The SF Giants are slowly chipping away at the Dodgers’ lead in the NL West. Down to 3 games behind.

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I’m in the mood for baseball tonight. Do you know how long it’s been since a Canadian team won the World Series? Yep. 1993. Not only did the Toronto Blue Jays win in 1993, it was back to back championships because they also won in 1992.

Why am I talking about Toronto? They are .700 this season so far. Not to shabby, eh? I won’t go through my normal run down of who is where and my predictions. It’s far too soon for all that. But since I pointed out the best in MLB at the moment, let’s talk about the worst.

Washington Nationals. I hate expansion teams. I’ve said this a dozen or so times on this blog. I really do. I don’t hate the about Toronto Blue Jays era expansion teams, but just basically any team formed after I was born (Arizona, Colorado, Florida, etc…). The Nationals are .235 on the season. That means they are 4-13. I have a feeling it’s going to be a long season for them.

My SF Giants have improved in the last week and are almost above .500. They have plenty of time to get stronger.

But perhaps the best thing about this season is this: Pittsburg is .611 so far. They are 2nd in their division, back only 1.5 games on St. Louis. That means if the season ended today, they would at least be the NL Wildcard. They are tied for the 6th best team in baseball right now.

I told you this was their year. If they make the playoffs, you can bet your buttercups I’ll be sitting in PNC park watching them play.

.611 is respectable and makes me happy.

By the way, the last time the Pirates were in the playoffs was 1992.

This is their year.

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BOSTON – Jacoby Ellsbury stole home and the Boston Red Sox ran off with a three-game sweep of the New York Yankees.

via Ellsbury steals home, Red Sox sweep Yankees.

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A few months back I read this article, or one similar to it. It basically gives me my basis for claiming that everything is Bud Selig’s fault. The War. The economy. Job losses. Mortgage crisis. Eight years of George W. Bush.

Here is the rundown.

Back in 1994, Bud Selig, then owner of the Milwaukee Brewers, was the acting commissioner of Major League Baseball after the owners had ousted Fay Vincent in 1992. It was thought that the owners were going to find a permanent commissioner and George W. Bush, then an owner of the Texas Rangers, was a potential candidate. As reported in Sheehy’s column (2000 Vanity Fair Article), Bush wanted to be the commissioner of baseball more than anything else in his life, and when he was approached by Texas Republicans about running for governor, he initially put them off, thinking that he was in line to become the commissioner.

But alas, Bud Selig had other plans. He kept the job for himself after a six year search.

Just think how things could’ve been if not for this man. We know Bush would’ve cracked down on the steroids much sooner than Selig. He could’ve hunted them down! Al Gore might have been President, or at least anyone else that could have been better. See, I think W. would have made an excellent Baseball Commissioner. How much more likeable would he have been to the world? But no, the selfishness of one man led to the where we’re at today. And no one can say that is a good thing. Perhaps, if Selig had made Bush Baseball Commissioner, we might actually be able to afford to take our families to the Great American Pastime game.

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Tonight the World Series teams have been determined. I haven’t done many baseball blogs lately, but gotta get this one in.

Tampa Bay Rays. Philadelphia Phillies. Seriously?! I mean, can anyone honestly say pre-season they picked these two teams for the World Series? Can anyone (other than fans of those teams) honestly say that they would have picked either of these teams? I think not.

Tampa Bay was the worst team in baseball last year and have never been to a World Series. They’ve never been to the playoffs for that matter in their ten years. Maybe dropping “Devils” from their name helped out.

The Phillies haven’t been to the World Series since 1993. That’s five years before Tampa even had a baseball team! Their only World Series win was in 1980. Coincidentally, did you know that they used to be the Philadelphia Quakers? Really only in 1883 (105 years before Tampa had a team), was that the official name before they started using the Phillies, but it officially ended in 1889. I’m thinking of Phillies fans now and picturing those hard-core fans cheering for the Quakers. If you bring your horse and buggy into Philly from New York, expect to have your horse tagged up.

Okay, so now is the time for me to make a prediction. I’m torn really. I want both teams to win in some way, but at the same time, have no connection to either. I have reasons to want them both to lose as well. So here is what I’m going with…Tampa Bay will win their first World Series. I however, will be cheering for Philly.

I’ve already told you why. I cheer for NL teams unless they are on my bad list. But I’ll be equally as happy for whoever wins. Besides, if Philly can win a World Series after a long drought, that gives me hope for my Pittsburgh Pirates!

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One week til the SF Giants’ Home Opener game. This may have happened last year too, but their home opener is the same day as the NCAA Basketball Championship. That officially makes it the best day of the year.

I love baseball. I read a great post today by Walt Mueller about baseball and grace. It actually reminded me of something I was talking about the other day with someone. Maybe I’ll blog about that later. Anyway, here is his post that I liked. For anyone who doesn’t know, Walt Mueller is like the man on Youth Culture and how that fits in with our Christian lives. I heard him speak at Boot Camp in January and he was really good. He is a Phillies baseball fan so, but I won’t hold that against him. What about those Phillies? (Sorry Crystal, I couldn’t resist).

You like how I did that? I did a post that wasn’t about basketball, but still had to mention it, huh? Of course, now you get a post or two about baseball, then I’ll be silent on it probably until my trip, and then again until my next trip, and then again until, just before the playoffs.

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