Century clubbed

 So it's the Diamondbacks, the Phillies, the Rangers and Astros left in the World Series derby, and what's missing here, boys and girls? Whaaaat's missing?

"Hey, where are the Braves?" you're saying now.

Done.

"The Orioles? The Dodgers?"

Bye-bye birdies. Forgot to dodge.

Yes, that's right, America, all three of the baseball teams that won 100 games or more during the long hot summer are out, finished at Faber. Two of the three (the O's and the Dodgers) were swept by the Rangers and Diamondbacks, respectively. The other (the Braves, who led all of baseball with 104 wins) managed to win just one game against the Phillies, who finished 14 games behind the Bravos in the NL East.

The Rangers, meanwhile, won 10 fewer games than the Orioles. And the Dodgers couldn't win a single playoff game against the D-backs, who finished a whopping 16 games behind L.A. in the NL West.

Overheard in a hallway outside October:

Braves, Dodgers, Orioles: Yay! We won 100 games!

October: So?

Don't know if that means October really holds a healthy disdain for the status quo, but the Century Club got clubbed, and once again MLB proved when That Month rolls around, everything that happened before means squadoosh. Baseball might as well go straight from April to October and leave out all that noise in between.

I mean, how many times can you stand to watch the Red Sox play the Yankees if you live west of the Berkshires or the Triborough Bridge? Or, even worse, my Pittsburgh Cruds play anyone?

At any rate, it's on to the ALCS and NLCS, with just one division champion (the Astros) still standing. Me, I'm kinda rooting for the D-backs and the Rangers to make the World Series. That's nothing against the Phillies or Astros, mind you. It's because it makes me smile to think about the network suits tearing out their carefully gelled hair while screaming "We paid all this money for THE BLEEPING DIAMONDBACKS and THE BLEEPING RANGERS??" 

Beautiful.