Would You Watch a Phillies/Rays World Series?

Seriously, would you? I mean, I'm a pretty big baseball fan. I went to a few games this year involving teams I did not care about in the least (Cubs/Giants in spring training, Pirates/Cubs at Wrigley, Indians/White Sox at U.S. Cellular). I can watch a game for the pure entertainment of the sport itself, but I'm not sure even if I will be interested in a Philadelphia/Tampa World Series.

I mean, yes, the Rays are a great story. And I'll check the highlights, and maybe tune in for an inning or two here and there. But that match-up will hardly make for must-see or "event" television. Nevertheless, with the Dodgers coughing up a two-run eighth inning lead last night, and the Sox currently losing 5-1 to the Rays in the fourth, both Philadelphia is, and Tampa Bay likely soon will be, one win away from that outcome.

There's always hope, of course. The Sox came back from a 3-1 deficit to the Indians last year, just three years after coming back from a 3-0 hole against the Yankees. So I know it can be done. So it's plausible. But it's just not all that probable.

The Dodgers have had the lead in three of the four games in the NLCS. They should have won last night, and if they had, things would be looking much brighter today. There's a big difference between 2-2 and 3-1, isn't there? Now they have to win three in a row, two of which will be in Philadelphia, where they haven't won once this season. And before doing they can even get to that point, they have to win one game at home, against Cole Hamels, who was great in the first game of the series.

The Red Sox might have an even rougher road. Tampa Bay is friggin' tough. The Sox pitchers are seemingly unable to keep the ball in the ballpark, which is not the best way to go about winning games. With every inning under their belts, the Rays get more and more confident. And if things keep going this way, in a few weeks, we might be talking about the World Champion Tampa Bay Rays (if it ends up Phillies/Rays, I'd be picking the Rays). Think about that for a minute. It's a good story for baseball, but it will take a while for me to enjoy it, since I'll be mourning my own two teams' respective demises for a bit first.

Anyway, we continue to play the games. Anything is possible, and I haven't given up hope yet. Like Barack Obama says (and, for the record, I've been wearing my Obama "hope" shirt and/or my No on Prop 8 shirt for 14 days straight now, and will continue to do so until the election; and, yes, they are being washed periodically), "there has never been anything false about hope." Can we come back from these big deficits? Yes we can. Obama wasn't exactly talking about baseball, but I think it still applies. So, until it's over, I'll still believe. And that's all I can do.