So, the Giants have finally won there first San Francisco World Series. Congratulations! I just want to touch on what a remarkable decade of post-season baseball we have seen.
Let's rewind back to 2000. The Yankees had just beat the Mets for their 3rd series in a row, and 4th out of the previous 5 years. While the wild card format had allowed some teams to make the playoffs when they hadn't in a while, the post-season had been dominated by the Yankees, Cleveland, and Atlanta.
In 2001, Arizona went to the playoffs for the first time, won their first penant, and won their first World Series in their 5th season as a franchise.
In 2002, Anaheim won their first pennant and World Series in franchise history.
In 2003, the upstart Florida Marlins won their second World Series by beating the Yankees.
In 2004, Boston won their first World Series since 1918, after coming back from a 3-0 ALCS deficit, and trailing the Yankees in the 9th inning of game four.
In 2005, Houston won its first pennant in franchise history, but lost to the Chicago White Sox, who themselves had won their first penant since 1959 and first World Series since 1917.
In 2006, Detroit won their first pennant since 1984, although they lost to the Cardinals in the Series.
In 2007, the Colorado Rockies won their first pennant in their franchise history. They did lose to Boston in the Series.
In 2008, Milwaukee made the playoffs for the first time since 1982. They were overshadowed by Tampa Bay, who made their first playoffs, and won their first pennant in franchise history, before losing to Philadelphia, who won their first pennant 1993 and their first World Series since 1980.
2009 was relatively dull; all eight playoff teams had been in the playoffs at least once the previous 5 years.
In 2010, the San Francisco Giants won their first series since 1954, when they were in New York. They beat the Texas Rangers, who won their first franchise pennant, and were making their first playoff appearance since 1999.
So, if we can get the Cubs (1908), Indians (1948), Rangers (never/1961), Astros (never, 1962), and Nationals (never, 1969) a Series victory! Heck, let's get the Cubs (1945), Nationals (never, 1969), Mariners (never/1977), Pittsburgh (1979) or Brewers (1982) a pennant. And it's really time to get the Nationals (1981), Royals (1985), Pirates (1992), Blue Jays (1993), and Orioles (1997) back into the playoffs! If anything, this decade tells us that it is possible for any team to have success if they do it right.
I love rounds of playoffs. I wish their were 32 teams with eight divisions so we would no longer have second place teams going to the playoffs, but I will take the tradeoff.
