Saturday, May 01, 2010

Mets rise to first in the NL East: can we really stop the season now?

So, all I had to do was ignore them for a while, and they rocket from the cellar of the NL East to first place, sweeping successive series from the Braves and Dodgers. I was sure their tenuous grip on the top rung would slip tonight, as they faced the defending National League champion Phillies in Philly. Not so.

Just as an amusing game, let's imagine what would happen if the regular season were over now. In the National League, the Cards, winning the Central and having the best record in the League, would open with home field advantage against the Giants, assuming they win tonight; they lead the Rockies 5-2 in the bottom of the sixth. (Should Colorado rally to win, the NL wild card would go to the--believe it or not--Nationals.) The East champion Mets would have home field advantage facing the West winners, the Padres. In the Phony Baseball League, the best record would belong to the East winning Rays, who would face the West winners. That could be the Mariners, should they win a game with the Rangers that's now tied at zero in the bottom of the tenth; if Seattle loses, it would be the winner of a one-game playoff between the Angels and Athletics. Meanwhile, the Central champ Twins would face the wild card Yanks.

5/1 update: of course, all I had to do was start watching them, and they imploded. The "of course" may seem gratuitous, but I'm enough of a narcissist (or is it solipsist?) to wonder if my act of observing them alters the facts on the ground. Are the Mets like Schroedinger's cat?

5/2 update: so much for brief dreams of glory. If Santana can give up ten runs, I'm back to ignoring baseball.

1 comment:

  1. given how the sox are playing, i wish i could ignore it. but i can't.

    still trying to figure out how we could sweep toronto, then get swept by baltimore. WTF?

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