By now, if you follow the Royals, Giants, or baseball at all you have heard about or read the ESPN piece by David Schoenfield, about how the 2014 World Series is the worst in history. If, by the grace of god, you have managed to miss this story I will offer you a brief synopsis.
Schoenfield makes the case that this World Series is the worst in history because these two teams didn't have a dominant regular season. He saysSo these aren't great teams. So this is arguably the worst World Series matchup ever, as far as quality of teams." He goes on to try to make is point by stating that there is a reason that neither team won 90 games, and this should be a cause for concern. His case then goes from stupid to just plain silly when he brings up a comment made by a reader stating that instead of having a post season, the MLB should adopt English soccer rules by having a premier league in which each team plays each other an equal amount of time and at the end of it there is a winner. No postseason drama, no wild cards, and no game 7's. That's right, he wants to get rid of game 7's which might be the greatest thing in sports.
No the Giants and the Royals didn't win 90 games this season. They won 88 and 89 respectively. They are however a combined 18 and 2 in the post season. In his piece Schoenfield asks if the Royals and Giants are so great why didn't they win their divisions? Why did they "roll the dice" with a wild card game? I would ask Mr. Schoenfield, if the Royals and Giant's aren't the best teams in baseball why didn't the other teams win more than 2 games?
Why do we watch sports? It isn't to see a champion crowned or to award records to a player with amazing stats. Those are effects of us watching it. The reason we watch sports is to be entertained. And that is what post season baseball is. Entertainment. You work, push, and grind through 162 games to get there. To stop there, after just a regular season with no tournament at the end would be to leave a cliff hanger, and to deny closure to those who watch it. Where else will you get to see someone who barely batted over the Mendoza line, get hot and hit 4 HR in the post season? Where else are you going to see an unknown center fielder, erupt onto the national stage by playing historic defense? And the Public is telling us that they are entertained. The ratings for the ALCS was up 9% even though KC and Baltimore are 70% smaller than LA and STL (last years ALCS match up).
Somewhere in Venezuela a young boy is sitting by his TV watching Salvador Perez sit behind the plate. He jumps up and yells as Salvy springs into action and throws a ball on a string to Infante to catch a runner stealing base. He thinks to himself, "someday I want to be just like Salvy!" For a decade now the MLB has been trying to get young people interested in the sport of baseball. With the audience becoming older and older they need a new way to get young kids into the sport. The best way to do this is to feature some of the young unknown talent. The likes of Perez, Ventura, Duffy, and Finnegan are becoming national names on the biggest stage that MLB has to offer, and will do wonders for getting young kids interested in baseball again. With the old stars like Konerko and Jeter retiring, MLB should be glad that there are new young stars being showcased in the fall classic.
So no, Schoenfield, these teams didn't win 90 games this year, or win their division. But what they did do, was play smart baseball, and dismantled their postseason opposition. While the teams aren't from top market cities, they have captured the country and is primed to be one of the BEST world series ever. They say that to be the best, you have to beat the best, and so far they have done exactly that.
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