In for a pound

The race is on. The games are running out, and the competition is getting heated. Five games left. Can the Red Sox be one game better than the Blue Jays? Can we finish in second place in the AL East, or we have to suffer the humiliation of third place?

Does it really matter? Two months ago, I would have been shocked and offended at the suggestion that the Red Sox would finish in third place in the division. But now? Not so much. The Blue Jays were predicted to make some major noise in the division- they were the ones that broke open the piggy bank, brought in Troy Glaus, BJ Ryan, Lyle Overbay, Bengie Molina, and AJ Burnett to be more competitive. Well, to a certain extent, it worked. They are more competitive. They were able to stand toe-to-toe until the last week of the season with a Red Sox team that lost more player-days to injury than the 1918 Influenza Rays. Congratulations, guys. You still are going to finish ten-plus games back of the Yankees. Way to shake up the division.

I suppose this is the pot/kettle/black attitude I need to have to insulate myself from the pain and embarrassment, but really, does it matter that much if you finish second or third if the Wild Card is not a consideration? Sure, if it happens, all of the talking fatheads (I'm looking at you, John Kruk) on TV and the radio will talk about how this is the first time since 1997 that the division hasn't finished NY-BOS-TOR-BAL-TB. They'll talk about collapse of a potential Red Sox dynasty and question the front office and whether Theo Epstein was overrated. I'm going to quote "Meatballs" now, so get ready. It doesn't matter. It just doesn't matter. We'll have had an overall winning season, but it was disappointing and we finished out of the playoffs. The Blue Jays will have had an overall winning season, but it will have been a disappointment and they'll finish out of the playoffs. Same with the White Sox. Same with the Angels. Taking too much joy or agony over finishing second or third isn't worth it to me.

In a way- an admittedly masochistic way- I'd be glad to see the Jays finish ahead of the Sox this year. Obviously, it will make the collapse complete, but it will probably have two effects. First, by shaking up the division, it should have the effect of scaring the Red Sox front office into making some big moves. I think that the combination of intelligence in the front office and some significantly loosened purse-strings could make for an exciting off-season in Boston. The front office has made some questionable moves, but they've always pretended they had a tight budget and looked for value. If they can pretend to be the Yankees, at least for a few months, and just throw some of John Henry's billions at the problem, we might make some headway.

The second effect is that Toronto might be emboldened by their moderate success. They won't finish much better, record-wise than they did last year, but just finishing ahead of the walking corpse of the Red Sox will feel like progress. They'll throw more money around, but because of their shallower pockets, smaller margins for improvement, and that killer Canadian exchange rate, be weakened by the whole thing. I absolutely understand that the immediately preceeding Blue Jays argument would not stand up to the tiniest bit of logical scrutiny, but it's more that adequate for an insane fan-blog. Just accept it as gospel.

Finally, the Yankees are set to collapse. I just know it. The last two starts by Mussina and Johnson were really really terrible. Their offense may chug through another couple of great years, but next year, Chien-Mien Wang will have to pitch about 125 games if the Yankees are going to have a chance of holding everything together.

Third place, I embrace you. You are the bringer of a brighter tomorrow.