162 games in the books (with one more tonight between the San Diego Padres and Colorado Rockies (!) for a birth in the playoffs) and the 2007 baseball regular season is over. It could easily be argued that this past season was the best one in baseball history.
The evidence:
Few seasons have had the kind of down-to-the-wire drama of the 2007 campaign. Coming into the last 5 games of the year, the National League still had no playoff births locked up. Even today, the wildcard is still not decided. In the American League, the various races were decided a few weeks ago, but not without some late season drama in the A.L. East where the hard-charging Yankees put a scare into Red Sox Nation.
Beyond the tight races, individual teams made this a season for the ages. The New York Yankees were left for dead at 14.5 games back, a pitching rotation that looked old and decrepit and a line-up that was not producing what its giant payroll suggested it ought. Calls for Joe Torre's firing were loud and pronounced, but just a few months later the Yankees look like the team to beat in the American League. The Chicago Cubs looked even deader than the Yankees, but a few Lou Pinella explosions later and suddenly they are back in the post-season as well. The Philadelphia Phillies overcame a million injuries to pitchers and key everyday players to win the N.L. East on the final day of the season. The Arizona Diamondbacks feature a line-up that no one outside of Phoenix can name (seriously - can you name three guys on that playoff roster?), gave up more runs than they scored and still won the N.L. West. The Colorado Rockies came from out of nowhere, winning 13 of 14 to get into the wildcard playoff game tonight. One team having this kind of season is special, but five?
Even the failures have been historic. The New York Mets blew a 7 game lead with 17 games to play. The Detriot Tigers were more loaded than last year's World Series squad, but failed to make the post-season. The Chicago White Sox, two years removed from a championship, finished with the season with 90 losses and had the worst record in the major leagues for a short time.
It was also a special season for individual milestones. In one season, we saw:
*A new homerun king - Barry Bonds breaks Hank Aaron's homerun record
*500 career HRs for Alex Rodriguez, Frank Thomas & Jim Thome
*600 career HRs for Sammy Sosa
*3000 career hits for Craig Biggio
*300 career wins for Tom Glavine
*500 career saves for Trevor Hoffman
We even have an all-time ejection champion in Atlanta's Bobby Cox, who was thrown out of his 132nd game in August.
Has there ever been a better regular season in baseball history? The playoffs have the potential for great storylines as well. Sox/Yankees, anyone? How about the Chicago Cubs getting back to the World Series? The Cleveland Indians finally getting a championship? If a National League team can win the championship, we are probably looking at one of the greatest post-season upsets in sports history.
There is also star power all over the playoffs, from veterans like Derek Jeter, Curt Schilling, Vlad Guerrero, Derrek Lee and A-Rod to the up-coming stars of tomorrow like C.C. Sabathia, Brandon Webb, Ryan Howard and Jake Peavy (maybe). What about a guy like Todd Helton finally getting a chance for post-season success after years of meaningless games in Denver? Or how about Roger Clemens getting a chance for more playoff dominance?
If this year's baseball season did not excite you, you simply cannot call yourself a baseball fan. It was a season for the ages, and October baseball hasn't even started yet. Can it get even better?
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5 comments:
I don't remember any loud calls for Torre to be replaced this year, even when the Yankees were 15 games back. Last year, when they didn't win, there were some minor rumblings, but I don't recall anyone really holding him to blame for this season, at least not in New York, which is odd, come to think of it, because the press is pretty unforgiving here, as are the fans.
Here is one from ESPN.com:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=pearlman/070518&sportCat=mlb
The guy later wrote an apology article.
Touche...I guess I was just thinking about NY Media...there very well may have been calls for Torre's firing from NY media, but I read the paper every day and never saw any during the Yankees slump, even though I read plenty of negative critiques of the Yankees, in particular the hiring of Clemens. Not trying to be a jerk, but normally that stuff is pretty blatant in the media here.
You axed: "Has there ever been a better regular season in baseball history?"
I'm kinda partial to 2004, actually.
Seriously though, I just finished watching the Rox beat the Pads. If this is an indication of what we have to look forward too, we're in for one heckuva playoff season.
I couldn't stay up for it all, but just read about the ending. I feel good for Holliday after he misplayed a can of corn to allow the Padres to tie it in the 8th.
The other guy I'm most happy for is Todd Helton. Former Vol, longtime Rockie, no post-season. I hope he explodes over the next week (he homered last night). That guy is class all the way and deserves the national spotlight.
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