Hang In There, Dodgers!!!

So the Dodgers' lead in the NL West over the Rockies is down to 2 games? After being as high as 15 earlier in the season!?!?!?

What happened?

Now, I want the Dodgers to win the west this season, and I want them to go far in the playoffs. This desire for their victory goes beyond my position as a Dodgers fan, and I do wholeheartedly consider myself a Dodgers fan.

You see, I made a prediction over two weeks ago, in the very pages of this blog, that the Dodgers would run away with the NL West division. I believed it then, and I want to believe it now. And if it doesn't come true, not only will I be a disappointed fan, I will have made a wrong prediction. And that would be damaging to my reputation as a blogger and as a man of insight.

So I personally have a lot riding on the fate of the Dodgers' season: not just the disappointment I'd feel as a fan if they miss the playoffs (not to mention the bitterness against the Rockies for catching up to them), but also the shame of having made a prediction that went so horribly awry.

Also, I generally have an affinity for order and just rewards, so I like seeing the team who has played consistently good baseball over the course of a whole season get rewarded with a playoff spot. While underdog stories and dramatic comebacks might make for a good story, they usually make me rather uneasy and cause my nerves to go all a-flutter. For example, I've got no love for the Mets, but seeing their very solid team collapse so completely at the very end of both the '07 AND '08 seasons did tug at my heartstrings a little. But I also don't appreciate sob stories, so I didn't feel bad for them for long.

Either way, it'll be a tremendously interesting race, seeing as the Dodgers' next two games are against the Rockies in Denver. So what was once a commanding, unsurpassable Dodgers lead could become a tie for first place over the span of two days. These are the dynamics that make baseball great and push TV ratings through the roof. And don't get me wrong, I love watching these exciting games. I just wish I had somehow forseen these developments so that I could have made the right predictions 18 days ago....