It ended a week ago, more than a week ago. Yeah-yeah, the Houston Astros won, congratulations to them, blah-blah-blah. ... I do appreciate a longstanding franchise finally winning a championship for the first time. But this team ... man, I just didn't get into this team, nor this series.
A few reasons why. Foremost among them is that I did have a dog in this race -- my Dodgers! And since my team lost, I am very bummed. Second of all, the hyperefficiency of sabremetrics has been so stark this World Series that, in the few innings I actually saw, it looked like a sport I had never seen before. One of the things these advanced statisticians (who now control many front offices) is The Three True Outcomes: Walk, Strikeout, and Home Run. Batters are now, unconditionally, told to arc the motion of their bat so that, if they make contact, they will arc the pitch and, if they hit the ball at the right spot and hit it with enough power, it'll reach the seats. They might swing and miss and strike out, but if the reward is a homer, sabremetricians say that that risk is worth it. So that's why this season has seen record numbers of both Ks and HRs. Baseball, in essence, has become an efficiency machine. It basically is college softball now. And while I understand any system (in this case baseball) finally hammering itself into "perfection," efficiency sure as hell isn't fun. No singles, no baseball.
But the final reason I couldn't get into this World Series is Yuli Gurriel and that fuckin' bullshit slant-eyed racial slur after he went yard on Yu Darvish. I know that if Commissioner Rob Manfred even tried to suspend him during the Fall Classic, the players' union would get him to play by appealing that decision. But Manfred, in circumventing such a move and instead suspending him for five games starting next season, let Gurriel off the hook by keeping him in the most important games in baseball. And he delivered, probably including off Darvish in the fateful Game 7, even though Darvish probably and stupidly tipped his pitches. He was rewarded with his racist gesture with a World Series ring, and I sure as hell can't abide by that. Fucking Gurriel.
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