The #WhyNotUs Index: The MLB 2014 Playoff Teams

Why not us? | Credit: www.boston.com

Now that Ateneo’s basketball season is over, I turn to the MLB playoffs for entertainment. No matter how much boring baseball is for most people, it actually climaxes well during the playoffs. Anything can happen and any team can come back as baseball is not time-dependent. Of all the major sports in the United States, baseball is actually the only sport that finds the right balance of regular season, postseason and even all-star games. Yup, I am not kidding despite of the 162 game count. OK, I might be a bit biased here but consider these:

NBA: Does the regular season really matter? Half of the teams reach the playoffs anyway!
 

NFL: Every game is exciting in the 16-game regular season format. Although, you can’t really go more than that because teams would have a bunch of injured players… oh wait, yeah they do have a bunch of injured players at the end of the year. Sometimes, it is a battle of which is the luckiest/least injured teams come playoff time. The single game elimination is exciting, but the randomness kills the best teams usually
 
NHL: Pretty much similar concept to the NBA except that they use wild cards.
 
MLB: The regular season – despite being a very long one – actually matters because only a few teams qualify for the postseason. They still undergo a best-of-five/seven series to determine the eventual champion. Another good quirk: the MLB All-Star Game actually matters because the league that wins it gets the homecourt advantage in the World Series.

Having said these, it’s time for me to enjoy the MLB playoffs! Only thing is, both of my teams have been eliminated.

D’oh!

However, this does not stop me from seeing some silver lining in these playoffs (hey, at least the Yankees are eliminated too!). I am actually enjoying this year’s playoffs because we have a bunch of teams who have finally gotten over the hump (Kansas City, Pittsburgh, to a lesser extent – Baltimore). It is always great to watch passionate fans of usual cellar dwellers cheer for their team when they succeed. And as the sports theme of this year goes, we are in a “Why Not Us” Year. I mean, look at the list of champions this year:

NFL: Seattle Seahawks. First time ever to win the Super Bowl + they have the consistently loudest crowd in NFL. Quarterback Russell Wilson was even heard saying “Why not us?” in interviews before Super Bowl.

UAAP Women’s Volleyball: Ateneo Lady Eagles. First time to win the championship and they had to achieve it in one of the most miraculous runs ever: they were in a step-ladder format where they had to win all their games (3) to reach the Finals. They had to beat regular season tormentors, NU Lady Bulldogs twice. And when the Lady Eagles reached the UAAP Finals, they had to deal with their longtime bullies, the La Salle Lady Spikers. DLSU has not lost 30 games straight at that point and even had a thrice-to-beat advantage. You have to go through a lot of believing to beat such odds.

US NCAA Men’s Basketball: Connecticut Huskies. I know they just won some years ago, but they were ranked No. 7 (its overall equivalent is they are at least the 25th best team as there are four No. 1s, 2s, 3s, etc). UConn was the first 7 seed to ever reach and win the championship game.

NBA: San Antonio Spurs. I know that they have won multiple championships but with their last one coming from 2007 and with their aging group of veterans, it was remarkable that they were able to exorcise the demons of 2013 as they defeated LeBron’s Miami Heat.

LeBron Sweepstakes: Cleveland Cavaliers. Sorry, I had to.

FIFA: Germany. Germans have last won the World Cup in 1990. They do have a winning tradition but they have come up short a lot of times in the past FIFA World Cups: 1994 – quarterfinals, 1998 – quarterfinals, 2002 – finals, 2006 – semifinals, 2010 – semifinals. The history of heartbreaks made their 2014 World Cup win so much sweeter as they finally exorcised their demons in Brazil.

FIBA: Not counted. USA losing it to some other nation is too much of a reach. But the Philippine National Team (Gilas Pilipinas) does have the ‘Why Not Us’ storyline to some extent. The team has not won a single FIBA game in the last forty years and were marked as pushovers by critics. With the way they played though, Gilas almost beat every team in the group round except for Greece. We never expected them to win any, so it was remarkable how they surprised the world and eventually bagged a win in their last game.

