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Postseason

by R.J. Lesch

The season is a marathon and not
.      a sprint, they say. So one would think we’d boast
we’ve played a hundred sixty two, and got
.      a champion — the team who won the most.
But that’s not how it works, The season just
.      helps narrow down from thirty teams to ten.
The biggest winner still could be a bust.
.      A wild card who catches fire just when
the leaves turn brown, can grasp the Series ring,
.      While teams who’ve led all year don’t get a thing.

 

R.J. Lesch is a SABR member, White Sox fan, fencing instructor and proud holder of a day job (we’re still checking up on that last one).

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Minor League Vet

by Doug Fahrendorff

Labor Day weekend
Another season finished
Third in AA
Is  making the show
Still realistic
A scintilla of hope remains
A dream still alive
Will it survive
Another winter

 

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Reflection

by Stephen Jones

The Yankees this year will never be
As good as yesterday season-memory.

In New York, expectations always run high –
and less-than-perfect, it’s tabloid banner.
Win-or-lose, even with honor,
Is not an option.  Which explains why

The blue sky is full of “ifs & buts.”
On a score card yesterday players –
So many fill the dugout,
A garage of rust, of classic cars –

Make a difference?  Tradition does.
Garage emptied, the team will reload.

 

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Ode to a Playoff Berth

by Susan Petrone

I’ve never been much for numbers, I’ve always preferred words.
Fractions, sets, and integers lose out to nouns and verbs.
But this time of year I find myself in a mathematical dance
Trying hard to calculate the Indians’ playoff chance.

If KC can beat Detroit, the Tigers drop a game
But that won’t help us out at all ‘cuz then the Royals gain.
If the Twins can beat the A’s (and there’s frost in hell),
We’ll move up in the Wild Card and that would be just swell.

Percentage-wise, our playoff chance is not quite one in five
(Okay, nineteen point three percent in sabermetic jive).
That’s down from Wednesday but up from last week so it’s not a tragedy.
Overall our chances show a slight upward traject’ry.

All this talk about the odds and match-ups and the rest
Doesn’t address the simplest solution that’s the best:
Just have the Tribe win every game in a run-inducing flurry,
I’ll buy my playoff tix and leave the other teams to worry.

 

Susan Petrone regularly posts on the Indians at It’s Pronounced Lajaway.

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September Call-up

by Doug Fahrendorff

First time to the show
Team long out of playoff contention
An opportunity
To make an impression
Before next spring
First game
First at bat
Boyhood dream realized
Thanks to all who helped
Along the way