Take Five for Baseball

As the country is knee deep in the very interesting NFL season I thought I’d take a moment to talk about baseball:

I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that the Tampa Bay Rays are for real. Yeah, I know, they choked in the World Series. But really – they were at the very bottom last season. I mean the BOTTOM. That whole worst to first thing was going on. To even make it to the playoffs was a major feat and the first in their franchise history. They knocked off the precious Boston Red Sox on the way and totally owned the New York Yankees all season. In spite of what you may think – the Tampa Bay Rays are a real baseball team. They are on the map and deserve fans and recognition!

Rays third baseman Evan Longoria was recently named the American League Rookie of the Year. Ha! A player from the Tampa Bay Rays! Seriously! Talk about validation. Longoria is only one of the many young stars that keep the franchise afloat. The lineup is chock full of the young and talented like Matt Garza and Dioner Navarro. On the other side of the diamond, first baseman Carlos Pena got a Golden Glove nod for himself. More validation. Hopefully the team stays mostly intact through this offseason so they can come back strong next year. The team can only get better. I’ll bet if they make it back to the World Series they’ll actually put up a big fight and perhaps even win the whole thing.

On the other hand, the Los Angeles Dodgers continue to let the Manny Ramirez clock run. Let’s see where he ends up. We all want him to stay here in Los Angeles. With the Dodgers. The New York Yankees already have their wallet open if he doesn’t stay. In other news, the Dodgers decided to let Brad Penny become a free agent. Who will be next?

Speaking of the National League and the Dodgers, the playoff sweep of the Chicago Cubs didn’t stop catcher Geovany Soto from getting the NL Rookie of the Year nod. Congratulations to him.

The landscape of the MLB map is undergoing a change. I like to think it is for the better since teams that are not exclusively from the northeast corner of the country are making headlines. A similar migration of power happened in the NFL when the Dallas Cowboys, Pittsburgh Steelers, and San Francisco 49ers lost their stranglehold on NFL titles. It’s now happening in baseball. Fans tire of the same teams winning all the time. At least this one does. Let’s mix it up!