No Better Time to Start Watching

Will Rossmiller wross460@uwsp.edu

September is over and October is finally here. It’s a month known for cooler temperatures and beautiful colors, but to baseball fans it means only one thing; the postseason.

Stakes are rarely higher in sports, as ten teams fight for one of the greatest honors in sports, the World Series Championship.

However, in my experience of watching postseason play, I come to find that very few sports fans actually take part in watching this great fall spectacle.

Why is that the case? Casual sports fan tend to believe that baseball is boring and not worth wasting three hours of their time watching.

I’m here to say that there is no better time than this October to get into the wild, wacky and exciting world of postseason baseball.

The excuse that baseball is boring is not allowed during the postseason. Games are played with a higher sense of urgency.

That threat pushes players to extremes that they rarely experience. Players that you have never heard of, like the entire Oakland Athletics roster, come up in big situations and deliver.

The Oakland team leads to my next point. Postseason baseball is a time where the underdog shines, and who doesn’t love an underdog?

To win the World Series, all a team needs to do is win 11 games, 12 if you’re in the wild card. This plays into the hands of teams that are hot coming into the postseason.

When the pressure is on, anything can happen, and usually it does. This year teams like the Rays, Pirates and Athletics are in the postseason, despite having minuscule payrolls and rosters that include many unknown players.

If these teams can come in and stay hot, they could shock the entire sports world and pull out a World Series title. This is the year of the underdog, and sports fans shouldn’t miss out on what could happen.

In baseball, the unexpected is always happening. Players step up that have never done so in their life. Pitchers throw shutouts after being roughed up during the regular season. Rookies sometimes outplay guys that have been playing for tenseasons.

A player that has only a few home runs during the season could be called on to pinch hit in extra innings and hit a homerun; just like Jose Lobaton for the Rays this postseason.

A rookie pitcher that fans of their team may have never heard of could carry a no hitter into the eighth inning; does the Cardinal’s Michael Wacha ring a bell this year?

The postseason is a time for separating the boys from the men. It’s when the game’s greatest stars play their best ball. Careers can be made and careers can be tainted forever just by a single play.

Kirk Gibson’s magical walk off home run for the Dodgers in the 1988 World Series is something that he will always be remembered for. 

Bill Buckner letting the ball go between his legs, leading to the Mets defeating the Red Sox in the 1986 series will live in infamy for an eternity.

The postseason is kind of like a good book. It may be long and it may take a while to finish it, but the pay off at the end makes the entire experience worthwhile.

Postseason baseball is where magic happens, don’t be the one that misses it this year. 

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