Gabbing w/ Gamble: Who to root for now?

Hello and welcome to the most dreary Friday since July. While we are all certainly depressed about the Twins’ untimely exit from the playoffs (yet again), there is still baseball being played. There are still Yankees and Astros to be defeated.

My question today is this: Who would you like to see hoisting the Commissioner’s Trophy at the end of the season now that the Twins are out of the running?

On the AL side, it has been whittled down to four teams already (as we know all too well). The Astros knocked out the Twins, the Yankees knocked out Cleveland, Tampa knocked out the Blue Jays, and our hero, the Athletics, sent the White Sox packing. In the divisional round, it’ll be New York v Tampa and Oakland v Houston, or in other words, the AL East Championship and the AL West Championship.

In the elder circuit, two first round series are still running, as the Marlins are up 1-0 on the Cubs and the Padres and Cardinals are deadlocked at 1-1. The Dodgers and Braves have already knocked out the Brewers and Reds, respectively. If the Marlins move on, they will face the Dodgers, and either the Padres or Cardinals will face the Braves.

So who to root for out of this whole mess?

Luckily, I made a handy flowchart to help you out:

This is merely a suggestion flow-chart, but I think it captures pretty well the appeal of each team.

If you already are partially a fan of one of the remaining teams, they are the obvious answer.

If you root for Cobra Kai in The Karate Kid, Hans Gruber in Die Hard, the Nazi’s in Indiana Jones, or just general chaos, the Houston Asterisks may be a good choice for you.

If you like the new wave of young stars with big personalities, the Braves (ft. Ronald Acuña), the Padres (ft. Fernando Tatis Jr.), or the Dodgers (Mookie Betts and Cody Bellinger) may be the way to go. Furthermore, the Padres are quite possibly the most exciting team in MLB.

If you prefer a team that quietly goes about its business, you could find yourself cheering for the Athletics, Rays, Cardinals, or Cubs. As the Rays and A’s are going up against a couple of AL evil empires, many of us will at least be partially rooting for them for the next round. The Cardinals and Cubs both could still find themselves going home before the next round, but have been consistently good for a number of years now.

If you want to root for a true underdog, the Marlins are the team for you. The Marlins, who have been abysmal for many years now, were gutted with bad trades by Derek Jeter, and struggled mightily with COVID-19 early on in the year, find themselves back in the playoffs for the first time since they won the World Series in 2003. The team has only been in the postseason twice, and has two titles to their name. They are the anti-Twins, having never lost a postseason series.

You’ll notice there’s no path to the Yankees.

Personally, I’m a Cardinals fan until they’re knocked out. That would be the influence of my significant other. If the Padres knock them out, I’ll be cheering for them, as they’re one of the more fun teams I can remember. I’d also like to see the Marlins succeed after being terrible for so many years, as well as the Moneyball Athletics. A small, dark part of my soul would also relish the chaos that an Astros run would unleash on the world.

What do you think? Who will you be rooting for for the remainder of the postseason? Let us know in the comments why!