Bandwagon Time

My gut feeling back in April told me that neither of my teams were headed towards the post season this year. Those feelings were all but confirmed by the start of summer.

But that's okay. The beautiful thing about baseball is there's always something for fans to cheer for when their teams suck. This season my focus eventually shifted to Jose Altuve, Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and whether or not the Red Sox could hold onto the AL East.

Now that the regular season is over, that's my cue to jump on the bandwagon and root for someone else's team.

Last year, I rode the Chicago Cubs train and watched them win it all. Who will receive my fair-weather fandom this postseason?

I decided the easiest way to do this is to rank the eight remaining playoff teams starting with the team I'd most like to see win the World Series this year.

#1: Houston Astros

Unless they were playing against the Padres or A's, I've been quietly rooting for the Astros since the start of the season. I'm a huge Jose Altuve fan and it'd be nice to see him win the AL MVP Award and a World Series ring in the same season. It'd also be nice to see Josh Reddick get a ring too. He was a fan favorite during his time in Oakland. Speaking of fans... Houston fans have been waiting around since 1962 for their baseball team to win it all. Hopefully they won't have to wait too much longer.

#2: Cleveland Indians

Now that the Chicago Cubs have ended their curse, the Indians are now the owners of the MLB's longest World Series drought. If the Astros don't win it all, I'd be okay with watching the Indians and their fans celebrate after waiting almost seven decades.

#3: Boston Red Sox

I understand that this selection is petty and paltry, but the Red Sox are the Yankees biggest rivals. If they win... it'll serve my Yankee buddies a slice of humble pie.

#4: Los Angeles Dodgers

When it comes to rooting for specific guys in the postseason, there are six Dodgers I'd like to see celebrate: Clayton Kershaw, Kenta Maeda, Yu Darvish, Rich Hill, Adrian Gonzalez, and Scott Kazmir. That's more guys than all of the other teams combined.

#5: Washington Nationals

If these guys were still playing in Montreal, they would be sitting at the #1 spot. Unfortunately... they're not. With that being said... I'd be okay with them finally winning the World Series for their fans.

#6: Chicago Cubs

We're at the point in the rankings, where I don't really have a preference. If the Cubs celebrated back to back championships, I'd mainly be happy for their fans, but I'd personally take little pleasure in seeing them win.

#7: Arizona Diamondbacks

This is the ultimate "meh" team. I don't dislike (like the double negative?) them, but I couldn't find a reason to put them ahead of the other six teams. The only scenario where I could see myself cheering for them is if they played the Yankees in the World Series.

Speaking of the devil...

#8: New York Yankees