GM Meetings

With baseball being a very busy sport when it comes to trades and free agent signings, the MLB is the only one of the four leagues that can get away with having the media cover their GM meetings like they would the primaries in politics. This pales in comparison to the coverage the Winter Meetings will receive a month from now in Las Vegas, when things actually get done.
What goes on in the GM Meetings usually turns out to be nothing more than hot air. A month can change a lot, and most of the time what you hear GM's talking about at these meetings (if you hear anything at all), don't come to fruition.
You can expect big names in the free agent market like Manny Ramirez and Mark Texiera to wait out as long as they can, and to hear as many offers as possible. These two may not even get signed until after the Winter Meetings.

Baseball is More Competitive

In any of the other three major sports, their are more than four playoff spots in each league. In both the NHL and the NBA an absurd 16 teams get into the playoffs, more than half of the teams either league. There is no excitement in trying to get into the playoffs, because if your team is on the brink, and makes it as an eigth seed, there is no way they're going to defeat the top seeded team.

The NFL is better, with 12 teams making the playoffs. Still that is over a third of the teams in the league, and because it is a single elimination tournament, sometimes the best team doesn't win the Super Bowl.

In Major League Baseball, however, even before the playoffs begin there is a playoff-like atmosphere in a few cities. This excitement is found in some baseball stadiums before the playoffs because the teams that play in them are in a pennant race.

As of now, there are three spots still available, and five teams vying for them. There is just one spot open in the American league, the AL Central. The Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox are battling for their chance to make some noise in the playoffs, and after the Twins sweeped the White Sox in a three game series, they lead the division by half a game, with only one weekend left of baseball.

The Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets, and Milwaukee Brewers are all in a struggle to reach the playoffs. The Mets and Brewers are tied for the NL Wild Card, while the Phillies are a game ahead of the Mets in the NL East, with just one weekend left to play as well.

The past few games of all of these teams have been must see baseball. No other sport can say that they have must see games with the ramifications that these games have (except maybe the NFL, but that is only because of there short schedule).

Some think baseball is a boring sport. They probably haven't watched any games this past week.

Dear Woe-Full Met Fans

The thought of the 2007 Mets collapsing last September still looms in their fans heads. Watching them drop four out of five doesn't help rid them of the memory. Niether does the Phillies seven straight wins. What has eased the fans frustrastions has been their past two games: a 9-7 win that just wreaked of a Washington Nationals comeback, and a 7-2 dominating win, led by a stellar performance by their ace in the hole, Johann Santana.

Jose Reyes led off the first of those two games with a homerun, and when Carlos Delgado stepped up to the plate, he matched Reyes' effort. However the bullpen made this game frightening later on. Lucky for manager Jerry Manuel's Mets, his offense was able to continue to tack on runs, which inevitably helped them win that game, 9-7.

The second game that has Met fans walk with a little more bounce in their step was a smooth performance by Santana. He allowed one run, eight hits, two walks, and struck out eight. Church and Schneider had a big night at the plate to help out Santana's effort. The latter of the two homered twice in the game. And, the best thing Met fans can walk away with from this game is that the bullpen gave up only one run.

The point is, don't worry New York Metropolitan fans, this is not last year's team. Last year, they would have dropped that first game when the Nationals kept creeping back. And last year, after that first game, they didn't have Santana to lean on. With 17 games left last year they let a seven game lead get away from them. This year, they only had a three and a half game lead with 17 to play, and expect things to pan out better for them.

All's Well in the NFL

When the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins took the field at Dolphin Stadium on Sunday afternoon, the football gods looked on awkwardly. This was the first game (not including his shorts stay with the Atlanta Falcons) that they would ever watch in which future hall of famer Brett Favre wasn't playing in a Green Bay Packers jersey.

On the first play of the Jets second drive of the game, however, those football gods forgot which jersey was on Favre's back. What they saw was the gunslinger they have come to know over the past 16 football seasons. Favre sold a beautiful play action to the Dolphin defense, after which he hurled the ball about 50 yards to a wide open Jerricho Cotchery, who rumbled some extra yards into the endzone. However, as Favre ran down the field with his finger in the air, the football gods couldn't help but notice the Jets logo on his helmet.

Later, in the second quarter, the Jets went for it on fourth and 13 because their kicker, Mike Nugent, had injured his thigh. Favre looked as though he was going to be sacked, but got away, threw up a prayer with another lineman in his face, and rookie Chansi Stuckey managed to come down with the ball in the endzone.

As the football gods watched this play, they became completely blind to what team's uniform Favre was wearing, and only noticed the risk taking miracle maker they have come to love.