Which metro area had the most successful baseball season? After listening to the Athletics overtake the Rangers on my way home from work last evening, I was all set to declare the Bay Area the cross-league, total victory champions.
But then I remembered that Baltimore-Washington is eligible, and a check of the standings this morning shows the Orioles and Nationals with a combined 191 victories. That’s three better than the San Francisco Giants and Oakland A’s at 188.
Third place goes to Los Angeles, with the Angels and Dodgers piling up 175 wins. The New York metropolitan area checks in at fourth with 169 wins for the Yankees and Mets. And in fifth, the White Sox and the wretched Cubs trailed with a mere 146 victories, well below the .500 mark of 162.
Does anyone else on the planet care about this matter? I doubt it.
What people do care about is predictions on who will meet in the World Series.
I’d love to see an all orange and black series with the Orioles facing the Giants, and another Bay Bridge series between the Giants and A’s would be fun.
No team is a lock to make it out of its first round, let alone get to the Series. Acknowledging that the playoffs are all the more so a crap shoot with the new wild card format, I’ll pick the Giants to square off against the Yankees.
The Ball Caps Blog 
Hi Dan, If someone had predicted that the Nats and Baltimore would win the most combined games this year of any metro area, everyone would have laughed. What an amazing year.
As for picks, I think the Giants vs. the Yanks is very reasonable. Should be a fun month of playoffs.
Bill
I enjoyed this post, Dan. It’s fun when the various bloggers like you and Bill present material that is fresh, unexpected and fun. And “unexpected” is the word for the Nats + Birds combined efforts for 2012.
Switching gears to get to this year’s results, I was a guest on the Mets Musings podcast on March 31st with Barry and Gary. We made out Mets predictions and then took on the divisions through the World Series. I picked the Yankees over the Giants in no less than six games, so we’re all on the same page in this regard.
Enjoy the ballgames, and With kindest regards,
Michael, AKA: Grubby Glove
My playoff pick would be Detroit and Washington. Tigers can hit and pitch. I really respect that team and Jim Leyland. I think the A’s match up better with Yanks and Baltimore and was bummed we didn’t get either of those teams. As for GIants? They just don’t have enough talent on that roster. They can compete in the NL West (read: September record). Just not enough to compete with big boys in October.