BASE-BALL

[Mark68]

I'm rooting for the Expos to beat the Colt .45s.

[hotdogPi]

I'm rooting for the Expos to beat the Colt .45s.

Basically a generalization of "the pen is mightier than the sword".

[nexus73]

I'm rooting for the Expos to beat the Colt .45s.

...and in an alternate universe, the Texans are in Dallas while the Titans are in NYC.  Cleveland's got a Super Bowl title courtesy of the Rams too!  They beat the Oilers, who finally did not have to face the Steagles en route to the AFC championship.

Oh, don't forget all the basketball titles from the Land Of 10,000 Lakes...LOL!

Rick

[Alps]

Angels aren't in this one. But every time the Red Sox win, a devil gets its horns...

[Beltway]

Well, at least the Yankees aren't in the World Series.

Yeah, thank goodness, they've been in more than their share in the past.

Regardless of that, since the Astros won recently, I'm still rooting for the Nationals (or as those who got stuck in 2004 say, the Expos) to win it all.

I'll root for the Nationals, after all they are the local team for me.

[Beltway]

Angels aren't in this one. But every time the Red Sox win, a devil gets its horns...

Same goes for the Pats ...

[Max Rockatansky]

My wife is rooting for the Nationals, I kind of find doing so irksome because of the whole Expos debacle.  Both teams have former Tigers starters, so really all I care about is seeing a competitive series. 

[kurumi]

In the area of nonsense stats (e.g. "How can Tom Brady be the GOAT when he has only won 2 wildcard playoff games in his career!") I wondered if the Yankees had lost more World Serieseses than any other team. Not as of 2017; NYY are 27-13, while LAD are now 6-14. The historical NY teams (Yanks, Dodgers, Giants) are 1-2-3 in WS losses simply because they are also 1-2-3 in WS games played. Collectively: 80 series, 41 wins, 39 losses. (Team #4 with 19 appearances: the Cards at 11-8.)

The Sox have a better W/L percentage (9-4, .692) than the Yankees; but the Pirates (5-2, .714) do even better, and the Blue Jays and Marlins tie for 2-0 each in WS appearances: best record for multiple appearances.

After this November, the only MLB team to have never appeared in the WS: the Seattle Mariners.

(source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_Series_champions)

[nexus73]

In the area of nonsense stats (e.g. "How can Tom Brady be the GOAT when he has only won 2 wildcard playoff games in his career!") I wondered if the Yankees had lost more World Serieseses than any other team. Not as of 2017; NYY are 27-13, while LAD are now 6-14. The historical NY teams (Yanks, Dodgers, Giants) are 1-2-3 in WS losses simply because they are also 1-2-3 in WS games played. Collectively: 80 series, 41 wins, 39 losses. (Team #4 with 19 appearances: the Cards at 11-8.)

The Sox have a better W/L percentage (9-4, .692) than the Yankees; but the Pirates (5-2, .714) do even better, and the Blue Jays and Marlins tie for 2-0 each in WS appearances: best record for multiple appearances.

After this November, the only MLB team to have never appeared in the WS: the Seattle Mariners.

(source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_Series_champions)

...and of course who holds the record for most regular season wins?  The Mariners...LOL!

Talk about being a stats king!

Rick

[CNGL-Leudimin]

After this November, the only MLB team to have never appeared in the WS: the Seattle Mariners.

(source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_Series_champions)

Already noted by me when the Nationals qualified for the World Series:

With the Nationals making it to the World Series for the first time ever, the Mariners become the only team to never have reached them.

And fixed link. Don't link to mobile Wikipedia, it doesn't redirect to desktop version when entering from a computer, unlike the other way round.

[1995hoo]

What a glorious sports year or so.

Stanley Cup
NCAA Basketball championship
NCAA Lacrosse championship
I don't watch the WNBA, but the Mystics' win was cool
....and NOW THE WORLD SERIES!!!!!

I just wish my dad had made it a few more months to see this!

[CNGL-Leudimin]

It's funny how the away team won all seven games. Anyway, I congratulate the Nationals for their first World Series title, they should have won in 1994 as the Expos had the strike not happened. This also ends a 95 year wait for Washington DC, including 33 years in which it was impossible for the city to celebrate one title as they didn't have a MLB team. Now, I believe all the remaining teams which haven't won a World Series yet will do so in my lifetime. As well as the Indians. I've already seen the Cubs getting it, so why not.

[Beltway]

It's funny how the away team won all seven games.

First time ever.

Anyway, I congratulate the Nationals for their first World Series title, they should have won in 1994 as the Expos had the strike not happened. This also ends a 95 year wait for Washington DC, including 33 years in which it was impossible for the city to celebrate one title as they didn't have a MLB team. Now, I believe all the remaining teams which haven't won a World Series yet will do so in my lifetime. As well as the Indians. I've already seen the Cubs getting it, so why not.

https://www.mlb.com/news/nationals-world-series-facts-and-figures

Quotes:

The Nationals' 19-31 record was the worst 50-game start of any team to win the World Series. They're only the fifth team to be below .500 through 50 games and win the World Series, and the first since the 2003 Marlins, who started 21-29.

[That helps explain how a 93-win team beat an 106-win team and 107-win team in the postseason, as their last ~120 games were played at the overall win performance of the latter teams]

The Nats join the 1914 Braves as the only teams to win the World Series in a season in which they were at least 12 games below .500 at any point, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

The Nationals sealed the first championship in the franchise's 51-season history (Expos/Nats), since Montreal debuted as an expansion team in 1969. It's the second championship for a Washington team in Major League history, and the first since the '24 Senators beat the New York Giants in Game 7 at Griffith Stadium.

