Who's Your Second Pony In The Race?

And all that jazz.

…for the sake of domestic peace. But that’s only on condition that 1988 is not mentioned in my presence.

Besides, I like watching Loney and Ethier.

I suppose I will also root for the Tigers out of league loyalty, 2006 notwithstanding.

I can’t root for Cards, with or without Butthurt Holliday. Can’t obvious root for BOS, LAA or Yanks (although I always root for Swish). Can’t root for the Giants because a) crosstown rivals; d) domestic situation mentioned above.

I’m apathetic towards Florida and Philly.

But my best friend’s a Giants fan. I’m rooting for him.

In the AL, Detroit’s the only team I can stand, although my Dad’s a Yankees fan, so I’d take them over Anaheim or Boston, my two least favorite teams.

Philly and St. Louis are agreeable enough, too, I guess.

1. Fuck the Gnats

2. I want Huston Street to throw a 9 pitch, 3 strikeout 9th inning four consecutive times to lead the Rockies to a WS Sweep over whoever makes it in the AL, just to FINALLY shut all the Street haters up.

Never in a million years would I pull for the Yanks, Red Sawx or slegnA. I agree with BBG – still smarting from 2006, so no to Los Tigres. That takes care of the AL.

Cardinals – I like Pujols, but Holliday has blossomed there after his less than stellar tenure with Oakland. Pass. Los Gigantes – NOT. Don’t want to let them get one. Colorado – well, I am inclined to agree with mikev on the Huston angle. But, the winner is the Phillies because of another former A’s player…

I always liked Matt Stairs when he was with Oakland. I’m gald he (finally) got a ring last year. Shoot, let’s get him another one. :) The Phils are still smarting from losing their excellent broadcaster as we are (even though it’s been four years, I still miss Bill immensely). Plus, my dad had a chance to pitch for them in the 60s right out of high school. He didn’t, but that’s another telethon altogether. :)

Skewered logic at best, but there you have it. Go Phils… :)

because I feel like it’s the home division.

That’s largely a formality though, since I pay almost no attention to the playoffs if the A’s aren’t playing. The last time the Angels won the WS, I didn’t even know it until about a week later, that’s how out of touch I was.

Joe Blanton, Matt Stairs still with some Pinch Hit Pop, a Flyin Hawaiian in Victorino, and former Mariner Raul Ibanez. They’re the closing thing to an AL lineup offensively and pitching wise.

I live near (and work in) Philly, and anything that can get this area to shut the f up about the Iggles for 5 minutes is fine with me. Plus most of their players are actually pretty easy to like, and Jimmy Rollins is representing Oakland as probably the biggest Rickey fan who’s not on AN.

I root for the A’s. Period. Everybody else can go hang themselves.

That being said, here are some things I will be rooting for.
1. No Sux-Wankees ALCS.
2. First round exit for the slegnA again.
3. No Gnats – I like prolonged futility streaks.
4. No Cardinals.
5. No self-respecting A’s fan should EVER root for the Dodgers – need I remind you of 1988?
6. Twins aren’t mentioned in the poll, but they still have a chance. Screw ‘em – no Homer Dome.
7. Braves aren’t mentioned in the poll, but they still have a chance. Screw ’em – no Tomahawk Chop.

Phillies (they have the best mascot in sports), Rockies, and Tigers would be tolerable to me.

Just not into the A.L. playoffs this season. Don’t like any of the teams plus there hasn’t been any drama in any of the divison or wildcard races. Just can’t stomach a Yankees/Red Sox ALCS: 4 hour games, Joe Buck “inning over” crap, Tim McCarver “That ball was outsiiiiiiiiiide” and worst of all every A.L. batter stepping out of the batter’s box for 10 minutes after each pitch. Go N.L., A’s in ’10!

This was an easy decision, as the Dodgers are my NL team. I cheer for them against everyone except the A’s. My dad grew up in LA, so I was indoctrinated into the Dodger Blue very very young (The day after my birth, my dad was holding me up to the tv to cheer for the Dodgers in the NLCS against the Phillies). The only reason I’m a bigger A’s fan is probably because I’ve lived in the Bay Area my whole life and wasn’t allowed to cheer for the Giants (thank god).

Anyways, the Dodgers are my NL team. I can’t cheer for any of those AL teams. I guess I’d cheer for Swisher and the Yankees if I had to hold my nose and pick one. Although a Dodgers v Yankees world series would probably be Selig’s biggest fantasy, and we can’t have that!

Here is who I am rooting for and in what order. The rest of the teams can go fly a kite for all I care.
1) PHIL
2) COL
3) LAD
4) STL
5) ATL, (sensing a theme?)
6) Tex, (only because of Wash)
7) SF

If NYY, BOS or the slengA win LB will probably hear me cussing in FLA.

It is kinda fun being spoiler, though. I would like to see Wash take a team postseason.

Any team but Boston, as far as I am concerned.

How about screw all these other teams? Dance with who brung ya, you whores.

