Poll: Who's gonna win the World Series (Baseball)? [Archive]

TEG

Oct 20, 2003, 10:03 AM

Actually, Football (American) is no where near the cultural influence that Baseball is. Very few Football references will come up in normal conversation, as compared to baseball.

I will however agree that noone cares about this World Series. One team over dominates, and the other is from Florida. Florida is the US's Quebec, we know its there, and might visit, but it is relegated to the butt of jokes. (No offence to those in Florida, but even you have to laugh, between Janet Reno and the 2000 election, you know its true.)

Also, the Yankees are evil, and show the entire reason there needs to be a salary cap in Baseball, or at least punishment for spending more than like $70 million.

2004 Year of the Mariners, come on, some team from Seattle needs to win.

TEG

Kid Red

Oct 20, 2003, 10:26 AM

The Marlins got this one covered.

The Cubs would've only been more exciting to watch for their fans. If the cubs were that good, they wouldn't have threatened that poor fan's life for their sloppy play and crappy pitching in losing 3 games straight :)

trebblekicked

Oct 20, 2003, 10:55 AM

Originally posted by Kid Red
The Marlins got this one covered.

The Cubs would've only been more exciting to watch for their fans. If the cubs were that good, they wouldn't have threatened that poor fan's life for their sloppy play and crappy pitching in losing 3 games straight :)

in chicago's defense, they've kind of rallied around the guy. he had a press conference with a big apology, and the press was uncompromisingly forgiving of him. he's likely to become an icon of the loveable loser legend that is the chicago cubs.

wdlove

Oct 20, 2003, 11:06 AM

Originally posted by mj_1903
Quick question.

Why is this called a 'World Series' when only the United States competes?

I have always wondered that myself.

I don't really care about or follow sports either. In mind there is no doubt that the Yankees will win.

ebow

Oct 20, 2003, 11:32 AM

Originally posted by mj_1903
Quick question.

Why is this called a 'World Series' when only the United States competes?

Well, there are a few (okay, two) Canadian teams in Major League Baseball. Canada is this whole other country, or so I've been told... And many players are from Texas, Latin America, and there are even a few from Japan. And, uh, I'm all out of excus... I mean reasons. :D

Go Yanks! (the need for a salary cap notwithstanding)

iPC

Oct 20, 2003, 11:35 AM

Originally posted by mj_1903
Quick question.

Why is this called a 'World Series' when only the United States competes?
There are teams in Canada (have been for quite some time). Look at the players in the league, many are not US born. Many players from Japan, Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, etc. Currently, the leagues in other countries end up sending their best players to play in the "major leagues." Just think 'dream team' from olympic basketball (not very fair, but the gap is closing).

Of course, baseball sucks, and I want Florida to win (my office is 90% Yankee fans).

fixyourthinking

Oct 20, 2003, 11:52 AM

Originally posted by gunb0y
I have to agree with Pivo6... everyone wanted to see Cubs/Red Sox. This world series is no where near as exciting as it should have been.

I know a guy named Vini who knows a guy named Toni that, for the right price, can get the Cubs in the series next year.

Honestly, I was hoping for the Cubs too and I don't even follow baseball.

pyrotoaster

Oct 20, 2003, 12:30 PM

I hope the Yankee's obliterate the damn Marlins. I don't like the Marlins because they beat the poor Cubbies! :(

Yes, the Cubs kinda did blow it, but I was at Game 7 of that series and it was very sad.

There's always next year, though. :p

shadowfax

Oct 20, 2003, 12:52 PM

wow, this has been the most predictable poll in macrumors history! lol.

go yankees. except i don't give a crap about baseball.

Java

Oct 20, 2003, 01:01 PM

Baseball yesterday? Oh, I was still in shock after my San Diego Chargers chalked up their first win! (football here)

Bunzi2k4

Oct 20, 2003, 01:04 PM

i want the marlins to win, kuz i hate the yanks! a neighbor of mine loves the yankees, so naturally, i have to root for the other team.

pimentoLoaf

Oct 20, 2003, 01:20 PM

As much as I'd like to see someone trounce the Yankees (the White Sox come to mind :D ), they're probably gonna win over them upstarts from down south.

idkew

Oct 20, 2003, 01:22 PM

prolly the yanks unfortunately.

i personally think that the yankees should spend more and get pudge, since he is carrying the marlins anyway. who knows, maybe they could give him a couple million extra to throw the rest of this series, and then a multi billion dollar contract next year.

