This is Not the Most Important Thing Ever

To borrow and amend a phrase from the movie Old School: “Sports. It’s a motherfucker, huh?” The actual phrase begins with the word “love” but it’s amazing how easy it is to substitute the word “sports” for “love.” It probably shouldn’t be like that, but for some of us, it is.

Jayson Werth just hit a walkoff. It gave me chill bumps. Don’t even care about that game.

Here is a text convo I had with a friend of mine minutes after the Reds were eliminated. This friend of mine is not a Reds fan but he knows. He knows.

Friend: Sorry dude.
Me: ☺ look how happy I am. I’m fine.
Friend: Damn that’s happy.
Me: Told ya.
Me: Ow well. This is not a real life problem.
[I was really just trying to convince myself that I was ok]
Friend: It’s not a real life problem you’re right. But it’s also something that you’ve followed for multiple hours each day for 5 months. That’s probably more time than you’ve spent on some real life things. It’s ok to be sad.
Me: Ok, I’m definitely sad.

Ahh, he totally gets it. So much time we put in to following our favorite teams. It really only has a happy ending for one franchise, but we follow anyway. Why? I don’t know. We love a city (Blue Jackets). We love our parents who, for some reason, love a certain team (Buckeyes). We have fleeting memories of a grandparent who was always listening to the Reds when we went to their house (Reds, clearly). You know, it all starts with stuff like that.

These teams entertain us but they can’t help but hurt us. Only one team can be the ultimate champion. But for any competitor, and you are probably somewhat competitive if you care enough to watch sports, the losses take you lower than the wins get you high. That’s what’s really cruel. We’re addicted to sports; needing the next high, knowing the low will be exponentially worse.

The Reds are eliminated. I feel terrible. I know it shouldn’t be this big of a deal to me. It is.

It hurts right now but this was my favorite Reds team I can remember. Dominant pitching. This is how a ton of games went this season: Reds get lead. Reds keep lead. Reds win. The bullpen was amazing. Our defense was magnificent. Watching Joey Votto hit baseballs is an honor. Hearing Todd Frazier walk up to the plate with Frank Sinatra playing had me laughing the entire season. But for now, we cross that season off the list and hope we’re around long enough to see another great season. And maybe one season, everything clicks and we get to see our team at the pinnacle. Just once. Ask any Cubs fan, it’s not a right.

Many years growing up, the reds sat around 72-90 seasons. It’s a dull pain that festers every night, but we know our team sucks and you learn to deal with it. When you’re team is good and the season comes to an abrupt stop in the playoffs, it’s like you get all of that dull pain heaped on you at once. It kind of makes you feel like The Giver, if you ever had to read that book in 8th grade. It’s rough and it can make you forget all the good things your team accomplished throughout the season.

Reds

I can’t help but think of the next time I’ll get to see my Reds. Here are some things I really want to see.

1. Aroldis Chapman starting. Aroldis closing games was definitely one of the things that made this team my favorite, but closers just aren’t that valuable. David Weather was an effective closer for the Reds. David Weathers. Unless you’re going to strike everyone out, which Chapman totally can, so much of closing just comes down to chance. Is that a groundball right to Scott Rolen for an out or is it five feet to his left for a base hit? Now, you only need two more of those to tie the game (from an offensive standpoint) or win the game (from a defensive standpoint). What was Aroldis in save opportunities in the Postseason? 0-0. The Reds had no save opportunities. Not cool to leave your best arm in the dugout waiting for something that doesn’t come. Aroldis (and any reliever who can handle the workload of being a starter) would be much more valuable as a starter. Starters who stay healthy pitch over 200 innings a year. How many innings to relievers throw? I don’t know, but it’s a lot less. I’d rather have my best pitchers trying to get the most outs. Also, if you’re a person who thinks the 9th inning is the most important inning, if Team A scores 4 runs in the 1st inning and doesn’t score the rest of the game and, meanwhile, Team B doesn’t score until the 9th, where they score 3 runs; who just won the game? It wasn’t the team who won the 9th inning.

2. I’d like to see a new CF along with Todd Frazier in the lineup. More specifically, I’d like to see Todd batting 4th. Drew Stubbs has not made the progression you’d hope to see from any young Big Leaguer, in fact, without looking at his numbers, I’d say he’s probably regressed this season. I could put up with his strikeouts in seasons past because he always had goofy power, but he lost the power this season. I just don’t think someone who plays a really good defensive CF is all that valuable.

I’m hoping Todd Frazier will improve upon a great rookie campaign but I’m not sure I’d bet on it. Todd has a pretty serious hitch in his swing, which was exposed late in the season. Hopefully that hitch doesn’t actually exist; I’m no scout. I want Todd batting fourth next season because I don’t think Ludwick is good. Ludwick hit a lot of bombs this year and I was surprised at every single one of them. I’ve never seen a player hit so many homers and be late on every fastball above 91mph for an entire season. I believe he had a somewhat flukey 2012 and will be exposed a lot more in 2013. Actually, I changed my mind. My ideal lineup for next season would go: Phillips, Votto, Frazier, Bruce. I guess I’d have Frazier 3rd, but that’s not even worth hoping for. No manager would put Votto 2nd.

3. A New Manager. I don’t hate Dusty. I’ve certainly been critical of his decisions on twitter but I don’t hate him. I think Dusty is a leader of men, which is admirable, but he’s not a wonderful baseball tactician. He’s a “player’s manager.” I don’t know what that means. Nobody can quantify how that helps your team win. It’s especially difficult in baseball because, more than any of the other big four sports, baseball is robotic. Someone throws the ball at you and you react by swinging or not swinging. In the field, someone hits the ball near you and you sprint to catch it. I doubt Jay Bruce ever went deep because he’s so happy about becoming good friends with Zack Cozart because Dusty has a clubhouse that really nurtures that kind of thing. I don’t believe the manager has a huge effect on the final W/L total of a team but I do think Dusty makes really bad decisions from time to time. Is it really that difficult to find a player’s manager who also makes smart baseball decisions? I don’t know, but we’ll probably find out next season.