After such a lengthy break from the routine that I’d more or less adhered to for the better part of the last decade, I have to admit that it’s been kind of difficult to get back into old activities. And as is often the case whenever I come back to work, it’s rarely a smooth transition back into trying to get back into the rhythm of work, it’s always something waiting for me, and eating into my time and mental capacity to want to do other things. Furthermore, the shitty weather waiting for me as soon as I got back to the United States, doing things like trying to get back into running, just wasn’t happening.
Among other things that I’d like to get back to doing, but feel the need to ease myself in, warm-up so to say, is naturally, tending to my beloved brog and writing words upon words upon words about well, things. Europe, the countries visited in Europe, my Worlds experience and thoughts and so forth. But my brain’s been a little mushy; perhaps it’s the long layoff from writing, too many European spirits throughout my travels, the jet lag I’ve experienced for the first time, the fact that I decided to dive head first into picture processing, or any combination of any of these things, but it’s resulting in me not really being in any rush to start clacking away at the keys to put words down on .docx.
So in an attempt to simply get my brain moving and my hands used to the feel of recreational writing again, I thought I’d start with something of a comfort topic, something that I know I can write about pretty much in my sleep if I wanted to: baseball.
Because while I was away in Europe, some very important baseball was played in ‘Murica, and in spite of the fact that I fretted that the Mets would actually win the World Series, quite the contrary occurred, with the Kansas City Royals prevailing to become the 2015 World Champions of Major League Baseball.
Despite my general ambivalence towards baseball throughout the entire season, I still mentally create somewhat of a priority list of teams I’d like to see win the World Series every playoffs. Usually it goes the other way, and it boils down to whom I don’twant to see winning the whole shebang. Basically, it started with “anyone but the Cardinals,” and once the Cardinals were bounced from the field, then it was “please not the Mets.” Unfortunately, despite the hype train, the Chicago Cubs did what they do best, which is to say, absolutely choke under pressure in the playoffs, which is ironic, because that’s kind of what the Mets were notorious for doing as well.
In the American League, I would’ve been fine if the Astros stormed through, but ultimately, I was rooting for the Royals, like I had done the year prior, and thankfully they didn’t let me down, especially with a great flair for the dramatics during their whole run, storming back on both the Astros and Blue Jays in numerous instances.
Regardless, the World Series started while I was in Paris, so at any given point, I was six hours ahead of Eastern Standard. I found great enjoyment on the mornings after the games, and while I was in an area of reliable internet connectivity, checking the “Royals score” and seeing the the Royals were taking care of business with their home field advantage, taking the first two games at home before moving the series to New York.
Ultimately, I had hoped that the World Series would be over before I got home, because that would have meant that either the Mets closed it out fast, and the obnoxious post-playoff circle-jerking would already be on its way out, or that the Royals took care of business expediently, and I could arrive back in America to start finding out about how awesome it is that the fucking ROYALS are World Series champions.
The travel back to America was pretty stressful, as one of my connecting flights was cancelled without any explanation, but while waiting in a literal two-hour line in Brussels airport, I did find great reprieve and found 5-10 minutes of good news and video highlights of the Royals glorious game 5 recap. Weathering Hurricane Harvey, tying up the game in the 9th inning, before exploding all over the Mets in extra innings to take the crown, I mean, that’s Mets baseball at its very finest right there, choking in some of the most magnanimous ways possible, on the grandest stage of them all.
I think what I find more astounding than the fact that the Royals are World Champions, is basically the story of how this all came to be. In spite of the ever-changing game behind the game, which is to say the geeky statistical revolution that has been gradually taking over baseball throughout the last decade, the Royals kind of went against the grain, much to the snooty dismay of baseball geeks, and still managed to achieve success.
I remember back in 2010, hearing things about how the Royals were drafting and accumulating prospects and minor league talent, so that they could open a window of contention that should start in 2013. Like, I’ve read Moneyball, I’ve been following baseball and most sports for quite some time, so it’s not out of place to hear of a team that’s planning for a year later, possibly two; but to have visions of four seasons down the line? I remember feeling bad for Royals fans, because to have to wait that long before the team might be good again, on top of all the years in which the Royals were at the basement of the rankings already? Brutal.
But now the Royals are World Champions, and me as a Braves fan, sitting on my ass, cursing my team, loathing their unethical business practices, and almost wishing failure upon the new ballpark they want to open in 2017, and are deliberately throwing in the towel on 2015, as well as 2016.
The thing is, the Royals really did succeed with their longterm plan. They immediately showed improvement in 2013, and by 2014, they snuck into the playoffs, and had one of the most incredible playoff runs, before falling just short of the crown in a pretty great World Series against the San Francisco Giants.
Adding to the astonishment is the rare fact that the Royals actually got a second chance, which so rarely happens in sports in general, not just baseball. A year after just barely not winning a World Championship, they basically managed to shrug it off, retool, reload, and come back again, but this time prevail.
The fact that it happened against the Mets, snuffing out their own improbable season was like icing on the cake.
In the end, I’m not just happy that the Mets lost the World Series, I’m very happy that it was the Kansas City Royals that won it. I’m not going to declare myself the cliched fan all along, but I liked their ballpark, the Royals perpetually always have a roster stocked with former Braves, and up until their rebuilding plan, they were the type of underdog fans love to root for, and they frankly they just never bothered me.
It doesn’t often happen in baseball seasons in which my own team doesn’t even make the playoffs, but 2015 is one of those years in which I can honestly say that I’m quite happy with how the season turned out.
