The Homestretch, Day 27: Strangers to Playoffs Not So Strange

The latest October development occurred tonight, with the Cincinnati Reds clinching the NL Central. I'm not sure many people expected this development at the beginning of the season, but it's a welcome change of pace.

Unfortunately, in baseball, the teams with the money are usually the teams that are successful. There are exceptions, of course. The 2003 Florida Marlins immediately come to mind. But generally, we see the same teams in the playoffs every year. The Yankees. The Red Sox. The Cardinals. The Braves. Now the Phillies. The Angels. Playoff matchups between these teams make for great baseball, but they can take away from the excitement of the postseason, if you ask me. Part of what makes baseball, and sports in general, thrilling is the presence of an underdog, a Cinderella team, a team that no one expects to do anything but surprises you. Why do you think March Madness is so popular? The chance for an unknown, underrated castaway to upset top-ranked opponents on their NCAA championship run. We saw a lot of it this past March. And how exciting was that?

The same goes for baseball. It's especially important with fewer teams in the playoff pool. That's why the Reds' presence in the 2010 postseason is great for the game, and for its fans. The same could be said for the Texas Rangers, which makes it even better, because both leagues have that underdog presence. But the Reds weren't a winning team last year, like the Rangers were. In fact, they were a fourth place team. And now they're in the postseason. Imagine if the Padres also made it in? Then we'd have Cinderella mayhem in the NL. And it's good that we have that. It keeps the game from becoming monotonous. It gives fans from different parts of the country reason to cheer. It makes for great stories like the 2003 Marlins, or the 2002 Angels, or the 2001 Diamondbacks. Ideally, the Reds and Padres won't be matched up in the first round, so that one of those teams will have a chance to continue that legacy of sports which we hold so dear:

Stranger things have happened.