On the folly of a best-of-five playoff series in baseball
While I was rooting for the Dodgers in the NLDS (given the obnoxiousness of so many Cardinal fans, how could I not?), I really don't take all that much pleasure in the Cardinals suffering the same fate that my Cubs suffered the previous two years.
Really, the parallels are scary. Not only has the Central Division champion been swept in the first round three years running, but each year they have managed to score exactly six runs in those three games.
666. The Number of the Beast. This is the sort of thing I would have expected to work for the Cardinals, not against them.
Seriously, though, if it's any consolation to Cardinal fans who read this blog, this is just one more example of the utter absurdity of a best-of-five series deciding anything in baseball. Even best-of-seven is pushing it. One best-of-seven World Series you might be able to justify. This business of having to win two short series before you even get to the World Series is absurd. It's all about who happens to get hot during a stretch of two or three weeks- after playing 162 games over a period of six months to get there.
As Jean-Paul Sartre might have said, C'est absurd.
ADDENDUM: Looks like the Twins were swept by the Evil Empire, too. Sorry, Pastor Esget!
Really, the parallels are scary. Not only has the Central Division champion been swept in the first round three years running, but each year they have managed to score exactly six runs in those three games.
666. The Number of the Beast. This is the sort of thing I would have expected to work for the Cardinals, not against them.
Seriously, though, if it's any consolation to Cardinal fans who read this blog, this is just one more example of the utter absurdity of a best-of-five series deciding anything in baseball. Even best-of-seven is pushing it. One best-of-seven World Series you might be able to justify. This business of having to win two short series before you even get to the World Series is absurd. It's all about who happens to get hot during a stretch of two or three weeks- after playing 162 games over a period of six months to get there.
As Jean-Paul Sartre might have said, C'est absurd.
ADDENDUM: Looks like the Twins were swept by the Evil Empire, too. Sorry, Pastor Esget!
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