When the playoffs started, there were some juicy World Series matchups on the table. Each league had two teams with at least 99 wins, so it seemed fairly likely we’d wind up with a battle of powerhouses—or at least one powerhouse and an upstart looking to spin some of that autumn magic that makes Bob Costas swoon.
Instead, none of the four heavyweights won even a single playoff series, and we got ... [waves beer can at TV and shakes head] ... this. Arizona against Texas. A team that won 84 games and made the playoffs just because of the NBA-ification of the postseason against a team that was on a 106-win pace on Aug. 15 and finished 90–72. A Diamondbacks franchise whose high point came when they beat the Yankees in the World Series at the one and only point in history when everyone wanted New York to win versus a Rangers franchise whose high point—coming within one win of a title in 2011—also qualifies as its biggest heartbreak.
As the League Championship Series wound down and Rob Manfred’s waking nightmare became more and more inevitable, I sent a text to a thread of baseball obsessives pointing out that the organizations were so lacking in historical star power that by Game 5 we’d be watching Billy Sample throw out the first pitch. One of the other guys responded that it would be more fitting if Bobby Witt Sr., who pitched for both franchises, was tapped to throw out a ceremonial wild pitch. Touché.
