betED.com - The View from the Couch - by Gavin McDougald!
- What a Difference a Month Makes
For the vast majority of baseball fans the month of September is mostly meaningless. Their home teams are out of the post season hunt, too far back to have a shot at playing meaningful games in October.
From now on, that thinking is all wrong.
The Colorado Rockies didn?t even need all of September. They slacked off for a bit and did what they had to do in just a couple of weeks.
It did take them a four whole weeks to get all the way to the World Series however.
On September 15th the Rockies lost to the Florida Marlins 10-2, their second defeat in a row. They were only 4 games over .500 and 4? games behind the San Diego Padres for the wild-card lead and 6? games back of the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NL West.
After that late season low-point, all the cosmos aligned perfectly for them. The Rockies won 14 of their final 15 in the regular-season, including that one-gamer against the San Diego Padres to win the NL's wild-card. Then they swept the Philadelphia Phillies in three games to win the NL Division Series. Overall they have only lost once in their past 22 games, including their Monday win that swept away the Diamondbacks in four consecutive games. (Sorry for the recap, but for those of us on the east coast, since their games usually end around 2:00 AM et., most of this is new news.)
The Rockies became the first team to go undefeated through the first two rounds since Major League Baseball went to the expanded playoff format in 1995. Those seven wins in a row in the post-season also matches the record set by the 1976 Cincinnati ?Big Red Machine? Reds. They have outscored their opponents 136-67, their team ERA is 2.07 team and they have also been sporting nearly flawless defense.
Now they await the winners of the ALCS ? or as they are better known ? the Cleveland Indians. And wait they will. The World Series doesn?t begin until the 24 th, making their nine-day layoff the longest ever for a World Series team. Winning 21 of 22, they probably need the rest.
Another reason the conventional thinking is gone from baseball forever is, like most other wannabe-in-the-post-season teams, these guys were rebuilding. It?s not like they were an underperforming great team that suddenly woke up and started playing like they should. It?s more of a Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, ?who are those guys? crew.
They only have one player of national repute, Todd ?I thought I?d be golfing? Helton. He makes just under $17-million a season, almost four times that of the next highest paid player on the roster, burgeoning super-star Matt Holliday, the National League batting champion and NLCS MVP.
In total the Rockies payroll is $54 million. Or to put it another way, there are 25 teams in baseball who pay out more ? one of which pays out nearly four times more - all of whom are sitting and watching. The Rockies have 15 players on their 25 man roster below the league average of $2.7-million a year, including four starters who earn $400,000 or less.
Should your team buy a championship? Forget about it. Why not just build one instead? It?s way cheaper and way more fun. The homegrown talent that the Colorado fans have seen develop before their very eyes are paying big dividends early. Expected to compete in 2008, the little team that could is where no one expected them to be, even them.
Manager Clint Hurdle said, ?This may never happen again. This is one of those things where you get everybody back, 10-20 years down the road, and you have a reunion gig.?
With talent and a little luck, any team can do the same thing. From now on, there are essentially no teams out of it, until they are mathematically eliminated.
All teams have to do, is not lose.
Previously that dim September hope was left only to the true die-hards, but now that we?ve all seen it actually happen, will we ever believe our teams are truly dead and buried until they actually are?
Just look what happened:
On September 15th the Rockies were looking forward to perhaps making it into the 2008 post-season.
On October 15th they made it to this year?s World Series.
Bet against them. I dare you.
Oh, and don?t count out your team ever again.
Cheers - Gavin McDougald - AKA Couch
Bet on the World Series at betED.com here!
- What a Difference a Month Makes
For the vast majority of baseball fans the month of September is mostly meaningless. Their home teams are out of the post season hunt, too far back to have a shot at playing meaningful games in October.
From now on, that thinking is all wrong.
The Colorado Rockies didn?t even need all of September. They slacked off for a bit and did what they had to do in just a couple of weeks.
It did take them a four whole weeks to get all the way to the World Series however.
On September 15th the Rockies lost to the Florida Marlins 10-2, their second defeat in a row. They were only 4 games over .500 and 4? games behind the San Diego Padres for the wild-card lead and 6? games back of the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NL West.
After that late season low-point, all the cosmos aligned perfectly for them. The Rockies won 14 of their final 15 in the regular-season, including that one-gamer against the San Diego Padres to win the NL's wild-card. Then they swept the Philadelphia Phillies in three games to win the NL Division Series. Overall they have only lost once in their past 22 games, including their Monday win that swept away the Diamondbacks in four consecutive games. (Sorry for the recap, but for those of us on the east coast, since their games usually end around 2:00 AM et., most of this is new news.)
The Rockies became the first team to go undefeated through the first two rounds since Major League Baseball went to the expanded playoff format in 1995. Those seven wins in a row in the post-season also matches the record set by the 1976 Cincinnati ?Big Red Machine? Reds. They have outscored their opponents 136-67, their team ERA is 2.07 team and they have also been sporting nearly flawless defense.
Now they await the winners of the ALCS ? or as they are better known ? the Cleveland Indians. And wait they will. The World Series doesn?t begin until the 24 th, making their nine-day layoff the longest ever for a World Series team. Winning 21 of 22, they probably need the rest.
Another reason the conventional thinking is gone from baseball forever is, like most other wannabe-in-the-post-season teams, these guys were rebuilding. It?s not like they were an underperforming great team that suddenly woke up and started playing like they should. It?s more of a Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, ?who are those guys? crew.
They only have one player of national repute, Todd ?I thought I?d be golfing? Helton. He makes just under $17-million a season, almost four times that of the next highest paid player on the roster, burgeoning super-star Matt Holliday, the National League batting champion and NLCS MVP.
In total the Rockies payroll is $54 million. Or to put it another way, there are 25 teams in baseball who pay out more ? one of which pays out nearly four times more - all of whom are sitting and watching. The Rockies have 15 players on their 25 man roster below the league average of $2.7-million a year, including four starters who earn $400,000 or less.
Should your team buy a championship? Forget about it. Why not just build one instead? It?s way cheaper and way more fun. The homegrown talent that the Colorado fans have seen develop before their very eyes are paying big dividends early. Expected to compete in 2008, the little team that could is where no one expected them to be, even them.
Manager Clint Hurdle said, ?This may never happen again. This is one of those things where you get everybody back, 10-20 years down the road, and you have a reunion gig.?
With talent and a little luck, any team can do the same thing. From now on, there are essentially no teams out of it, until they are mathematically eliminated.
All teams have to do, is not lose.
Previously that dim September hope was left only to the true die-hards, but now that we?ve all seen it actually happen, will we ever believe our teams are truly dead and buried until they actually are?
Just look what happened:
On September 15th the Rockies were looking forward to perhaps making it into the 2008 post-season.
On October 15th they made it to this year?s World Series.
Bet against them. I dare you.
Oh, and don?t count out your team ever again.
Cheers - Gavin McDougald - AKA Couch
Bet on the World Series at betED.com here!
