The Fall (not so) Classic

By Stefi Kaplan
Posted Monday, October 29, 2007

It is indisputable that over the past few baseball seasons, the Fall Classic has been far less interesting than the matchups leading those teams to get there. It seems like every year there is a classic, exciting race or an unbelievable story driving us to tune in to the end of the regular season and the division and championship playoff games. This year, it was the Colorado Rockies. Last year, it was the Detroit Tigers. The year before, it was the Chicago White Sox and the Albert Pujols homerun against Brad Lidge in the NLCS. And in 2004, I’d say the ALCS probably drew some attention. But it seems like the past few years, the World Series has just been one big letdown after the wild ride to get there.

But it wasn’t like this a few years back - not even a little bit.

I think you have to go back to 2003 to find a World Series that was potentially of interest outside the local support from the cities of the contenders. What was so great about 2003? I’m sure most of America dreaded the idea of tuning in to watch the Evil Empire play a team with a maximum of 1,000 fans. But the Florida Marlins, the little engine that could, beat the Yankees after a thrilling Game 6, featuring an unknown Josh Beckett shutting down the formidable Yankees lineup. That’s the last World Series game I remember truly enjoying – or even really caring about (it helped that I happened to be in attendance for that one, the only World Series game I have ever attended).

Before that there was 2002 (a great seven game series), 2001 (a thrilling seven game series) and of course, the 2000 Subway Series.

So what has happened? Why has the Fall Classic all of the sudden become such a bore? It should be the Big Show, the main event – the culmination of the amazing runs of two great teams in one all-out fight. But instead it has become the wrap-up series after an exciting year of baseball, almost like the last day of school in high school when you had finished learning and were just going through the motions of attending each class before the bell rang and school was out for summer. Or that exciting time when you finally got that crush you’d been pining for the last few years, only to realize that you were really just after the chase. And over the course of a 162 game season with three postseason rounds, maybe a lot of the fans just run out of gas, especially when their team is no longer competing.

That could explain why people aren’t watching the World Series. But why haven’t the past few World Series even been exciting for those who have tuned in?

The best answer I can give is that the past few years, the best and most exciting teams have not made it to the Big Show. The 2006 Mets were the magical team that would have completed the fantastical story in the World Series, especially on the 20th anniversary of their most recent championship. But they didn’t. The 2005 Cardinals should have been in the Fall Classic, riding the momentum of that mammoth homerun and never looking back. But they didn’t. In 2004, the two Championship Series matchups were so action-packed, there was simply no possibility that the World Series could be anywhere near as exciting. And it wasn’t.

And this year, well, the fairy tale team made it, but so far they have just run into a better team. The mediocrity of the NL shines through at last, during the final week of the season.

The underlying issue here is that with the exception of a few teams that have gotten hot at precisely the right moment (the 2006 Cards, the 2003 Marlins, the 2001 Diamondbacks) and teams like the 2006 Tigers falling apart at the wrong moment, the AL World Series contenders have largely been superior teams for the past decade. And giving the superior league home field advantage because of some silly game played between randomly chosen players in the middle of the season doesn’t help that. But don’t get me started on that.

The other issue is that rivalries simply don’t exist between the AL and the NL teams. Even with the advent of interleague play, teams don’t really know or care much about the other league’s teams. And playing the other league’s teams during the year actually makes it less exciting to see how the two leagues will match up in the Fall Classic. It just seems like there is very little to be excited about when two teams that faced each other once in June in a pretty meaningless series meet again in the Fall Classic. Compare the LCS, where you can get a Boston-Yankees matchup or the battle of the NL West.

The Subway Series was fun. A Mets-Bosox rematch would be fun. But I can’t think of a single other matchup in the World Series involving the Mets that would be more interesting than pretty much any NLDS or NLCS matchup.

I’m not saying anything should change – to be the best you have to beat the best and the NL needs to get through the AL for a ring. But the reality is that the World Series has been overshadowed lately by the thrill of the other playoff series. Someone should tell Fox they are much better off lobbying for the LDS and LCS series next year.