October - Rays, Red Sox, Phillies, and Dodgers

October is once again upon us, and that means two things: First, that one presidential candidate will become increasingly desperate and begin employing various dirty tactics to try and make up lost ground, and second, that the MLB playoffs are in full swing. Although the former is an intriguing topic, now I want to talk about the latter. The regular season ended with a bang, with the New York Mets missing the playoffs on the last day (for the second straight year) and the Minnesota Twins forcing a one-game playoff with the Chicago White Sox, who won. In NLDS action, the Los Angeles Dodgers swept the Chicago Cubs, who were looking for their first World Series title in 100 years. And the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Milwaukee Brewers in four games. As for the ALDS, the Boston Red Sox (represent!) beat the league's best team, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, in four games. Also, the upstart, come-out-of-nowhere Tampa Bay Rays won over the White Sox. The Rays went from being the league's worst team in 2007 to the third-best in 2008. The Red Sox will now play the Rays in the ALCS and the Phillies and the Dodgers, led by 500-homer man Manny Ramirez, will face off in the NLCS. It's hard not to go for the Rays to win it all. After being created a little over ten years ago, to never having won more than 70 games a season and never finishing better than last in AL East, to now becoming the team to beat and possibly the most formiddible in the entire MLB, they are quite a story. They finished the season with 97 wins and champions of the AL East, beating out such teams as the Red Sox and the New York Yankees. And I have to say, speaking as a die-hard Red Sox fan, as much as I want the Sox to win the World Series, I would not be too sad if the Rays win instead. And in the words of Dane Cook, "There's only one October!"