Hey you, will you be tuning in to this year’s falls classic? The 2023 World Series is getting underway tonight in Texas. I’ll be honest though, I’m not that excited for this year’s championship. Is it partly because the Bluejays are out? Yes. But I don’t think I’m alone in thinking that there seems to be something “missing” about the build up, or usual excitement that there is for the World Series.

Pixabay / Pexels

So, where’s the excitement for the World Series? Usually, when it finally gets down to the final two teams left, baseball fans (including myself) are ready for this “final battle” to see who wins it all. But this year, not so much. Maybe it’s because of the two teams in the finals, the Texas Rangers and the Arizona Diamondbacks. The storylines are there, they both beat teams that were supposed to be the “favourites” but does that get lost once they reach the finals?

I don’t have a preference at all for who I want to win this year, do you? Either way, let’s first talk about the AL champs, the Texas Rangers. As a Bluejays fan, any team that’s had a past playoff rivalry with the Jays automatically isn’t on my list of teams that I’d like to see win the championship. I will give them some props though, beating the defending champions, the Houston Astros, is no small task and they managed to do so in style. You might have heard about all the big money spendings and trades they’ve made throughout the year, so the “favourites” here could be a “valid” champion.

Pixabay / Smollls

Now to the underdogs, the NL Champions, the Arizona Diamondbacks. Nobody expected them to make it this far, did you? I certainly didn’t. They barely snuck into the playoffs as a wild card team, and they’ve gotten past the powerhouse Dodgers and former NL Champion Phillies. We got to talk about two of the players on the Diamondbacks, Gabriel Moreno and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. These former Bluejays are making their impact in their first season on the team after the off-season trade. I think we all agree here, the Bluejays shouldn’t have traded them together for Daulton Varsho, it just won’t be worth it at all in the long-term.

That’s enough about the teams, so where did the excitement for the World Series go? I think it pretty much comes down to the two teams not having “large” fanbases, which directly affects the viewership and number of eyes paying attention.

Tune in, or not, to this year’s World Series, the games will still surely bring the excitement and thrills that come with late October baseball!