LTR Gives 2004 Thumbs Up
October 4th, 2004
Of course, the baseball season isn’t over yet, but I can’t help but write down a few of my impressions before the playoffs begin.
First of all, and most importantly, the reason I don’t write much about baseball here is because I am a very active fantasy baseball player. I’ve played in as many as six leagues a year, but this year I just focused on my two most important leagues since I wasn’t really settled in with my move to Atlanta when the season began. One league plays strictly for bragging rights, but another league is a keeper league which plays for a lot of money.
This is not a league for amateurs, and we all get really into the game; I write fake press releases nearly every day that pretty much use up all my baseball writing energy. Last year I managed my boys up to a lucrative third place finish; this year we finished a miserable ninth in the standings, out of 16 teams, due to a chain reaction caused by drafting bad pitching: Bartolo Colon and Mike Mussina, I’m talking to you!
In the real world, I’m very happy the Cardinals made the most of their talent. They look like the team to beat in the National League. The Astros and the Angels are both scrappy, streaky teams that are hot right now, so I wouldn’t write them off yet. I don’t have a lot of faith in the Yankees’ pitching. The Red Sox are cursed and unworthy. And the Twins are a one-trick pony (named Johan Santana). I like the Braves, and will be rooting for them all the way (you heard it here!), but I wouldn’t be surprised to see them knocked out by the Cards in the NLCS. I don’t know who will go all the way.
And where will ex-Braves Javy Lopez, Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Vinny Castilla be this October? At home. Watching the playoffs on TV!
In terms of individual achievement, the most exciting story of the year was Ichiro. Ichiro! Ichiro! I’ve had Ichiromania the past few days; I even have Robert Whiting’s The Meaning of Ichiro on hold at the library. Barry Bonds is old news and is a shoe-in for NL MVP. Adrian Beltre and Albert Pujols are the MVPs of the future, and in the American league, say what you want about Sheff, Manny, and Ortiz, but no one carried a team more spectacularly than Vlad Guererro.
Cy Young awards should go to the excellent Johan Santana and (yawn) the once-and-future-retired Roger Clemens, who will wake up one day, balding and palsied, and decide to go for his hero Nolan Ryan’s career strikeout record.
A few other random observations and predictions. Sammy Sosa is declining rapidly. The Expos won’t be any better as a team in D.C., so let’s see how long it takes before attendance dwindles to two or three thousand. Dontrelle Willis should be a starting pitcher before the All-Star Break and then moved into the outfield to bat second for the rest of the season. The Cardinals offense will break some records on ‘05. The Yankees will finally lose the AL East. The Orioles would be such a great team if they could get an ace or force Sidney Ponson to diet. Maybe he and Bartolo Colon should get together.
October 4th, 2004 at 7:10 pm
I just haven’t had the same interest in baseball since the 94 strike. MLB destroyed my childhood that summer.
October 5th, 2004 at 8:22 am
The strike turned me off, too, but I couldn’t stay away for long.
October 5th, 2004 at 1:27 pm
Why, LTR, why?
October 5th, 2004 at 11:40 pm
The strike pissed me off as well, especially since the Sox had a great team and Reinsdorf was leading the way in the whole mess. But I love baseball so much, I couldn’t stay away. And 1998 brought me back all the way.
Haven’t ever been able to play in a fantasy league, though. I read the box scores enough already!
And go Red Sox!
October 5th, 2004 at 11:43 pm
Well, maybe we’ll have to do something about that next year, Justin. If you’re going to be reading all the box scores anyway, might as well!