The only thing that’s certain in life is death and taxes…and the Yankees being in the mix when it comes to late season baseball. Last night the Bronx Bombers got clawed out of the postseason by a bunch of eager and hungry Tigers from Detroit. Though I’d like to say that lack of enthusiasm from the fare-weather fans in New York were the reason for the loss, it’s more than likely that the fans in Detroit are probably hungrier for a winning sports franchise than most cities in the United States (reminds me of someone I know from last season). They’ve gone through hard times both economically, and as far as sports goes, for quite a while now.
The Lions haven’t had a winning season since we were all celebrating survival of Y2K catastrophe in 2000. The Pistons might not even get a chance to play this year thanks to the NBA Lockout but even if they do, it doesn’t look bright. And as for the Tigers, they haven’t won a World Series since 1984.
With last night’s win over the Yankees, according to FUNGraphs, the Tigers can celebrate both economic growth (well, sort of, actually they just cut spending) and their first postseason series win since 2006. The Yankees on the other hand, should just be considered the Paris Hilton’s of Major League Baseball, they’re all clean cut, clean shaven and may look good in pictures, but when it comes down to it, as my friend Chedda said, A-Rod spelled backwards is Dora and they probably would have done just as well with her at the plate with the game on the line.
As for Minnesota and Houston, apparently you’ve done something to upset the Baseball Gods because this season, your teams qualify as the other Hilton paying that much to lose.
Major League Baseball Cost Per Win Statistics 2011 (Click for Full Size Image)