The Rays Tank: Rational Rooting

You may recognize the title of this post. It's taken from a Baseball Prospectus piece that was published Tuesday. In said piece the author, Diamondbacks' beat writer Nick Piecoro, struggles in deciding who, as a baseball fan, he's rooting for as the season comes to a close. Should he pull for the great story that is the Baltimore Orioles, a team that's defying everything a logical baseball fan believes in? Or are they exactly the type of team he's trained himself to root against? It's excellent and I encourage you to read it.

Like Nick, it's tough for me to see what the Orioles are doing and root for it. And that's not just because I'm a Rays fan. The Rays have built their five year run of success on good processes that leads to good results. The Orioles...aren't doing that and it makes them difficult to cheer for. They have a negative run differential. They have Lew Ford and Nate McClouth playing big roles. The incredible run of luck is another reason. They've won something like 150 one run games and 1,000 extra inning games in a row, right? A rational person should have a hard time pulling for them. They defy everything we've come to know about baseball.

Would it be "great" for baseball if the Orioles went to and even won the World Series? I don't know. Maybe. But it wouldn't be fun for me. What are your feelings on this topic? Do you share the same sentiments? Or are you able to detach yourself from the logical viewpoint and enjoy what the O's are doing?

Links:

-The most unhittable pitch, by a starter, is Stephen Strasburg's changeup.

-Elliot Johnson may not be having a good season at the plate or in the field, but he really is great with the fans. He played catch with a fan in the parking lot before a game recently thanks to Twitter. Twitter can do anything.

-Really nice Deadspin story on a 38-year-old career minor leaguer, who faced Roger Clemens in his most recent start.