As soon as the Mets completed their historic collapse to open the playoff door for the Philadelphia Phillies, the NLCS was pegged as a potential battle of baseball’s greatest losers. Imagine the Fightin’ Phils, a team that recently became the first professional sports team in the country to amass 10,000 losses, taking on the Chicago Cubs, who are pushing a full century since their last World Series title. To the victor go the spoils and to the loser go the toils, but who’s to say which would be preferable? The winning team would be vindicated, but the losing team’s supporters would earn the right to be the most insufferably cynical fans in the country—a role that both have grudgingly embraced over the years. Regardless of the outcome, the series would have been one to remember, and the winning team an automatic bandwagon favorite in the World Series.
But neither team gave their fans a chance to dream, as they both did what they do best: lose. In two anticlimactic sweeps, the stage was set for a dud of a championship series. Instead of the Cubs and the Phils, two franchises that have been around since the 19th century and whose fans would’ve provided every bit as much entertainment as the series itself, the National League Championship will be decided between the Colorado Rockies and the Arizona Diamondbacks, two expansion teams that made their debuts in the `90s.
The MLB and TBS propaganda machines have been churning at full force since the match-up was finalized, but baseball fans aren’t buying it. Even the hometown crowds are disinterested. As of Wednesday, there were over 8,000 tickets available for Thursday’s Game 1 at Arizona’s Chase Field. Phillies and Cubs fans might lie, cheat and steal to watch their teams play for a chance at the World Series, but the would-be Arizona spectator need only call up the Diamondbacks’ box office the day of the game and order tickets for his whole family, probably all in the same section.
The Diamondbacks were already easy to loathe. In 2001, a year when even the most vehement Yankee-haters backed New York in the wake of 9/11, the Diamondbacks spit in the eye of baseball fans everywhere with a 9th inning series-winning blooper of a single.
If there is a silver lining to the NLCS, it’s the Rockies. Colorado has won 17 of their last 18 games, and earned their spot in the playoffs with a dramatic extra-inning win against the Padres. The team also features the potential NL MVP and NL Rookie of the Year in Matt Holliday and Troy Tulowitski, respectively.
With the Phillies or the Cubs in the World Series, even the most indifferent baseball fan would have a team to root for. Sadly, their bubbles were burst before anyone could even get excited. But the beauty of a history of futility is that every disappointing season simply enhances the legacy of defeat. Both of these teams are on the rise, and a play-off match-up is almost inevitable. For now, there’s always the American League.
