Lovable Losers in Baseball: An American Phenomenon

    Lovable Losers in Baseball: An American Phenomenon

     On this Independence Day of 2017 I wish to address a few things that are intrinsic to my native land of the United States of America. Americana, writ large? Perhaps.

  The older I get, the more seasons I have seen and lived, the more I like to postulate on some things. It's either wisdom or foolishness, or a combination of both.

    Like baseball. It's an American sport that has taken root in a few other continents and cultures, particularly some islands in the Caribbean and the Far East. Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and Taiwanese are some languages of baseball in the 21st century. The sport has grown and should continue to do so.
 
    Here in the United States where baseball has its tried and true stalwart fans and new generations of players and markets, there are 30 top teams spread across the country that have their constituencies.

   Of these thirty  biggest teams known as major league organizations, the New York Yankees are the wealthiest, having the longest history of Word Series championship teams, and arguably has the most fans and supporters. This translates to more money and more likelihood of the chance of success. Other franchises have storied histories of success, which now include even the former lovable losers Chicago Cubs (2016), and before them the Boston Red Sox for many decades of frustration. They were cursed despite years of incredible talent over the decades, since the earliest times of the 20th century. They are off the snide and now are one of the more successful Word Series teams of the 21st century.

    And yet, there are still teams that have never tasted of the ultimate victory in the Fall Classic. Granted, some of the teams have been created in more recent decades and have not had all the years of opportunity like the original 16 clubs at the turn of the 20th century, like the Colorado Rockies and Tampa Bay Devil Rays, but other newer franchises have won at least one or even two in their nascent existences. These early Word Series champs would be Arizona and Miami (Florida), respectively. People still pay money to see these never-final-winners play, however, and the money and livelihoods of these players and their managers and owners are maintained, thus still living the American dream of prosperity, but without all the glory.

  Who are they? When I think of losers, ever-competing but never satisfying the ultimate goal,  they are the following:

San Diego Padres. Founded 1969. Lost World Series twice.

Seattle Mariners. Expanded to majors in 1977. Never been to World Series.

Texas Rangers. (Moved to Arlington as new Washington Senators in 1971, the second team originated in DC in 1961). Lost world series twice.

Houston Astros. Expansion team as Colt .45s in 1962. Made it to one World Series and lost.

Washington Nationals. 4th team in DC; expanded from Montreal Expos, created in 1969 and moved to the District in 2005. Never been to World Series. The second DC team Senators won once; they became the Minnesota Twins in 1961.

Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays. Expansion team since 1998. Never been to World Series.

Colorado Rockies. Expansion team since 1998. Made it to one World Series and lost.  

Milwaukee Brewers. Originally were Seattle Pilots in 1969 and moved to the Midwest in 1970. Made it to one World Series and lost.

   Eight teams chasing this elusive championship in October, along with all the other ones that have won in the near or distant past like the recent Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians, that had not won in anyone's lifetimes, (and the Tribe still hasn't since the 1940s; the games and payrolls and fanbases continue.

   The crowds and tickets and uniforms and television contracts, commercials, and sponsorships go on: the American way persists unabated with no single season of exuberant joy and fulfillment for these eight competitors.

    Forever chasing the Yankees, the Cardinals, the Red Sox (the 21st century certainly has reversed the curse with three Word Series rings for them), the Giants, and even the low income Marlins, and here-to-fore Cubbies.  The former lovable losers.

   So in 2017 and beyond, some of these teams look to have a chance. Not San Diego.  The Padres are not there this year. But others are knocking on the door: the Astros, the Nats, maybe the Rockies or the Brewers.

    It could happen. It will eventually, right? 

    Of course it will. This is America. This is baseball.

   This is the field of dreams. Dreams do come true, even if you get rained on a lot in the extreme Northwest, freeze by the lake in Wisconsin, suffer sweltering summers in Texas,  experience mile high air sickness in the mountains, put up with political trials of the beltway, or heaven forbid, are overly tempted by the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico or the Pacific Ocean.

   Baseball, dreams, and the prize of October find a way. Even for the losers that we have come to love. 

     And this is America, the United States of the Free World, the most powerful country on the planet. It has many flaws; it can be  somewhat bullyish on its interests and declarations. It has been in involved in military campaigns and trade embargoes that have positively and negatively impacted countless millions across its own territories and the entire globe.
    
   Baseball is another of its merits and  symbols, an urban bucolic representation of its fields and might. And even the last eight stragglers of which we have mentioned have their majesty and honor, like each of the states of the blue field of Old Glory.

   Baseball fulfills ancient prophesy. The first will be last, and the last shall be first.

   Play ball.