jxyama

Oct 20, 2003, 01:44 PM

it will be interesting to see how the game will play out in FL. with no DH, Marlins get a pretty good edge, because they will be benching Encarnacion but Yanks will be benching Nick Johnson. Johnson's been pretty tough in the post season and he's a much better fielder, but there's no way he'll play while Giambi watches.

as a Rex Sox fan, since it won't be a Marlins sweep anymore, i'd like to see an excruciatingly painful Yankee loss in the 7th game . :D

Kwyjibo

Oct 20, 2003, 01:45 PM

i'm gonna write in the cubs....

cubs fan are a rare breed... very emotional and superstitional...In Game #5 we weren't expecting to win soo much, we had our weakest pitcher up there we tried tho... in Game #6 we messed up a great thing... i don't blame bartman for the losss, i blame the errors and lack of concetration.... in game #7 cubs were out played... hard to beleive but the marlins wanted it more...

If you look at the tv ratings tho i think game six and game 7 got around 62 shares in chicago which is huge and in boston around 72 shares for the game 7 of that series... needless to say a cubs and boston series would have turned out more fans and ratings that probably the last two world series combined.....

fraeone

Oct 20, 2003, 02:20 PM

It's sad we couldn't see a Cubs/RedSox series, but oh well.

What I do know is that the Yankees payroll is $160M, and the Florida Marlins payroll is $50M.

If the world series was weighted for payroll, the Marlins have already won.

The Yankees suck. The Tigers would be in the World Series if they had $160M to spend.

jxyama

Oct 20, 2003, 02:25 PM

Originally posted by fraeone
The Yankees suck. The Tigers would be in the World Series if they had $160M to spend.

i agree with the first part. :D but as a resident of MI, having read Detroit News and seen Tigers play the past few years, I disagree with the second part. with the management the way it was the last few years, before Dembrowski took over, even $160 million payroll wouldn't have made a winner out of the Tigers. they were absolutely awful. I think things are changing but it's gonna take a few more years before we start seeing even hints of improvement...

DeusOmnis

Oct 20, 2003, 03:23 PM

God said "let there be boredom", and baseball thus existed.

Freg3000

Oct 20, 2003, 03:31 PM

Originally posted by fraeone

The Yankees suck. The Tigers would be in the World Series if they had $160M to spend.

Not true at all. The Texas Rangers, LA Dodgers, and NY Mets all spent twice what the Marlins did. None of those teams made the playoffs. And the Mets and Rangers ended the season in last place.

It takes some money and a lot of good management.

pimentoLoaf

Oct 20, 2003, 03:35 PM

Originally posted by DeusOmnis
God said "let there be boredom", and baseball thus existed.

No... no, I think that would be Cricket.

latergator116

Oct 20, 2003, 04:16 PM

since i hate the Yankees and they beat the Redsox.......GO MARLINS!!!!

MacFan25

Oct 20, 2003, 04:38 PM

I've never really followed baseball, or any sports for that matter. However, I'd like to see another team other than the Yankees win once in a while.

montecristo

Oct 20, 2003, 05:01 PM

Originally posted by Freg3000
Not true at all. The Texas Rangers, LA Dodgers, and NY Mets all spent twice what the Marlins did. None of those teams made the playoffs. And the Mets and Rangers ended the season in last place.

It takes some money and a lot of good management.

I also want to add that the Yankees also had one of the largest payrolls throughout the 80's and they pretty muched sucked then.

Then they learned how to manage -- not only their major league club, but their farm system. I don't think having Jeter, Soriano, Johnson, Williams, Petitte (and Almonte, when Jeter was out 30 games) being on the team and being as successful as they have been has much to do with their "free agency" payroll, but the money they put into developing talent. And when someone like Jeter is up for a juicy contract, it helps that the Yankees are willing to pay it. And that Jeter is willing to play for the Yanks. (A-Rod wanted to play for the the biggest paycheck. Nomar wanted to play for the Red Sox. Texas was in last, Red Sox came close. Money, schmoney.

And one last thing, the Yanks don't suck. You might hate them, and that's just fine. Sucking is for teams that lose. That is to say, they suck. QED.

As for the Cubs and Red Sox, even as a Yankees fan, I agree that that match-up would've been one for the ages, but come on, the Yankees and the Marlins did their best to lose, but somehow, the Cubs and the Sox let their fans down. But honestly, if they had won, it wouldn't be that cool being a Cubbies fan or living in Red Sox nation anymore. I mean, the pain of almost making it is all part of your identity.

