I realize many of you are disappointed. None of you were wishing harder for a BoSox/Cubs game than I. Any combination of the two would have been equally as fulfilling. However, it didn’t happen (besides, with the curse in full effect, Armageddon would have struck with the series tied at 3-3).
Which brings us to the Yankees. Boo all you want, complain about how salary caps would make the game more interesting, and how the family pet could manage a team like that as good as Joe Torre, but the fact of the matter is, the Yankees get butts in front of the television.
I have to lay out my screwed up disclaimer here. I’m pretty much a Yankees fan all through the regular season and ALCS (exception to this year, of course). When the World Series rolls around, I promptly start rooting for whoever is playing the Yankees.
Why? It’s good for baseball.
Since the strike that killed the World Series, baseball has quickly lost the title of “America’s Sport”. Only key events get people to watch the sport (in prime time, at least) with any real enthusiasm. The home run slug-out between Sosa and McGuire, the potential of a BoSox/Cubbies match-up, and The Yankees. The Yankees, all by themselves, drive baseball ratings. The lowest rated World Series game was the Giants/Angels match-up. (Don’t use the “West Coast Teams” argument… Mets/Yankees didn’t rate that poorly.) The Giants even had Bonds, fresh from his Major League record, but the simple fact is: “No Yankees, no ratings”.
Think about it. You have the largest metro in America (Bigger than several states combined) all tuned in to see “their” Yankees win it, and the rest of the country tuning in to see them lose (although not likely with 26 wins out of the last 99 years.)
Until they find a quick way to repair the game, salary caps and lamenting the victories of The Yankees, will only serve to hurt the game.
