With the Phils' early departure from the postseason, a Phillies fan is now left with no obvious rooting interest. It's hard to find a reason to object to the Diamondbacks, and there's really nothing wrong with the Rockies, even though they ended our season. The Indians aren't inherently likeable or dislikeable either, while you're likely to either love or hate the Red Sox. From a Phillies perspective, no teams that we hate are really left, so who to root for?
I'm pulling for the Indians. ESPN and FOX and even MLB itself have turned the sport into the Bosox-Yankees show. For the past decade, these two teams really have been remarkable, their fans really get into it (how could you not, with those lineups?), and their rivalry has been fun to watch.
As marketable and, at times, fun as this rivalry has been, however, there is more to baseball. There are other hardcore fans out there, and there are other excellent teams.
None of whom are better than the Indians. It would be one hell of a statement if a low-budget, small-market, almost exclusively home-built team were to sink the Yankees and the Red Sox and then win the World Series. What better way for the rest of baseball to marginalize this rivalry than to bury names like Clemens, Jeter, Ortiz, and Schilling under names like Asdrubal, Sizemore, and CC?
Billy Beane has done a great job showing that there can be great baseball far from the heart of the sport. Unfortunately, all of his teams have been foiled at some point along the way. Let's hope the Indians can finish the job. They can show everyone that not only can a non-NYY/BOS team win the World Series, but it can be legitimately better, too.
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