Think about it. If Sisyphus had gotten that rock to the top of the hill, what then?

montecristo

Oct 20, 2003, 05:08 PM

Originally posted by MacFan25
I've never really followed baseball, or any sports for that matter. However, I'd like to see another team other than the Yankees win once in a while.

Yeah, last year the Angels won. The year before that, the Diamondbacks won.

But seriously, if there wasn't one team that everyone hated, if there weren't any storied rivalries, what fun would that be?

I mean, if David and Goliath had been the same size, what a boring story. If the Red Sox had gotten to the World Series and beat the Marlins, the fans would not be gloating because they beat the Marlins, but because they got past their arch-rivals, the Yanks.

Dynasties and (friendly) rivalries are a good thing. And loyal fans will love it and stick through the thick and thin. (So hats off to the Cubbies and Red Sox fans!).

(BTW, yes, I am a Yankees fan, and have been since the early 80's. Ouch!)

Vector

Oct 20, 2003, 05:09 PM

You forgot to include the category " Who cares, the cubs aren't in it". Why would i want to watch another Yankees world series. Since boston and chicago got eliminated it has become extremely boring. The fact that the cubs hadn't won since 1908 and that the sox hadn't won since 1918(?) made it interesting to watch. Maybe its just me, but the yankees are not an interesting team you know they will do well from the beginning of the season and they are expected to win the league championship. The only thing i like about the marlines is McKeon the rest of the team seems to lack character.

MrMacMan

Oct 20, 2003, 05:44 PM

*arg*

Yankees will win...

Stupid New Yorkers (hehe I live in NY state... about 1 block away from the city... :p )

peteMG

Oct 20, 2003, 05:50 PM

Originally posted by pivo6
Since the Cubs aren't in it, I'm like most Americans who could care less one way or the other.
Yep, I was so excited for Cubs/Red Sox that yet another Yankees world series - guest starring the Marlins - does nothing for me. The Marlins just won it a few years back, too. If it were Cubs/Sox, we'd all have to be hunkering down to try to survive the asteroid that would be on a collision course with the planet right now...

IJ Reilly

Oct 20, 2003, 05:54 PM

Originally posted by mj_1903
Why is this called a 'World Series' when only the United States competes?

Simple, really. When the series began in 1903, the game was played professionally only in the United States. So I might as well ask why the Superbowl is called the Superbowl when it's nearly always a crashing bore.

As for the Cubs and the Sox meeting in the series, that had to be just about every baseball fan's dream match-up for historical reasons. In a way, it's just as well the fates ruled against it -- if one of those teams had won the championship, life on Earth as we know it would certainly have ended. Floods, fires, earthquakes, locusts... who knows?

Oh, and no self-respecting baseball fan outside of the Bronx roots for the Yankees. It would be like rooting for Goliath over David. It just isn't done.

Counterfit

Oct 20, 2003, 06:23 PM

Originally posted by trebblekicked
there truly is no joy in wrigleyville this week. Nor in Beantown.
So I might as well ask why the Superbowl is called the Superbowl when it's nearly always a crashing bore. A full explanation would require much time and space reserved for a dedicated thread. Short answer: the NFL and AFL (American, not Arena :P) were basically at war, they needed a championship game. The kids of one of the guys in charge of naming the game were having fun with a popular toy known as the Superball. Hence, Superbowl. I think that's how it went, I have to find my little book that has the results from every Supwerbowl up through '93 and a synopsis of each participating team's season.

mms

Oct 20, 2003, 08:37 PM

Even if I did follow baseball, I doubt I would even bother watching when I was sure the Yankees were going to win, with all of their money. I don't really care for either team. Red Sox vs Cubs would have been awesome though.

But right now I'm into football, getting all hyped up for our high school's homecoming game (even though they lost their last game 42-0). And the Chargers finally won!!! Damn San Diego does have bad sports teams.

Phil Of Mac

Oct 20, 2003, 10:06 PM

Originally posted by mj_1903
Quick question.

Why is this called a 'World Series' when only the United States competes?

Because the best baseball players from around the world come to play on American (or occasionally Canadian) teams.

It's amazing how many players come from Latin America, and also Japan.

Originally posted by TEG
2004 Year of the Mariners, come on, some team from Seattle needs to win.

