I like to have a rooting interest for the baseball World Series. Like watching a horse race where you haven’t got any money on one of the mounts, it’s just not the same without having some preferred outcome in mind.
For this reason, I backed the Cardinals to win the last time they played in the World Series, in 2011. For this Cubs fan, eating a plate filled with worms would have been more enjoyable, but National League loyalty carried that day. And it was a fantastic series, after all.
I started out this post season hoping for the Red Sox to win. The city has been through a lot this year. I have family in Boston and the company I work for is headquartered in Boston. There isn’t a Chicago team there to beat them this time around (see Stanley Cup finals, 2013). So, the signs all point to the Red Sox for me.
But now there’s an added wrinkle. If the Series should go to seven games, the final one would be played in Boston next Thursday night. If I have to tell you that it’s Halloween night, well, I suppose I just did that. But the allure of a one-game playoff, to decide the championship of baseball, being played in the oldest and most hallowed ballpark in the game, on Halloween itself, is just too good to let pass by.
So, now I’m rooting for a seven game series, first and foremost. I’ve stated where my loyalties will lie if it gets that far, but that’s the outcome I want most of all. It’s not too late to carve baseballs into my pumpkins, either.
There’s no way that any sport besides baseball could do this, so I say let’s do it. Insert gratuitous Vincent Price Thriller laugh here.