Just how tough was the Nationals' road? They took down two teams that won 105 or more games to win the title: the 106-win Dodgers and the 107-win Astros. They were only the second team to face two 105-plus-win teams in a single postseason, along with the 1998 Padres, and they're the only ones to beat both of those teams en route to a title.

The Nats went 8-1 on the road this postseason, tying the 1996 Yankees' record for both total postseason road wins in a year and consecutive road wins in a single postseason, which was also eight.

The Nationals made it difficult, losing all three World Series games at Nationals Park. They counteracted that by becoming the first champion to capture each of its World Series wins on the road. Yet they also continued a recent trend of road success in the Fall Classic, making it the sixth straight year that the Series winner has clinched on the road, and the fourth straight World Series Game 7 in which the road team has prevailed.

The Nats are the seventh Wild Card team to win a championship since the Wild Card era began in 1995, but only the second since 2012, when the Wild Card Games debuted. The only other team to advance past that winner-take-all affair to begin the postseason and then go on to win the championship was the '14 Giants.

Game 7 marked the fifth time this October that the Nationals trailed in an elimination game and came back to win, a record for a team in a single postseason.

[Max Rockatansky]

It's funny how the away team won all seven games. Anyway, I congratulate the Nationals for their first World Series title, they should have won in 1994 as the Expos had the strike not happened. This also ends a 95 year wait for Washington DC, including 33 years in which it was impossible for the city to celebrate one title as they didn't have a MLB team. Now, I believe all the remaining teams which haven't won a World Series yet will do so in my lifetime. As well as the Indians. I've already seen the Cubs getting it, so why not.

I want to say the Mariners are the only team that hasn't been to a World Series.  The only current teams that haven't won a series are; Rays, Rockies, Padres, Mariners, Brewers and the Rangers. 

[Henry]

From a roadgeek perspective, you have to keep these two things in mind: The number of years it took the Nationals to reach the World Series matches the US route that passes through the heart of the city, and the number of years that had passed since the Senators' only victory matches the Interstate that serves it.

In any case, I'm happy that they won, and after that near-miss by the 1994 Expos and their subsequent downfall, they really deserve it. Hopefully, those former fans in Montreal can put all differences aside and forgive the team that deserted them 15 years ago.

[NWI_Irish96]

The first year the Nationals played in DC, the Astros lost the World Series.
The most recent year the Nationals played in DC, the Astros lost the World Series.

[dvferyance]

Just insane they were still paying baseball when it was snowing outside. Really can't they at least play the world series earlier in October? This is football season not baseball season.

[NWI_Irish96]

Just insane they were still paying baseball when it was snowing outside. Really can't they at least play the world series earlier in October? This is football season not baseball season.

There's really no need for a 162 game season, but the owners and players are never going to give up that money, so you have a season that begins in mid-March or ends in late October.

[triplemultiplex]

Shortening the season completely changes the dynamic of the league.  Baseball is a marathon, not a sprint.  All statistics for the longest running professional sport in America would be invalidated.  Terrible idea to mess with history like that.

So what if it's snowing in some places while the world series is going on? I welcome the day when a World Series game is postponed due to a snowstorm in Minneapolis.  Because it will be hilarious.

[NWI_Irish96]

Shortening the season completely changes the dynamic of the league.  Baseball is a marathon, not a sprint.  All statistics for the longest running professional sport in America would be invalidated.  Terrible idea to mess with history like that.

So what if it's snowing in some places while the world series is going on? I welcome the day when a World Series game is postponed due to a snowstorm in Minneapolis.  Because it will be hilarious.

A 150 game season is still a marathon but cuts out 2 weeks, and as long as PEDs remain illegal, very few season records are breakable anyway.

[Rothman]

Shortening the season completely changes the dynamic of the league.  Baseball is a marathon, not a sprint.  All statistics for the longest running professional sport in America would be invalidated.  Terrible idea to mess with history like that.

So what if it's snowing in some places while the world series is going on? I welcome the day when a World Series game is postponed due to a snowstorm in Minneapolis.  Because it will be hilarious.

A 150 game season is still a marathon but cuts out 2 weeks, and as long as PEDs remain illegal, very few season records are breakable anyway.

Season length has certainly been changed before.

[MNHighwayMan]

I welcome the day when a World Series game is postponed due to a snowstorm in Minneapolis.  Because it will be hilarious.

I welcome this too, but for slightly different reasons.

[Stephane Dumas]

I welcome the day when a World Series game is postponed due to a snowstorm in Minneapolis.  Because it will be hilarious.

I welcome this too, but for slightly different reasons.

A snowstorm in the World Series could also happen in Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, Milwaukee and Toronto depending of Mother Nature's mood.

[Big John]

^^ Milwaukee and Toronto have movable roofs.

[jp the roadgeek]

I welcome the day when a World Series game is postponed due to a snowstorm in Minneapolis.  Because it will be hilarious.

I welcome this too, but for slightly different reasons.

A snowstorm in the World Series could also happen in Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, Milwaukee and Toronto depending of Mother Nature's mood.

You can certainly add Denver to the list.  And there's always a chance in Boston or New York in late October or early April. It's a good thing the Mets weren't in the 2011 World Series, because if it had gone the full 7 games, Game 7 would have been snowed out by the Snowtober storm (the NL had home field that year).