The Mariners are one of those teams that always comes close, but never quite makes it. That said, the Seahawks are gonna make it pretty far in the postseason if they keep doing what they're doing.

mj_1903

Oct 20, 2003, 11:05 PM

Originally posted by Phil Of Mac
Because the best baseball players from around the world come to play on American (or occasionally Canadian) teams.

It's amazing how many players come from Latin America, and also Japan.

But that makes next to no sense. The english soccer premier league is made up of players from around the world...yet it is not called the "World Premier League".

Its the same with Australia's Pura Cup for Cricket.

Phil Of Mac

Oct 21, 2003, 01:27 AM

Originally posted by mj_1903
But that makes next to no sense. The english soccer premier league is made up of players from around the world...yet it is not called the "World Premier League".

Its the same with Australia's Pura Cup for Cricket.

I don't think that's really an argument against it...they could call those the "world" whatever if they wanted to, just because they choose not to doesn't mean they couldn't.

IJ Reilly

Oct 21, 2003, 01:59 AM

Hey guys, what I posted earlier was true. When the baseball championship games were started in 1903, it made perfect sense to call it the World Series because at that time, the US was the professional baseball world. FWIW, the series was also started to settle the rivalry between the American and National leagues, which were in actual competition in those days. Some of the people in the two leagues disliked each other so much, one of the two teams in the 1904 series refused to play.

peejay

Oct 21, 2003, 03:14 AM

If so, you're getting ripped off.

Line #1: The Yankees are buying their championships. If this were true, why is that bad, especially when you consider that the owner of the Red Sox has a lot more money than Mr. Steinbrenner. Why is it good that he cheats his fan base and pockets the cash while at the same time calls the Yankees the "evil empire"? I don't know; at least George cares enough about his fans (and maybe he doesn't but they benefit anyway) to spend money to give them some good teams.

Anyway, at least the Yankee millions get some good players. There are some teams (and I won't mention the Mets by name...oops!) who seem to spend their money on high-priced has-beens.

Line #2: Marlins are lovable underdogs. Nothing against the players or the manager, but has anybody run Marlin ownership past the sniff test? Start with Mr. Huizenga, and how he "bought" a championship in 1997 - and then decided Marlin fans were worth only one, so he unloaded the talent and ran off with the cash. Jeffrey Loria came on the scene after destroying a perfectly good team in Montreal and dumping the remains on Major League baseball in a sweetheart deal that got him the Marlins after a brief stop in Boston. If the Marlins win this year, don't think he won't do what Wayne Huizenga did. So take a long look at Jason Burkett, Pudge, and anybody else coming up for a new contract, and bid your farewells now.

At least with the Yankees, if a player is good enough, he can play out his career in pinstripes. That he may make a lot of money doing so is only right and fair. Why we feel the need to criticize millionaire players and let the billionaire owners off the hook is beyond me.

Go Yankees! More teams should be like them.

jxyama

Oct 23, 2003, 01:44 PM

the thing bad about yankees (or other organizations) being afforded a large payroll is NOT because they can get all the expensive great players via free agency... it's a part of it, but the part i don't have much problems with.

the real problem is the fact they can get away with bad contracts. they can blow $10 mil on hitchcock, canseco, mondesi... marginal "superstar" players not worth the money they are paid and yanks won't be handcuffed by those "bad" contracts. marlins, athletics and most other mid-market teams can never risk signing those free agents not only because they can barely afford the money to but also because they can't afford to take such a risk. sure, spending money doesn't guarantee success but as is, it's very, very difficult to be successful unless you spend the money. (note the difference between those two statements...)

that said, there are some bad owners who'd rather pocket the revenue sharing money than spend it on players to make the teams better. the best solution to all this is to set the payroll floor as well as the ceiling. say all the teams must have its payroll between $60 to $100 mil. this will force cheap owners to field a decent team, at least as far as money goes, but also not make the best team a collection of expensive players. this will also keep players happy because by raising the payroll floor, average player salary will stay about the same... (of course, this assumes players union is looking out for the wellness of the entire players union... and NOT just the rich superstars, who would be hurt by a salary cap.)

as for the series, the way it is now, i'd say yanks in 7, as much as i'd hate to see that... last night's game was a big moral boost for the marlins, though. (of course, if they had lost, the series is over. but i think the way they won last night will give them a moral boost much greater than just simply avoiding being down 1-3.)