Too much information
I thought that the news-filled offseason had got me ready for the start of the baseball season, but I guess that's not the case. Yesterday saw an almost complete programme of major league games, and already my brain is hurting from trying to keep up with all the news.
MLB.com has been quick to point out that, as things stand right now, four clubs who finished last in their divisions in 2003 are currently in first place, with a combined 8-1 record. As I said last week about the Tigers, nobody will be putting any money on these teams right now to win the Series, but the fact remains that they're off to a great start after disastrous seasons last year. The old adage - the one that we hear coming out of New York year after year - is that it isn't how you start the season that matters, it's how you end it. However, SI.com's John Donovan points out that a team's performance in April, whether good or bad, often sets the tone for the whole season.
If you think about it, these early games are actually even more important than that - not only do they set the tone, but they are also - as baseball players and managers and writers and bloggers remind us during every single Spring Training - games that count. We often focus on those big games down the stretch, and we anticipate five months ahead of time those Yankees / Red Sox series in September, but it's worth remembering that, in absolute terms if not in terms of tension and prestige, the games being played this week are just as important. Everybody is assuming that the AL East will be a dogfight down to the wire between Boston and New York, so just imagine that the Red Sox win the division by a game - you think that Mike Mussina and the Yankees aren't going to look back with regret on the two games they lost to the Devil Rays in the space of one week? Yeah, these April game are setting the tone, but they're also helping to decide who will go to the postseason.
MLB.com has been quick to point out that, as things stand right now, four clubs who finished last in their divisions in 2003 are currently in first place, with a combined 8-1 record. As I said last week about the Tigers, nobody will be putting any money on these teams right now to win the Series, but the fact remains that they're off to a great start after disastrous seasons last year. The old adage - the one that we hear coming out of New York year after year - is that it isn't how you start the season that matters, it's how you end it. However, SI.com's John Donovan points out that a team's performance in April, whether good or bad, often sets the tone for the whole season.
If you think about it, these early games are actually even more important than that - not only do they set the tone, but they are also - as baseball players and managers and writers and bloggers remind us during every single Spring Training - games that count. We often focus on those big games down the stretch, and we anticipate five months ahead of time those Yankees / Red Sox series in September, but it's worth remembering that, in absolute terms if not in terms of tension and prestige, the games being played this week are just as important. Everybody is assuming that the AL East will be a dogfight down to the wire between Boston and New York, so just imagine that the Red Sox win the division by a game - you think that Mike Mussina and the Yankees aren't going to look back with regret on the two games they lost to the Devil Rays in the space of one week? Yeah, these April game are setting the tone, but they're also helping to decide who will go to the postseason.
posted by Iain at
13:56
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