Ben’s Sports Take: Screw the Phillies
Who cares if the Phillies got Cliff Lee? They still smell like cheesesteaks.
As my colleague Glenn LaFollette pointed out yesterday, the Phillies have now assumed the role of the 13-year-old who’s still in 4th grade, yet continues to dominate the daily recess kickball game—crushing the athletic hopes and dreams of every 10-year-old he bullies as he rounds the bases for his seventh home run of the day.
Adding a pitcher of Cliff Lee’s caliber to a starting rotation that already consists of 2010 N.L. Cy Young winner Roy Halladay, 2008 World Series MVP Cole Hamels, perennial Cy Young Award contender Roy Oswalt and Joe ‘Something’ is straight up ridiculous.
But who cares?
Baseball is the quintessential, win-it-on-the-field sport.
A 162-game regular season followed by the most unpredictable postseason in professional sports, baseball demands more from a 25-man roster than simply putting the best team on paper—by spending the most of it—and sailing to a championship.
As I’ve mentioned before, only once in the past 12 years—the 2009 New York Yankees—has the team with the best regular season record gone on to win the World Series in the same season.
I’m not saying that the Phillies shouldn’t be the favorite to win it all, but I’d put my money on a team with less of a bulls-eye on its back and more of a chip on its shoulder.
Ya know, someone like the Atlanta Braves perhaps.