WARNING!! Annual Off-Topic Baseball Thread. Esteemed Members BEWARE!!

[ChuckElias]

Originally Posted by Dan_ref

I don't think he believes it's his birthright to win every year.

Well, you're closer to things there than I am obviously, but I can tell you that it sure seems that way outside of NYC. He never says, "What a great season we had. What a fantastic effort after the All-Star break to win the division. I'm proud of the way the guys played in the face of all the injuries we suffered. We just came up a little short against a very good opponent in this series." You only ever hear, "Heads will roll".

The goal of a baseball team is to win the WS. How is it NOT a failure if you fail to attain that goal???

If that's your ONLY goal, then I agree with you. But it's also insane if that's your only goal. Every MLB team would love to win the World Series. But do you really think that the Royals or the Devil Rays had the goal of winning the World Series back in March? Of course not. They had no realistic chance of attaining a winning record, let alone wins in the playoffs. While they would love to make the World Series, they have other more realistic goals by which to judge the success of their season. My goal is to work the NCAA tournament someday. If I don't ever do that, is my officiating career a failure? Of course not.

A more realistic measure of success for a baseball team is to make the playoffs. As every player, coach, and announcer says, anything can happen in a short series. It's very possible for the better team to lose a best-of-5 series. Even after making the playoffs, you only have a 1-in-8 chance of winning the World Series, at best.

And again, if anybody thinks Lou Pinella gives the Yankees a better chance of winning a World Series than Torre does, that's insane, too.