We Need A Villain

While the Tigers season was practically done by the middle of July, the season did continue on.  I watched them get humiliated by the Twins in a four game sweep.  Which, good for the Twins, they have been bad for a long time and this year are in the hunt for a wild card race.  That is the nice about baseball.  There always seems to be a historically bad team that has a good year and most people rally around them hoping that they'll make a deep run in the playoffs.  The Chicago Cubs are the obvious example with their World Series win last year, but the Cleveland Indians (sad to say) also are starting to play very well.

When we lived in Wichita, I watched a lot of Royals games.  They weren't the back to back American League Champion Royals, they were the lose ninety games Royals.  When they did win, with the exception of when they played Detroit, you felt good for them.  If they had a seventy five win season, that was a great year and something to build upon.  I think that no matter what team you root for if a bad team plays well doesn't a little bit of you feel good for them?  Except the White Sox.  Fuck that team.

But if everyone is happy for everyone else isn't there something missing?  It's almost like baseball, every sport for that matter, needs that one team every fan rallies against.  In football you have the New England Patriots.  Basketball has the Los Angeles Lakers or the Golden State Warriors.  Hockey has the Chicago Blackhawks and the Pittsburgh Penguins.  Teams that are either historically good or currently winning a title every time you turn around.  And who does baseball have?  The New York Yankees of course.  And to a lesser degree the Boston Red Sox.  They won a few titles and aren't considered an underdog much anymore. 

Every sport needs that team to root against.  That team that always has the great players, that seems to get the call in their favor, that will sign your favorite player in the offseason.  For the past few years, the Yankees haven't been the same old Yankees everyone hates.  Sure, we hate them because of they're the Yankees, but they haven't been very relevant when it came to the playoffs the past few years.  Well they're back.  They are going to make the playoffs this season and seem to be peaking at the right time.  We all know that if you're team is hot going into the post season there is no telling what can happen. 

This is a good thing for baseball.  We might not like seeing the Yankees in the post season, but it gives us a villain.  It gives us a reason to watch if our team doesn't make it because we want to see the Yankees lose.  Am I right?  Depending on who they end up playing, I would rather see the Yankees lose than the other team win.  I want to see the dejected faces of the fans as their beloved Yanks get crushed.  It's one of those scenarios where it's 'anyone but New York' for those of us who have no team playing in October.  At least that's the way I'm approaching it.