Four words I never envisioned myself saying, or even thinking, but with Boston and New York preparing to square off on a 4-game set I find it most logical to... gulp... root for the Yankees.
Why?
For several reasons actually:
Most importantly, the Rays need to start making up ground in the wildcard hunt, so that means catching Boston and Texas. Even if that means New York starts to run away with the AL East. As things stand now, the Rays have to stop dreaming about retaining their title as AL East Champs and start worrying about finding a way past their mediocre start and into the playoffs.
Plus, look at it this way; if you had to decide between playing at Fenway or New Yankee Homerun Derby Stadium in October which venue would you choose?
I'd say, without a shadow of a doubt, "See ya in the Bronx".
--
Let's dare to dream and say that the Yankees sweep the 4-game set. If that were the case, the standings would have New York at 69-42 and 6.5 games ahead of Boston. Let's also assume that during that 4 day time frame the Rays manage to win 2 out of 3 in Seattle. That would leave Tampa Bay at 62-49, just 1/2 game behind Boston, and left with nearly 20% of their games versus Baltimore.
But on the other hand, if Boston and New York split their series and the Rays manage to win the same 2 out of three in Seattle, that would leave the Rays 2.5 games behind the Sox and 5 games behind New York with exactly 50 games to go-- which isn't horrible either.
The reality is this; the Rays need to pass 2 teams in the standings to make it into the playoffs. Right now those teams are Texas and Boston, so until something changes all Rays fans (in my opinion) should be rooting for whomever those 2 teams are playing against.
The Rays have 6 games against Texas and 6 games against Boston left on the schedule, so they (the Rays) need look no farther than the mirror to see what it'll take to make the post-season, and then all bets are off.
What do you think? Should we be rooting for the Yankees, the Red Sox, or a split?
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2 comments:
Not sure I follow the logic here. You would rather root for an outcome that leaves you 6.5/7 behind rather than 2 and 5?
Yep, that's my logic.
What I've done is conceeded to the fact that New York will win the East.
Therefore catching Boston is the proverbial carrot after which the Rays should be chasing...
Its not always a straight line that takes you from A to B.
Essentially I'm hoping the Rays and Yanks will work in conjunction to put the screws to Boston because I'd rather see NY in the post-season than Boston... and my disdain for Boston is greater than my hatred for the Evil Empire.
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