GOOD SPORT: American pastime enters best month of year

It’s about as American as apple pie; it’s been around for, well, over a hundred years and has changed millions of lives. That’s right, it’s the game of baseball.

From the time I could walk, I’ve been playing baseball. When I was three, I played in a five-year-old league. Now, my love for the game is at an all time high.

As hopefully all of you know, it’s October, which means post season baseball. It’s my favorite time of the year, especially when my favorite team, the St. Louis Cardinals, make the playoffs.

What is a Cardinal’s fan doing in the middle of West Texas? Well, my dad is from Missouri, and I lived there for a time. So no, I’m not a bandwagoner. It’s not like I’m some Yankee fan who’s never left Texas and only likes the Yanks because they have 27 World Series rings.

Enough about me and my hate for the Yankees, though; let’s get back to postseason talk. This has been a crazy year for baseball. The Mets, Astros, Blue Jays and Cubs all made the playoffs. What do all of these teams have in common you might ask? Well, up until this year they all have been awful. The Cubs haven’t won a World Series in over 100 years, the Mets haven’t made it to the playoffs since 2006, the Astros (or the Lastros) have finished last in their division in three of the last four seasons, and the Blue Jays haven’t made the playoffs since they won the World Series in 1993.

With all these teams in the playoffs, it’s sure to be a great postseason. There were also teams that made the playoffs this year like they did almost every year. The Cardinals, who won 100 games this year, the Yankees, who are a bunch of roid-using cheaters, the Rangers who have had some bad luck in the postseason recently (especially with the Cardinals lol), the Pirates, who have been riding the Cardinals’ coattails for a while, and the Dodgers who always get a lot of attention but never do anything.

As of today, the wild card games are over, the division series are over, and the championship series are about to start. For those who don’t know what all that means, or haven’t been watching the post season, I’ll give a quick summary.

In the National League wild card game (which is a game between the two teams with the best record in their league, other than those that won a division) the Cubs ran over the Pirates, beating them 4-0. In the American League wild card game the Astros blanked the Yankees 3-0. In the NL Division Series (which is a best of five series) the Cubs beat the Cardinals in four games. In the other NL Division Series the Mets beat the Dodgers in five games. In the two ALDS the Blue Jays beat the Rangers in five and the Royals beat the Astros in five.

There are only four teams left, the Blue Jays, Mets, Cubs, and Royals. The Mets will play the Cubs in the NL Championship Series, (which, like the World Series, is a best of seven series) and in the AL Championship Series the Blue Jays will play the Royals.

My prediction is that it will be Royals vs. the Mets in the World Series with the Mets winning it all in seven games. That’s just my best guess because the thing that is so great about baseball is that every team has a chance.