By Charlie Stanton

For those of you who have been watching the baseball playoffs amidst midterms and this college thing we do, bravo. Some of you don’t have the attention span for baseball. For that, I feel terribly sorry for you. You are depriving yourself of visual and emotional sustenance, which is fine. If you’d rather sit in the library and not have anything to smile about, that’s your problem. Just know that it’s not too late to immerse yourself in wonderfulness and your fall can still be salvaged. But enough about you. We just saw the greatest first round of the playoffs ever. The only thing that would have made it better is if the Chicago White Sox were in the playoffs, but that’s just my sad personal bias. Each of the divisional series went to five games. Oakland A’s: Probably my favorite team in the playoffs. They have the lowest payroll in baseball and no one seems to notice (post-Moneyball). They play their games in an absolute dump and no one seems to care. Oakland hero Coco Crisp has his own chia-pet being sold in the East Bay. He robbed Prince Fielder of a homerun with a crazy catch over the wall in Game 3 and got the winning hit in Game 4 to force another game. The three rookie starting pitchers held their own against the Tigers. If they all stay with Oakland, the A’s could be good for a long time. Watching A’s fans on TV made me smile. They were just happy to watching October baseball, Bernied whenever they could and enjoyed the great moments. #YOLO. Unfortunately, they had to face Tigers’ ace Justin Verlander in Game 5. Alas. Baltimore Orioles:No one, and I mean no one, predicted the O’s to make the playoffs. The love fest between the Yankees, Red Sox and Rays make it difficult for the Orioles to ever make headlines. Not this year. The Orioles had to play the Rangers in a one game playoff just to make a five game series. The Rangers were regarded by many as the best team in the American League. It made me so happy to watch a team from Texas lose to a team that has been so bad for so long. And taking the mighty Yankees to five games was just icing on the cake. Adam Jones, Matt Weiters and Manny Machado are the future of the Orioles. And with the Red Sox in the midst of rebuilding, expect the Orioles to be fighting for a playoff spot in the coming years. It still amazes me how their pitching got them to the playoffs. A lot of guys had career years for them. It will be interesting to see if that carries over. Nevertheless, it was incredible to see Baltimore with a chance this year. Washington Nationals:They won a MLB-best 98 games in the regular season. Not many predicted them to do that. Out of all the teams in the playoffs, I wanted to see them make the World Series the most. Their 8th inning comeback in Game 1 was scrappy, just like their season. The Nats faltered in next two games and were one game away from elimination. Jayson Werth then set the nation’s capital on fire with a 9th inning walk-off to win Game 4. And then they had Game 5 wrapped up before it started. Cy Young hopeful, Gio Gonzalez was on the mound and they were at home. They got out to 6-0 lead by the 3rd inning. 6-0! Unfortunately, the rest of the game happened. The Cardinals scored four runs in the 9th inning and shocked the Nationals, winning 9-7. Baseball continued from page 6 It was reported that Nationals’ fans weren’t even mad, just shocked. They were one strike away until the collapse unfolded. They are my prediction to win the World Series next season. Never again will the Nationals shut down Stephen Strasburg early in the season. That decision wasn’t just dumb; it was moronic. Cincinnati Reds:Another massive collapse! They jumped out of the gate and beat the Giants twice in San Francisco. They went back to Cincinnati needing one win in three games. Joey Votto, the National League’s best pure hitter was on a roll. They had the Giants gift wrapped. Game 3 went to 10 innings, where the Giants won 2-1 thanks to a Scott Rolen error in the 9th. The Giants then manhandled them in Games 4 and 5. The Reds choked. At least the Nationals made it exciting, whereas the Reds just died. These are the teams that lost. I would have loved to see all four of them to win a championship. Baseball is cruel, crueler than any other sport. Teams die slow deaths. All these teams hung on as long as they could, but alas, they died. The living teams are much less exciting than the ones who were eliminated. Detroit Tigers:The Tigers will most likely win the World Series this year, which is silly. They won 88 games this season and never looked terribly impressive. That said, the Tigers have the two best players in the American League with Miguel Cabrera, who won the Triple Crown, and Justin Verlander, the most dominant pitcher of the modern age. The Tigers struggled with the A’s, who probably will be their greatest competition for the rest of the postseason. After getting past the Yankees, they’ll probably beat the Cardinals or the Giants. New York Yankees: I don’t really feel the need to talk about them. They burned out. Their brass will finally have to realize that buying every middle-aged player under the sun can only get them to the playoffs. It was heartbreaking to see Derek Jeter break his ankle in the 12th inning in Game 1 against the Tigers. They are done, but per usual had a great year. San Francisco Giants: The Giants are a cool bunch of fellows. They play in the sexiest ballpark in America, don’t score a lot of runs and find ways to win with the guys they have. They lost Melky Cabrera for the second half of the season and seemed to thrive without him. Catcher Buster Posey, especially after his Game 5 grand slam against the Reds, probably deserves the National League MVP. If they pitch well (cough Madison Bumgarner), they can win it all. St. Louis Cardinals:St. Louis, you continue to amaze me with your October magic. The Cardinals, after their antics against Atlanta in the playoff game and Washington, are as set as anyone to win the World Series. If their pitching keeps it together, they might be able to take the Tigers to six games in the World Series. Hopefully, this has inspired you to tune in for the remainder of the postseason. It’s a beautiful time to appreciate baseball. refresh –>