The Phillies Are On TV!

It's mid-October, and the Philadelphia Phillies are on TV. To illustrate just how rare an occurrence that is, recall that television was invented in the late 1920s. It became widely available in the 1950s. So the Phils' first two appearances in the Series, 1915 and 1950, weren't hardly on TV at all. This is only the fourth time since then that they've managed the feat.

Perhaps just as exciting as seeing baseball's champion underachievers in the post-season is to see the Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays in it for the first time. As befits a team that's only ten years old, their lineup consists mostly of players in the early and mid-twenties.

If you're a fan of the game, it ought to be an interesting series however it turns out.

UPDATE (Oct. 22): According to this schedule the first game is today at 8PM EDT. That's 5PM PDT. Those of you in the "real" America will just have to figure out for yourselves what time that is.

By the way, most of ESPN's experts are picking the Rays to win the Series. They have some good reasons, and some not so good. But, as one sportscaster once said, they don't play the games on paper, they play them in funny hats. So, play ball.

UPDATE 2: The New York Times just published an interesting article about Clearwater, Florida. Clearwater is the spring training site for the Phillies. It is also located in the Tampa Bay area:

When Tampa Bay defeated Boston on Sunday night to complete a stunning turnaround from American League laughingstock to champion, [water ice franchise owner Bob] Brown, like many others in this pocket of Philly fanatics nestled in Rays territory, could not believe his good fortune. For them, the postseason had unfolded in the most desirable, if least likely, way: the Phillies, who have trained in Clearwater every spring since 1947, would be playing the Rays at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, practically a 20-mile straight shot down U.S. 19.

Go Phillies? Go Rays? Florida Town Is Torn

I suppose I'd have a similar problem in the extremely unlikely event that the Mariners ever met the Phillies in the Series. Thank goodness that won't happen in my lifetime.