A refreshing Fall indeed

The 2008 Fall Classic will get underway in mere hours. And it's probably safe to assume no baseball pundit foresaw this match-up back up February.

The media supposition on this World Series is that the average person doesn't care and the match-up is television ratings nightmare. A Phillies-Rays match-up is obviously far less sexy and appealing than say Manny and the L.A. Dodgers heading to play his former team the Boston Red Sox. But the pundits shouldn't necessarily jump to that conclusion.

We're in the midst of an election year where "change" is the mantra, and baseball should reap the benefits of having fresh teams face off.

Look, Philadelphia is the 10th different National League champion in 11 years, with only St. Louis winning more than once in that span. And Tampa Bay is the sixth American League champion in the past seven years, with only Boston claiming multiple pennants.

So are average fans really thinking?

The Washington Post asked its readers if the Rays-Phillies World Series match-up will be a boring or refreshing change? The results as of 5 p.m. yesterday in their informal poll were a resounding 61 percent of the respondents saying it's a refreshing change.

Several reader comments drive home that point...

"The only people who will find [the series] boring are the self-important Yankees/Sox fans who seem to think the success granted by baseball's horribly imbalanced revenue/payroll structure indicates some sort of inherent superiority."

Agreed, and don't even get me started on baseball's economic imbalance.

"Only fans of the Red Sox or Yanks would rather not see the Rays. They think the baseball universe revolves around their rivalry."

Yes, yes and more yes. It's really not that hard to understand why Sox and Yanks fans have that contorted view. An overwhelming amount of the national coverage TV coverage from Fox to TBS and especially ESPN focuses on them.

Finally.. "The definition of boring is watching the same match-up over and over, expecting anything but the same old thing. I am thrilled there are no teams from New York, Boston, Chicago or Los Angeles [in the series]."

It does feel nice, doesn't it?

MLB is in an era of openness. So enjoy the Tampa Bay Rays worst to first story. And enjoy watching the Phillies MVP play of Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard and the MVP-caliber play of Chase Utley in this Fall Classic.

The 2008 World Series has potential to be a great. Seriously, enjoy it!