UAAP Men’s Basketball: To be determined, but both competing teams have ‘Why Not Us’ storylines:
NU Bulldogs – They haven’t won since 1954. My parents have not even been born then! In an eight-team league (even less way back then), the chances of your team winning a championship is actually high. Not for NU for a long time. Now, they have a good shot. And to do it in a year after they have lost ex-MVP Bobby Ray Parks has got to be a very remarkable feat.
FEU Tamaraws – They may be one of the winningest teams in UAAP, but they have experienced several years of heartbreak in the past few years. They were the whipping dogs of both Ateneo and La Salle in their respective roads to championship successes. FEU was also involved in several offcourt controversies (Mark Barroca allegedly selling games, Mac Baracael getting shot). A championship would heal the Morayta-based community’s wounds.

There you go. So, will it be a ‘Why Not Us’ year in MLB? Let us score the teams’ ‘Why Not Us’ Index.

But to start off, what constitutes a ‘Why Not Us’ team? For me, here are the reasons: (I actually did not limit it to sports teams or even sports. ‘Why Not Us’ can be used even on other things… just ask Ted Mosby)

1) You were deprived for so long on something immensely positive
2) You experienced tough heart breaks (extra points if you were so close to reaching that goal)
3) Despite all the heartbreaks, you remained highly passionate and optimistic
4) You really had to immensely believe after your recent setbacks because most people would be wondering if you could ever bounce back.
Most importantly…
5) It's time for your Cinderella story.

Simply put, it's the ultimate test of fortitude. 

Here are also storyline addendums which would make the ‘Why Not Us’ storyline better:

1) Heavy backstory/baggage of failure
2) You had to experience fighting tooth and nail to reach that goal.
3) Your misfortunes have been so frequent that you have become the laughing stock of people. They reference your misfortunes as the saddest ones. At the same time, a lot of people are rooting for you because they want you to finally get it.

Credit: Boston Globe

The classic example for such would be the 2004 Boston Red Sox. They have not won a championship for the last 86 years. They have experienced devastating heartbreaks where they could have won it all (2003 against the Yankees, 1986 against the Mets). Back in 2004, the Red Sox were almost about to get beaten by their longtime tormentors, the New York Yankees as the Sox were down 0-3 in a best-of-seven series. Only thing was, it did not happen. The Boston Red Sox had a miraculous run for the ages and they delivered one of the best Cinderella runs of all-time.

Ten years from that remarkable run, are we going to see another MLB team get the storybook ending?

(Note: The Detroit Tigers and the LA Angels have been eliminated as of the moment so I am not writing about them anymore)

Los Angeles Dodgers
Last World Series Win: 1988
Number of World Series Titles: 6
#WhyNotUs Index Rating: 6

Credit: ESPN

This proud ballclub that first hailed in Brooklyn is actually due for a championship. They have avid fans even back from the Brooklyn days. It is a plus that they play in an old school stadium. They might not have that much of a storied playoff heartbreak in the past years (they were bounced off by the Cards in the NLCS last year, but it was not on a high level of losing) but seeing their archrivals (San Francisco Giants) win it all twice in the past five years have got to hurt. Aside from which, the other LA team (Anaheim Angels) also won once in the past decade. I would have ranked the Dodgers higher if it were not for the following reasons: they have a gigantic payroll so they are expected to succeed; they have annoying players like Yasiel Puig (gets too cocky when he scores a hit) and Carl Crawford (because I am a Sox fan)

Washington Nationals
Last World Series Win: N/A
Number of World Series Titles: 0
#WhyNotUs Rating: 7

Credit: rantsports.com

I could have ranked them higher on the WNU Ratings because they have not tasted championship yet. The Nats are a budding young team composed of potential MLB Hall of Famers. They have been through some heartbreak in recent years (2012 – after leading the Majors in the regular season, they got eliminated in the division series, Stephen Strasburg getting a Tommy John injury), but because they are a fairly new team (they used to be the Montreal Expos… Washington did have a team before but would you really identify those fans to the Nats fans since Washington had Baltimore anyway?). The Nats have not gotten a deep experience of heartbreak. Thus, they have not reached a deep #WhyNotUs Level yet. Also, their future is bright with Harper and Strasburg. The Nationals do need a championship eventually but on #WhyNotUs terms, they are not yet the hungriest team in the bunch.

