Phillies Win World Series

It's one of the worst World Series I've ever followed, and as an NL East guy, it's a bit of a bitter pill to watch the Philadelphia Phillies win. I didn't really think they'd go far, having seen them over the course of the season, but they lucked out on many counts: The best NL team, the Cubs, played one of the worst postseasons ever against the lucky-to-be-there Dodgers, and the Phils drew the never-great Brewers for their opening round. Then the Rays swiped the ALCS from a team that I believe would have given the Phillies a much better challenge in the Red Sox. Don't get me wrong, the Rays deserved to be there, but matchups are important and I think the Sox would have been more formidable.

That aside, it was good to see the Phillies win for the following reasons: Philadelphia hasn't had a champion since the 1983 76ers, ending 25 years of futility that the Eagles, Flyers, and those same 76ers have come so close to ending in recent memory. And I think it was good to see Brad Lidge get the final out. You rarely see closers who give up huge HRs get a chance to redeem themselves (see: '96 Braves closer Mark Wohlers, '93 Phillies closer Mitch Williams, and tragically, '86 Angels closer Donnie Moore). It was a mere 3 years ago that then-Astro Lidge gave up a huge blast to Albert Pujols in the NLCS and he was being compared to those guys, and even though the Astros made the World Series that year, they got swept and people wondered if Lidge would ever get back to form.

And, this is another year where the champion seems entirely random, like the 2006 Cardinals. There were 4 teams better than the Phillies in the regular season, and yet...they are the champs. This would be the 4th NL team to win the World Series this decade, making it 5-4 in favor of the dominant AL, who you would think would have a better record considering the firepower they have.