Conversation with an AL East Fan

Everyone once in a while, The Kept Faith likes to check in with someone who’s life is so foreign to that of the average Padre fan, they might as well live on a different planet: A fan of a team in the American League East. We’ll keep which team they root for secret, because really, does it even matter?

TKF: So, a new baseball season is starting. You must be excited.

ALEF: Oh yeah you have no idea! April games don’t really matter – you can’t win a championship in April, as they say – but the buzz around the new team is so much fun, and it’s great seeing the ballpark packed every night. I just hope I can get some tickets this year. You know how hard it is to get baseball tickets.

TKF: Ah, yeah. Sure. April games matter though. You can’t win a championship in April, but you can lose one.

ALEF: I don’t get it.

TKF: You know, like if your team loses half its April games, you can get so far behind you’ll miss the playoffs.

ALEF: [crickets]

TKF: Anyway … The AL East has always been a tough division, but its gotten more so in the last few years with the rise of the Rays. Does that make you nervous, or is it more fun this way?

ALEF: It’s fun man. I mean, yeah, does it mean my team might not win a World Series, or even make it the World Series this year? Yeah, and that sucks. But there’s always next year. There is literally ALWAYS next year. And plus, from what I gather from national sports media, the whole country loves our rivalries. It’s great when the whole country can rally around something.

TKF: Well, to be honest with you, some of us who support teams outside of the AL East get a little tired of your rivalries. We have our own you know.

ALEF: There’s other rivalries besides the Yankees/Red Sox, Yankees/Rays and Red Sox/Rays?

TKF: Yeah. The Padres have a big rivalry with the Dodgers.

ALEF: I thought the Dodgers’ big rival was the Giants?

TFK: [crickets]

ALEF: Well regardless of who you root for, the beginning of the baseball season is always an exhilarating time. You have the whole season ahead of you where anything can happen. And if things aren’t working out, you can always go out and make some blockbuster deal at the trade deadline. After all, there’s always some small market team that’s ready to dump payroll and give up its Cy Young candidate pitcher, or a 40 home run a year guy for two prospects and a bag of balls. Am I right?

TKF: Or as we like to say in the NL West, only five months ‘til football, only five months ‘til football …