I was sitting across from my father, an Atlanta Braves fan, watching highlights of the NFL week, when an advertisement popped up for the World Series.
“The Los Angeles Dodgers against the New York Yankees. Only on FOX,” the advertisement announced to us.
My dad groaned. “We can’t get anyone interesting in the World Series this year?” he said.
Of course, he is referring to the fact that the Yankees and Dodgers are number one and two in World Series appearances for a single MLB franchise. I can understand his frustration.
“Would you have rather had the New York Mets in the World Series instead of the Dodgers?” I said.
The Mets are arguably the Braves’ most frustrating rival. My dad just sighed as he considered the option of being forced to cheer for the Yankees due to his loyalty to Atlanta instead of being able to remain neutral.
Sports fans are an interesting bunch. We love heroes and villains, but we hate dynasties. We cheer for parity during the season but championship viewership declines when there isn’t a team from California, Florida or New York in the championship game.
In the NBA, without the allure of LeBron James or Stephen Curry dueling in the Finals, viewership gradually declined to near-record lows during the Boston Celtics’s gentleman's sweep of the Dallas Mavericks.
The World Series, similarly, hasn’t hit over 10 million viewers since the seven-game series between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which became marred by the infamous sign-stealing scandal that rocked the sports world.
In fact, baseball is coming off of the lowest-viewed Fall Classic ever. The Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks were the picture of parity last season. The Rangers, a team that had never won a World Series, against a D-Backs franchise that hadn’t won since 2001.
That piece of history was barely enough to get six million fans to tune into the series-winning Game Six for the Rangers, leaving some pundits to wonder whether the World Series still has its luster and glory.
I believe it still does. I believe that we’ll see an example of it this season.
There is something endearing about one of baseball’s mighty giants, a team that has retired 22 numbers and has the most MLB Hall of Fame inductees with 27 finding their way back to the cusp of glory after nearly two decades.
The iconic navy and white pinstripes against the crisp blue and white that hearkens back to Brooklyn. The title card might as well read America’s World Series: Round 12, as this is the 12th time their roads lead to each other.
The last time the two juggernauts met was in the 1981 World Series where the Dodgers took home a 4-2 series victory, but it is the Yankees who lead the series overall 8-3.
Maybe in 50 years, I will be tired of watching the Yankees lifting the Commissioner’s Trophy, like many other disgruntled and frustrated baseball fans across America. I am already just about fed up with seeing the NLCS as a ‘beat Los Angeles’ competition, as they have made the World Series four times since 2017 and the NLCS in half of the last fourteen years.
But for now, I will be cheering for the New York Yankees to win the World Series this year. Getting to see Aaron Judge, Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton will probably be the closest I’ll ever get to seeing Babe Ruth, Lou Gerig and Tony Lazzeri.
My father will have to choose someone to cheer for, probably the Dodgers due to Braves first base legend Freddie Freeman now sporting a hat with the white “LA” logo on its blue background.
But as far as a championship goes, I’ll gladly sit down with a cup of tea in one hand and a baseball in the other and watch two of America’s baseball darlings go head to head for the first time in over 40 years.
