The Finale

Division winners.

It means something. There will be excellent shirts, but that is not why we are here, and it is not why they play the game.

We could go with the whole, “Nobody believed in this team” mantra to stoke people up for the postseason, but I don’t really think that’s true. Many readers around the site follow the team a bit more closely than the average bear and sensed that the .500ish record predicted nationally might not have been a good measurement of the team’s talent and potential.

There is also an opportunity to say, “This is the year! This is the time! These are the guys!” And sure, they might be. It’s one hell of a team and as noted a couple of weeks back they do it differently than the rest of the best in the league. Everyone is involved. Half the bullpen can’t grow a beard yet. A rule 5 draft pick logged more than 100 plate appearances but fewer than 120. Several players currently in Columbus spent weeks or months of the summer helping the Guardians get to this point.

Others might even pour rum for Jobu, set a pile of baseballs on fire in a ritual sacrifice, or scream into the sky at the very real Baseball Deities. I’m not sure that any of that has ever hurt anybody and we all have our own ways of coping. I’ll offer this very good advice that @Sportyelling once tweeted: “ASK YOUR DOCTOR IF YOUR HEART IS HEALTHY ENOUGH FOR PLAYOFF BASEBALL.”

In the same vein I think the best way to approach the playoffs this year is to just make sure you enjoy it. Have fun. Grab some friends and let’s see if a rookie manager and team with about three solidified defensive positions can win the whole florping thing. It is postseason baseball. There are a lot of fanbases that go decades without getting to witness this. Cleveland was one of those for a long time.

If you have a chance to go to a game, you should. You never know when someone is going to hit a Grand Slam off of the foul pole, exciting your mother so much that her bear hug nearly sends both of you toppling down the upper deck steps.

So go have fun. Five-year-olds who toss tennis balls into the air and bonk them into cattle fields or neighbors yards while screaming “A SWING AND A DRIVE!” are ready. They’ll remember exactly where certain home runs landed.