Photo: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
I am rooting for Clayton Kershaw these days. And no, it’s not just because he’s on my fantasy team. He happens to have just slid past Johnny Cueto for the NL ERA title — although it’s a slim enough margin that a bad inning could knock him right back into second. I still bear Cueto a grudge for kicking Jason LaRue in the face and ending his career last season, so I would prefer he not win anything for quite some time. Of course, at the moment Cueto’s on the disabled list and hasn’t yet pitched enough innings to qualify for the ERA title, so it may become Kershaw’s anyway. Karma’s a bitch, Johnny.
Baseball’s regular season is winding down, but there’s plenty of other things to root for:
AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast
I had been rooting for the Tigers to become our first official Division Champ by today (yes, I know the Phillies have clinched a playoff spot — they aren’t division winners yet), so we could do one of our boys covered in champagne posts, but alas, though they might accomplish that feat later on tonight, they would have to do so in Oakland — and I’m not staying up until 2 EST on a 50/50 chance. I’ll root for them anyway, because I like Victor Martinez (pictured above with his son).
AP Photo/Keith Srakocic
Unfortunately, though many people were rooting for them this season, the Pirates will not be breaking their string of consecutive losing seasons (19 now – yikes). At least it wasn’t clinched until mid-September this year. That’s something, right?
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This last one is tricky. My Cardinals, despite being left for dead a few weeks ago, still have a slim chance at clawing their way to a Wild Card. But to do that, they probably need the Braves to lose a few more games. And to do that, the Braves closer, Craig Kimbrel, will probably have to either not pitch, or blow a save or two. As he happens to be one of the more productive members of my fantasy team, which itself is only two games out of first place, this puts me in a bind. Though I do enjoy baby faced pitchers, and if the Braves do hang on, I will hold no grudges. I save that for face kickers.
Who are you rooting for in these final weeks of baseball season?
