We’re in the middle of a pennant chase and it’s freaking great.*
*Tangent: can we even call this a pennant chase? One of the small but unfortunate side effects of the ever-expanding playoffs is that that particular term doesn’t really have any meaning anymore. The term “win the pennant” traditionally meant to win either the American or National League. But the term “pennant chase” traditionally meant the race to finish in first place in the regular season standings. So at the very moment that MLB
introduced the playoffs, thus separating the league championship from the regular season standings, the they also confused the meaning of that term. But we still kept using it! Though not always in the same context.
Now we’re talking about the the race to finish in one of three positions in the standings, none of which represent the top of any defined group of teams. I suppose the most accurate term is “Wild Card chase” but that term is (a) lame as hell, and (b) not even necesarily accurate vis a vis the Guardians and Tigers, who are still competing for the division. What the hell, man.
But what isn’t great is that there are no meaningful baseball games on the schedule today! Milwaukee and San Diego play each other, and while that’s a fun matchup in general, both teams are comfortably in the playoffs. The other two games feature four teams that are all comfortably out. Oh well, I guess we can just sit around and be stressed today.
Talk about what you want and be good to one another.
