Lurkers

This is the trouble with major-league baseball today:  too much imitation of other sports.

Early this year, baseball tried to imitate the (rather unsuccessful) NFL and NBA plans for world domination, and play real games that count in London.

But much worse, we already went all-in with playoffs.

Me, I happen to believe that baseball's Long Season is the greatest determiner of a championship that ever was.  Call me an Original 16 absolutist.  All those expansion cities wanted major-league baseball?  They should have started their own major leagues.

And now that we're up to 4 rounds of playoffs, the Long Season is less meaningful than ever.  More and more, the advantage goes to those teams that can lurk around a wild-card spot, and scheme their way to the top.

I remember how Russell's Celtics did this for their last couple championships.  Hell, their last year, 1968-69 they finished FOURTH—just laying in the weeds, resting their aged bones for the playoffs.  Which they won.

A couple years later the Knicks turned the tables on them.  The 1971-72 and 1972-73 Celtics went all-out to run up the best records in the league.  But the crafty Knicks, who had a much better bench, just bided their time and beat the Celts in the Eastern Conference finals both years.

That's all well-and-good for lesser sports.  But for baseball, it distorts the championship.

Right now, it's actually the Red Sox who are in the catbird seat.  having punked out on over half the season, they can still lay back, torment us here and there, get their pitching fixed, and come out swinging in the playoffs.

Worst that happens, now that they've shown Tampa Bay who's boss, is a one-game play-in at Fenway.  Aw gee, don't throw them in the br'er patch!

Meanwhile, they can play as hard as they feel like it.  Like that jerk in school who would challenge you to a foot race—then, when you were running as hard as you could, pull up with a sneer, take out a cigarette, and act amused that you were taking him seriously.

Yep.  They are lurkers.  And they will be very, very annoying in that role, starting this weekend.