I think it started with taking Chase Utley and Shane Victorino in my fanasty draft last year. I made Utley my offensive keeper pick and with an autodraft this year I somehow ended up with Utley, Rollins, Victorino all on my team. Then I picked up Jason Werth during a hot streak last month. I know fantasy baseball isn’t a popular topic on AN but when you follow specific players daily you kind of start rooting for their team (when they aren’t playing the A’s of course).

Another reason I started rooting for the Phils was last postseason’s dramatic HR by Matt Stairs (as previously mentioned), who was one of my favorite players on the A’s, and Joe Blanton’s presence on the team.

I’m torn about rooting for the Giants. On the one hand I have a lot of family and friends who really like them and I wouldn’t mind seeing them happy. Plus Lincecum, Cain, and Kung Foo Panda are cool, and I like to see the Bay Area get props. BUT on the other hand, I would hate to lose the bragging rights of being the only baseball team in the Bay Area to win a World Series. I guess we could just play up the 4 WS titles against 1 title but they were so long ago it would be hard to argue.

I wouldn’t mind any of the other NL teams winning it all if they play BOS, LAA, or NYY but I think I would root for TEX (because of Wash) and DET (because it would be great for the city and I like Verlander and Granderson) because I like the AL rules and the A’s are in the AL.

So in order.

1. A’s (I can dream right?)
2. Phillies
3. TEX
4. DET
5. Other NL team (tie)
6. SF (I think, maybe)
7. LAA
8. NYY (it has been 8 seasons right? Hatred is burning on med-low right now)
9. BOS (2 in one decade is enough!)

I root for the American League team in the World Series unless it’s the Yankees then I root for the swine flu.

I don’t have any built-in dislike for the Giants so, I’ll go for them, because I:

a) hate the Doghairs and the Angels (the two “local” teams for me)
b) would rather see the Giants win than any of the AL teams except the Tigers (I don’t think they have a shot)
c) have a brother who likes the Giants

But, regardless of who wins, it doesn’t really matter, because come next April, when the A’s are back to playing meaningful baseball, the WS is up for grabs.

…hey Holliday, how about that in the playoffs?

Muhahahahahaha…

Bitter? Me? Nah….

I mean really… who ARE you?

Just because I’m tired of that loser-face they all have. Poor pathetic no-WS-wins-ugly-faces.

Not that I have a problem with it (if I could do 2002 over again, I’d MUST rather have the Giants that LAAAA), but just surprised.

Not a hater – they’re local, Lincecum is sick, Barry Z still has a hot bod, glad he rediscovered his mojo. I like their ballpark.

that I wish I could go tonight, for the kind of playoff atmosphere we’ve come, sadly, not to expect anymore from our team… I wish a poll option had been “A’s front office gets serious” so we can get back to where we belong, which is playing hot-ticket-type games deep into September and October, right? Although I also have to say that to be fair the team, on the field, is playing really crisp right now and has for the last 2 months really.

That said, I have to confess I have been kind of pulling for the Giants to pull out the Wild Card all year, and have been saying all along that if they get in, with their pitching they could be formidable… especially in a short series. Of course, it’s sad that for the mere hope of playoff atmosphere we have to steal away across the pond, to a nice, sterile place where you can take the whole family to eat sushi fajitas and discuss stock trades waiting for the Gnats to score a touchdown, but I voted for the team, not the casual fans who so contribute to the stiff-n-pricey vibe of the telephone company’s stadium. So it’s a mixed bag but at least they got rid of you-know-who, with the size 756 head.

You might have all gotten this the other night in the pre-game but I have great respect for Wash and what he has done in TX, and certainly find myself wishing he was our manager whenever we play these guys… I was holding out hope that the Rangers could tough it out this time and steal it from the Van Nuys Angels of San Bern’dino at the wire, but again they seem to have given up the ghost. Like I’ve been saying I just don’t think their stadium can support ERAs that don’t resemble mileage gauges on 20th century vehicles, largely because of the way the Ballpark provides slugging %ages so plump when you cook it in those hawt summers down there. So oh well on that front… in a way it’s a good thing long term that the Rangers will always have that place as a millstone around their necks, seeing as how we get to hammer away at them 9 or 10 times a season in the bandbox where even we can score 9 runs a game.

All right, I’ll shut up but I wanted to sort of give a voice to why someone might have voted SF even though by reading the comments you’d think for sure that not only does AN want the Gnats to lose, they want to sail across the bay, Pirate Raider style, seize AT&T Park, tow it back over to Oakland and pervert it for their own purposes. Not that I’m, uh, actively recruiting anyone actively for that kind of thing (legal disclaimer here)

I am not one of the people that hate the Giants because they have more fans than our fav team. I have been to several Giants games this year and it’s been fun. We have tics again for the Sept 26 game. Contending teams make a game fun to watch.

Second choice would be the Braves. My youngest girl likes them and I’ve logged in plenty of hours watching them with her.