National League, the story of the collapses...
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On July 9, 2007, we headed into our "midsummer classic" while we look at the National League standings.
We see the San Diego Padres on top of the league, holding a 1 game lead over the Dodgers, who are the wild card leaders. The Diamondbacks are 3.5 games behind, the Rockies 5.5 games, and the Giants just waiting to see when Barry would hit home run number 756.
Then we see the NL Central, with the Brewers, the baseball's underdog story, only have one more loss than the Padres, holding a 4.5 game lead over the Cubs and a comfortable 7.5 game lead over the defending world champ, St. Louis Cardinals.
And finally in the NL East, we see the New York Mets, the favorites to go to the world series. They're riding 2 game lead over the Braves, and 4.5 game lead over the Phillies.
Clearly, the Brewers, Padres, Mets, and Dodgers had the best shot at getting to the postseason. They were the favorites. They played very good baseball to that point. The Brewers were the team nobody thought would be at the top, but they were making strides. They were out to prove everybody wrong. The Padres and the Dodgers had strong pitching. Peavy and Young on one side, Penny and Lowe on the other. It would be a dukefest between those two, and the loser surely to get the wildcard. And who would have doubted the Mets being atop the AL East. Maine and Perez were having career years, and Glavine was still showing why he can still pitch. And the bats: Reyes, Wright, Beltran, Delgado; who can lose with that lineup?
But alas, it was only July, and everyone knows the saying: "It's not how you start, but how you finish."
If you were somehow locked in a room from that time until now, and you look at the standings right now as I am typing this, you would never believe your eyes; you would think you were in a dream.
Look at the NL West: the Diamondbacks won it by one game ahead of the Rockies and the Padres; the Dodgers ended up 8 games back of the division. The Dodgers don't even have that wildcard, it's between the Rockies and the Padres in a one-game playoff. Todd Helton has a chance to play in his first playoff.
Oh, and look at the Central: the Cubs, the lovable losers, they came out on top by 2 games over the Brewers. The team that was supposed to be cinderella, with Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun, all the other young guns, they were supposed to be the surprise.
And the East, what can I say? You're probably reading the Mets collapse by now, losing it all down the stretch, not even going to the postseason. You see the Phillies and read about their remarkable comeback, how they came through to be in October baseball.
You wonder: What in the world? But wait, there's something I almost forgot.
Remember the (DAMN) Yankees and how they were supposed to be not in this year. Guess what, they're in; a wild-card contender! And look how many games behind the Red Sox they ended up being, only 2 games!! They were 9.5 when you were held hostage in that room!! Experts didn't even pick them to be in October. Oh, and Alex Rodriguez is not yet being run down by the (DAMN) Yankees. Isn't that odd?
Oh and did I forget to mention, the Detroit Tigers aren't in the playoffs! The Indians actually won! The Tigers, the AL favorite to be in the postseason, lost! They're out, it's over. Probably the only non-surprise from the time you were locked up until now was the Angels, they ended up easily taking the division!
Man oh man isn't baseball fun? 162 games, and you have to play every one of them as if it's your last. Every one of those games is important. I don't think I got the meaning of that until now, but boy won't the postseason be a lot more thrilling!!
