Can't Win Them All

Ok.  I'll admit it. I didn't pay a lot of attention to last night’s Red Sox game. The two Boston playoff games naturally fought for my attention. Add to that the fact that the Sox were starting a fill-in for a road game after playing in another city the night before, and this game didn't scream “must see potential Red Sox win!” to me.

And I was right. The Sox looked like a team that had recently arrived in town, and the Orioles looked like they were facing a fill-in starter. That's the way it goes sometimes.

Which is fine. Sure, their record isn’t great yet. But, it doesn’t have to be great on May first. I don't care if they're above .500 in the month of April, as long as they're above .500 for the month of October.

So I don't mind taking one on the chin last night. Sure, it would have been nice to grab a win. One game under .500 would be better than two. A little closer in the division would be more fun. But, that will come.

I know I sound like a broken record. "Don't worry. It'll be OK when it matters." But, again like that record, that's what happens when fans decide the only games that matter are the ones in October. It becomes hard to get worked up about the others. The Sox won 108 games last season, but I wasn't "allowed" to enjoy it because "It doesn't mean anything if they lose in October." Even worse, "Just because they won 108 doesn't mean they should be favored in October...that bullpen you know." So, if I can't get excited about an historic regular season, when can I be? If I'm supposed to just bide my time until October, then I guess that's what I'll do. If that's what the team is supposed to do, I guess that's what they'll do. Why try to win every game in May if you get zero credit for it? In fact, it's almost better to do poorly in the regular season. Then you get to be that exciting team that storms from the Wild Card spot. Instead of the clearly better team that just rolls to the title.

So a win in May? Doesn't matter. A loss in May? Doesn't matter. Just wait until October.

Apparently that's all that matters.