Baltimore Orioles fans: Glad the Boston Red Sox won the World Series
Joy R. Absalon-USA TODAY Sports
The Boston Red Sox are the 2013 World Series champions. The Baltimore Orioles never made it to the playoffs this season, so the Red Sox winning the championship is not a terrible thing.
Hold on, keep reading, I am an Orioles fan. I hope that it’s been long enough that the angry Orioles fans have calmed down after a disappointing ending to the season along with the Red Sox claiming the championship.
They deserved the win. They may be a rival AL East team, but it adds to the legacy of the AL East with a team not named the New York Yankees. They have won enough.
Of the past 18 AL World Series champions, 11 have been from the AL East dating back to 1983 with the Orioles. Since then, every AL East team, but the Tampa Bay Rays, has won a championship. The Rays have only been around since 1998.
Every team but the Orioles have won more than one championship in that same time period. If the Orioles are no longer in the playoff picture, an AL team should win, and even more so, an AL East team.
What better than create a great image for the AL East? There will always be the rivalries within the divisions, and rightfully so, but as baseball fans, rivalries between divisions is a great thing too.
The East is the best division in the American League. If the Orioles cannot win the championship, another East team should. This may cause a debate, but when the post season comes around, it separates baseball fans into Major League baseball fans and team fans. There is nothing wrong with being with either one.
A fan of MLB, whether or not having a favorite team, will enjoy everything from the inner division rivalries to the division-against-division rivalries and even the league rivalries.
A strict team fan may be more prone to hating the rivals of their team and becoming a bandwagon fan of whatever team is playing against them in the postseason. I know a few of these, and they never can appreciate a great team that is a rival at that moment.
So much more can be taken from baseball when a fan looks at more than just their favorite team when the postseason arrives. The postseason is when teams make a name for themselves. The regular season is put aside and everything is new.
In the last thirty years, the American League has taken more than half of the championships. As previously stated, eleven of those eighteen championships came from the AL East.
The Orioles’ fans should be proud to be a part of a great division. Arguably, the best division there is in the American League. The fans do not have to root for a rival AL East team in the World Series, but should be proud when they win the championship, as they have this year.
The only exception is the Yankees who have won too many championships. Keep on hating them Orioles fans.
The Orioles have made their mark in the East the past couple of seasons under Buck Showalter when he made the Orioles comparable to the other East teams. It is time for the Orioles to make their mark even further, if not finishing first, beating the AL East teams in the playoffs.
Most importantly, adding another championship to Baltimore, and at the same time adding to the AL East’s great record of being the best division in the American League, if not both leagues.
Boston has added to the East’s record after not winning a championship since 2007. The 2009 Yankee championship does not count of course. Fans should be proud, of both Baltimore and Boston, and of every team in the AL East (except the New York Yankees, remember that).
This is one great division that every fan should be proud they are a part of, and should enjoy the greatness its teams bring it.