St. Louis Cardinals host San Francisco Giants
Final Four: traditional teams. Coincidence? Friday, October 11, 2013
Boston Red Sox host Detroit Tigers
St. Louis Cardinals host Los Angeles Dodgers
No Rays, Marlins, Rockies, Diamondbacks. None of that goofy stuff. Just real baseball names from real baseball towns.
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Baltimore had been the sad sack St. Louis Browns until 1954 so if the Orioles play the Cardinals in the finals that connection will receive some attention, probably more than it should.
So after all the randomness of this 2014 tournament until now, three of four final four teams are old time traditional, especially the Giants and Cardinals. My previous post dealt with the seven former Cy Young award winning pitchers, only one of whom won a game in this tournament so far.
The Cardinals were among the final four each of the last four years and seven of the eleven. Here are the final four teams back through 2004; winners in bold, expansion teams (created in 1961 or later) in red:
| Year | American | American | National | National | Finals | Year |
| 2014 | Baltimore Orioles | Kansas City Royals | St. Louis Cardinals | San Francisco Giants | 2014 | |
| 2013 | Boston Red Sox | Detroit Tigers | St. Louis Cardinals | Los Angeles Dodgers | Boston Red Sox | 2013 |
| 2012 | Detroit Tigers | New York Yankees | St. Louis Cardinals | San Francisco Giants | San Francisco Giants | 2012 |
| 2011 | Detroit Tigers | Texas Rangers | St. Louis Cardinals | Milwaukee Brewers | St. Louis Cardinals | 2011 |
| 2010 | New York Yankees | Texas Rangers | Philadelphia Phillies | San Francisco Giants | San Francisco Giants | 2010 |
| 2009 | New York Yankees | Los Angeles Angels | Philadelphia Phillies | Los Angeles Dodgers | New York Yankees | 2009 |
| 2008 | Boston Red Sox | Tampa Rays | Philadelphia Phillies | Los Angeles Dodgers | Philadelphia Phillies | 2008 |
| 2007 | Boston Red Sox | Cleveland Indians | Colorado Rockies | Arizona Diamondbacks | Boston Red Sox | 2007 |
| 2006 | Detroit Tigers | Oakland Athletics | St. Louis Cardinals | New York Mets | St. Louis Cardinals | 2006 |
| 2005 | Chicago White Sox | Los Angeles Angels | St. Louis Cardinals | Houston Astros | Chicago White Sox | 2005 |
| 2004 | Boston Red Sox | New York Yankees | St. Louis Cardinals | Houston Astros | Boston Red Sox | 2004 |
Only twelve of the 44 are expansion teams, generally in smaller markets. Twenty-seven percent. Seventy-three percent are old traditional teams. The Mets straddle since they are in New York; the Angels are not really in Los Angeles. Six of the eleven are American Conference teams, six National Conference.
Multiple occurrences:
St. Louis Cardinals 7
New York Yankees 4
Boston Red Sox 4
Detroit Tigers 4
San Francisco Giants 3
Philadelphia Phillies 3
Los Angeles Dodgers 3
Los Angeles Angels 2
Houston Astros 2
No expansion team won the finals and no finals series matched two expansion teams. Expansion teams reached the finals in only five of the eleven years.
Super League Sunday, March 29, 2009
I really don't care whether Kansas City has a MLB team. Nor Toronto. Nor Pittsburgh. I'm tired of junk like small market teams and revenue sharing. There's a reason it's called MAJOR league. It does not mean that Kansas City cannot have a baseball team. It means that Kansas City is not entitled to a MAJOR league team, subsidized by fans of the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, Dodgers, etc.
Why don't those teams drop out of MLB and form a super league of their own? They could form their own television network and/or cut deals with existing networks. Ten teams would do it. Here are my suggestions:
New York Yankees
New York Mets
Chicago White Sox
Chicago Cubs
Los Angeles Dodgers
Philadelphia Phillies
Boston Red Sox
Detroit Tigers
Cleveland Indians
St. Louis Cardinals
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