Most Wonderful Time of the Year

You know how when Christmas and New Years comes around, there's that one song "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year..." and everyone who's in love with that time of year falls into this happy trance of everything Christmas, you know what I'm talking about?

Well, that's how I feel about October...

The reasons why I love October?

1) My wife and I got married October 7th, 2006 -- Best day of my life, and the beginning of many more...

2) I was born in October. I am a Bicentennial baby, born on October 28th, 1976. 

3) The colors of autumn, watching the sun bounce off the changing leaves, the cool breeze -- not too cold, not too hot.... ahhh, perfection! The smell of burning leaves, kids are back to school, the calm after the summer tourist storm, back to normal. That good ol' Country feel.

My wife and I love autumn so much, if we were able to have children, we would have named our second daughter Autumn.

4) John Lennon was born in October, October 9th.

and last but, certainly not least....

5) BASEBALL!!!!!!


Yes... It's that wonderful time of year for us Baseball nuts.

Already, the Chicago Cubs find themselves trailing in a series, 1-0 (they have never came back from a 1-0 deficit in 12 other opportunities).

John Lackey is doing what John Lackey does this time of year, and that's winning post-season games, he has now won a Game 1,2,3,4,5,6 & 7 -- no other pitcher in MLB history has done that.
The Cardinals players are doing what Cardinals players usually do this time of year, every man, even the unusual names jumping to the task -- in which the casual MLB fan would say Tommy who? (Tommy Pham).

The Los Angeles Dodgers are meanwhile doing what the Los Angeles Dodgers like to do, and that's lose when you have your best pitcher in the game on the mound (Clayton Kershaw).

The New York Mets are in the playoffs for the first time since 2006, to put it in perspective that year was the year that my Detroit Tigers returned to the playoffs after a 19-year absence; The Tigers would be in the playoffs from 2011-2014, and there should have been a couple other times as well. Jacob deGrom quickly put himself in Mets' playoff history with a 13-K performance, shutting down the Dodgers.

deGrom posted 13 K's against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

For baseball fans it was nice to see former great franchises like the Kansas City Royals, Pittsburgh Pirates & Baltimore Orioles return to the post-season in recent years, along with the Mets, Cubs, Houston Astros & Toronto Blue Jays for this season. It's been 22 long seasons until the Blue Jays have finally broke into the post-season, for their fans it may have been more frustrating than that of the Pirates' long drought (which was snapped in 2013), because Pirate fans expected to lose, while the Jays didn't always have terrible teams, just down-right frustrating teams.

I documented in a article once (Over-Under 2007-2012) that documented the Blue Jays from 2007 to 2010, and how their actual record should have been better according to their Pythagorean Records.

The Houston Astros defeat the New York Yankees in the A.L. Wild Card Game.

Also, I'm a believer in uniforms, truly am. The Los Angeles Angels broke into their Cardinal Red uniforms in 2002, went on to win World Series. The Blue Jays a few years ago, finally converted back to the uniform that reflected their winning days. The Houston Astros changed their uniforms recently and their culture changed as well.

I remember in the 1980's when the Atlanta Falcons stunk, they then switched to all black, and suddenly they played well. Uniforms can have a psychological effect on the team itself and its competition -- another example, the Tampa Bay Bucs switched from their pansy Orange Cream-sickle uniforms to the bold red, copper & black (sporting the Jolly Rogers).

It's good to see the Jays back, and I really look forward to the possibility of a great potential ALCS in a Royals-Blue Jays matchup.

Now let's shift the conversation to same-old faces, it's good to not see October being dominated by either Yankees or Boston Red Sox, or both even. In recent years, or at least for the Yankees, October has not been automatic; Although this year's Yankees team was a good story for comeback players such as (hate him or love him) Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira -- most people want to see something fresh like the Astros moving on, especially since the Yankees outperformed their expectations all year... it's a good building block for New York moving forward, I do believe they should take advantage of their youth.

Chirinos and Odor deliver for Texas.

It's also good not to see the San Francisco Giants not in the playoffs (or for this year at least... remember they are the every-other year or even-year champion -- So Giant fans get ready for your championship parade in 2016). The Texas Rangers after a couple years off, have returned to the post-season, but seem to be a familiar face, I don't expect their ride to continue, even though it was impressive to see their smaller names like Robinson Chirinos and Rougned Odor take it to Toronto in Game 1.

I'm still sticking with my mid-season pick of the Kansas City Royals winning the World Series, and would not be surprised to see a all-Missouri World Series like what happened 30 years ago (1985) -- facing the St. Louis Cardinals. Cardinals are probably playing the best baseball of the entire bunch, but sticking with my pick, Royals in 7 (over Cardinals).

Oh, how I love this game!