Rocktober

The Rockies are in the World Series...

I never imagined that I would be typing those words. Back in 2000, I bought my first season tickets to the Colorado Rockies. I remember the tickets arriving in the mail with all 81 games in a single book. The Rockies had a new GM, Dan O'Dowd, they signed some new free agents, and hired a new skipper, Buddy Bell. There was excitement in the air. The team even started out pretty strong, and finished the season with a winning record. But, as most of you know, that was the start of a long downhill slide. The team was plagued by poor personnel decisions and an ownership group that cared more about money than putting a winning team on the field. The Rockies quickly took up residence in the cellar of the National League, and I dumped my season tickets after three years of watching a subpar product on the field.

Thus, you can understand why I am amazed that the same ownership group and management put together this Rockies team that made it to the World Series. Obviously, there is some luck involved, but I think that the players should get 90% of the credit for the Rockies being there. Of course, the management hired those players, but it was the will and determination of the players that has Rockies riding one of the most improbable hot streaks in the history of baseball. Thanks to the wild card system, the Rockies made the post season, and we are able to experience post season baseball for the second time in Denver since the inaugural year of the wild card system.

Now some of you might not know that President George W Bush shall forever have his name linked with the realignment of the leagues and expansion of the playoffs. Back in 1993, Texas Rangers' owner George W Bush was the only owner to vote against realignment of the leagues and the wild card system (27-1). He was even quoted at the time as saying, "I made my arguments and went down in flames. History will prove me right." Well, I think that the fans in Denver, Miami, Anaheim, Detroit, and Boston would be among the many that would disagree with the President's vote.

I understand the arguments that the current system makes winning a division crown less meaningful and that the teams play an unbalanced schedule so not everything is even. But rather than have an exciting pennant race every few years, we have excitement at the end of every season in multiple cities. In the National League this year, the divisional winners weren't determined until the last week of the season, and the Rockies had to win a tiebreaker game over the Padres to clinch the wild card. It doesn't get much more exciting than that.

And you can't make the argument that the wild card teams don't deserve to make the playoffs. A wild card team has made it to the World Series the last six years in a row, and a wild card team has won four times since its inception 12 years ago. The playoff system will likely be tinkered with and improved in the future, but for now, I am not complaining. I get to watch the Rockies play in the World Series. Amazing.