San Francisco Giants
Last World Series Win: 2012
Number of World Series Titles: 7
#WhyNotUs Rating: 3

Credit: www.ibtimes.com

Five years ago, the Giants’ WNU Rating would have been through the roof as they have battled heart break after heart break (losing the World Series in heartbreaking fashion against the Anaheim Angels, having zero World Series championships in the Barry Bonds Era). But they finally won in 2010 where they ended a 56-year drought. They repeated the feat in 2012 as well so seeing them hoist another this year may be nice, but I would prefer the more deprived teams to win it this time.

St. Louis Cardinals
Last World Series Win: 2011
Number of World Series Titles: 11
#WhyNotUs Rating: 3

Credit: Sports Illustrated

The St. Louis Cardinals are the second winningest team in the MLB. They are admirable in a lot of ways because for a small market, they sure have a deep, passionate fanbase. They are the Green Bay Packers and San Antonio Spurs on MLB. The Cards are so consistently good that you have to appreciate how they have contributed to the betterment of the game. They do not need big bucks to lure free agents. All they need is the “Cardinal Way.” You know, the right way to play baseball. Obnoxious, but it has been effective. Either way, they’ve had a lot of good fortune in the past ten years (two championships) and that was why their rating is not that high. They did lose last year’s World Series but that was like empathizing with Ryan Gosling after he gets dumped by a chick (I do not even know if this is possible, but still).

Baltimore Orioles
Last World Series Win: 1983
Number of World Series Titles: 3
#WhyNotUs Rating: 9

Credit: Baltimore CBS Local

Now, we are getting serious. These Orioles squad has been deprived for so long. They are buried deep in a division that features the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. In recent years, Tampa Bay Devil Rays have been more consistently better than them. Baltimore even has a longer drought than the Toronto Blue Jays. To exist in a hellish division like the AL East has got to be a tough one. To see a younger brother team (Washington Nationals) rise up faster than you did makes it worse. Since 1983, Baltimore has been to just four postseason series. This was why it was extra special seeing them defeat a gargantuan pitching team of Detroit in the ALDS. After years of playing second fiddle, is this it for Baltimore?

Kansas City Royals
Last World Series Win: 1985
Number of World Series Titles: 1
#WhyNotUs Rating: 9

Credit: ESPN

After the Boston Red Sox of 2004, it is hard to give a rating of ten. Right now, the Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers and Cleveland Indians are the only teams that could equal it. However, Kansas City has got to be very close. I have not blown a single birthday candle during the last time they won the World Series (and it was their only one). They have not reached the postseason since that. Yup, you read it right. They have not reached the postseason in the last 29 years. All they have to do is to be the best regular season team against four other teams. Or, they could be the second-best and beat the other second-best team. Also, it’s not fun if your intrastate rival (St. Louis) is doing a whole lot better than you.

Thus, it was so special that Kansas City is now winning games. This small town is finally getting some love from the baseball gods as they finally won their first postseason game in 29 years. And they did it in thrilling extra innings fashion (it’s baseball’s equivalent of overtime). It was fun seeing them replicate the extra inning win twice. They even did it against the top regular season team – the LA Angels. The Royals eventually defeated them and are now in the ALCS.

If there is one team I would want to win in this year’s World Series, it would be the Kansas City Royals. They are a low-budget squad but they play like they have the Yankees’ payroll. They have a cool vintage stadium that has the signature fountain in it. Their police department’s Twitter account is funny. Just read this:

They sport the blue and white colors just like the Ateneo Blue Eagles. They won the World Series in my birth year (1985). And most of all, they have the passionate fans. They are the same fans who booed Yankees in the 2012 All-Star Game (yeah, a cellar dweller booing players in an exhibition game) – not admirable, but that’s way better than an indifferent crowd. They are the same fans who cheered in electrifying fashion when they won the Wild Card Round against the Oakland Athletics. You’ve got to love their passion because they knew it was worth the wait.

It’s time, Kansas City.