I kind of liked seeing Arizona get shut down but it doesn't really make me feel better. I'd rather lose to the eventual champions (and see them come out of our league almost any time. Yeah, even the dang Braves).
That's my feeling as well. Rooting against the team that knocked yours out of the playoffs is, in my opinion, petty and, yes, it looks better to lose to the team that no one else could beat. And, yes, NL pride
Well I guess I’m petty by your definition. No need for me to list my reasons to be happy for the Rangers winning.
I was still rooting for the Rangers on behalf of my friends. Don't know any Diamondbacks fans except for one guy who only just moved there from DC.
Rangers also wound up being the ex-Philly team. Brad Miller, Jankowski. Will Venables. Also always liked former Princeton basketball player Chris Young (we got the wrong Chris Young!) And Josh Bonifay gets a ring before Preston Mattingly. Also Mike Maddux has been coaching for a looooonnnnng time (in the minors and the majors) and never won a ring as a player or a coach. That's pretty awesome, especially since he was also the Rangers' pitching coach last time they made it.
I can also get my dose of petty from the fact that DeGrom and Scherzer got rings but not for the Mets. 
It seems obvious now what the most important signing is for the Phillies this off-season...get Will Smith...guaranteed World Series championship in 2024, just like his last 3 teams. No need to worry about the other moves.
Not a bad guy to consider regardless though they probably need a RHP more (assuming they lose Kimbrel and keep Soto).
Ian Kennedy and Spencer Howard also probably getting rings.
Glad ONE other poster else mentioned this. Was thinking paranoia mighta got me, but now that there are 2 of us, I feel better. Some of the bad calls against the Phils were huge.
You have to stop looking at one or two appearances and making judgments on those. The guy had a 5.50 ERA this year and a negative bWAR.
But he was until the post-season started. Which is exactly the point. There are really no projects or sure things in the world of relief pitching, and especially not the post-season. Sborz was worse than Dylan Covey all year long. If he'd been on the Phillies he likely would have been the guy who lost his roster spot to Kerkering. Who turned out to be a "project" himself. And meanwhile the best closer in the entire post-season still blew his last appearance (albeit not a save).
Arizona missed their chance at accomplishing the feat of winning the World Series after having a negative run differential in the regular season.
Had a team with a negative run differential ever even made the playoffs prior to 2020? That year three did, while Houston got in with a losing record but + differential.
The 1987 Twins were the only World Series-winning team I found that had a negative run differential, but it wasn't an exhaustive search. They won a weak AL West that year with an 85-77 record (and a -20 run differential).
Yeah, I do.
But I see performance and respect it. Let's watch and see if Sborz didn't earn a big pay day.
Much like Covey he made $733,000 this year (the major league minimum) and he'll enjoy twice that in arbitration if he's lucky. Check back in 2026 for any real reward. Meanwhile Soto is looking at $4-5 million because he's older and used to close for a last-place team.
The funny thing is Sborz was probably a lot better than his ERA (he had a 3.75 FIP and respectable 1.146 WHIP) in the regular season. And he also would have never pitched the 9th inning of Game 5 if it hadn't been a five-run lead. But he'd already done a great job keeping it 1-0. When you're a reliever you only have to have three or four bad games in the regular season to trash your stats. And you also only have to have one or two good ones in October to look like a stud.
Rangers had their parade today... not sure why they didnt wait til Saturday. More people could have been off work etc
