can make the feel good sports movie right now!

- Nolan Ryan runs the team and says "to hell with pitch counts." If they win, maybe everyone else will follow suit.

- The Rangers most famous fan is George W. Bush... a native New Englander.

Why Red Sox fans should root AGAINST the Rangers

- So, Vlad Guerrero sunk the Red Sox last year and sent Papelbon into a tail spin and I'm supposed to root for him now?

- As I addressed in my video, do Ranger fans even care? Would Game 7 of the World Series in Arlington be preempted there for an interview with Tony Romo?

MINNESOTA TWINS

Why Red Sox fans should root FOR the Twins

- Nice people in a nice outdoor park and a cute name... what's not to love?

- 9 years ago they were going to be contracted. Now they are in the playoffs for the 6th time since then. Winning it all would be the icing on the cake (and a wonderful f--- you to Bud Selig.)

- Joe Mauer is a great superstar and having players like him win a ring can only help the sport.

- Jim Thome has played for 20 seasons and played in October now 9 times... but still is ringless.

Why Red Sox fans should root AGAINST the Twins

- There are teams with real legit title droughts... this would be the third World Series title in 23 years for the Twins. Spread the love to Chicago or Cleveland!

- Jim Thome... the guy with 7 post season homers against the Red Sox... I'm supposed to root FOR him now?

- I miss the trash bag right field wall of the Metrodome.

- It might snow in Minnesota. Do we REALLY need to see that?

TAMPA BAY RAYS

Why Red Sox fans should root FOR the Rays

- The greatest turn around of a franchise would be complete... before inevitable cost cutting tears the team apart.

- The Rays can be the answer to anyone who whines about a salary cap and how unfair baseball is.

- Evan Longoria, Carl Crawford and David Price are the kind of stars baseball should be promoting. Having them all shine on the big stage can only help baseball.

- It will take some of the sting out of the Red Sox not making the playoffs.

Why Red Sox fans should root AGAINST the Rays

- I hate the Rays. Don't YOU hate the Rays?

- I'm still bitter about 2008. Why couldn't the Red Sox score a few more runs off of Garza???

- How can you root for a team whose fans need to be handed free tickets to attend a big game? Even their own players crap on their fan base!

NEW YORK YANKEES

Why Red Sox fans should root FOR the Yankees

- You want to test your own personal threshold of pain by watching the Yankees AND Lakers repeat as champions. If you can survive that, you can survive anything.

- You are convinced Joe Girardi is leaving after this year for the Cubs. Winning the title and leaving would be a wonderful f--- you to the Yankees.

- You lost a bet.

Why Red Sox fans should root AGAINST the Yankees

- They are the New York Yankees.

- Derek Jeter would be happy.

- It would make the Alex Rodriguez deal look wonderful.

- You will have to interact with that Yankee fan friend of yours who will be saying "28 TITLES!" all winter long.




So go ahead... pick a team. Cheer them on and have a fun but stress free October.
Heck, a lot of fans rooted FOR the Sox in 2004 and AGAINST the Sox in 2007.

Let's return the favor.
(I'm rooting for San Francisco... who are YOU adopting?)