Sweeping generalizations drawn from a miniscule and carefully-chosen-for-maximum-negative-impact sample? Sweeping generalizations drawn from a miniscule and carefully-chosen-for-maximum-negative-impact sample!

Call it a sympathy horn.

Short memory, then; Cards had the best record in baseball two years running and zero championships to show for it (one pennant, sure, but it got trampled into the dust by the Sawx look-what-I-got-ma!-athon). Things even out.

Nationals fans: prepare for nut-kicking!.... nut-kicking commences! Nut-kicking ends. Thank you for your cooperation.

+1, but minus one generation.

God help me, this is some stupid shit. Chipper was right, you remain wrong. You'll notice the only people in Atlanta not blaming a tricky but correct (and relatively minor) mid-game call for the Braves' loss are the Braves. They were praying for a one-game playoff last year, so while they may not like the result…

Every team had its fair share of games against craptacular opponents; just because a few of the Cardinals' opponents were even more craptacular than most doesn't mean they got double points for beating them or anything. The Dodgers played 18 against 98-loss Colorado and 18 more against barely-breathing San Diego. …

Fair enough; you, sir, get credit for consistency and can say what you please about the wildcard distribution. I'll grant that the Cards were beneficiaries of a controversial policy this year, but let's face it, divisional play (and the attendant playoff round) got a lot of harrumphing when it was first introduced,…

Dunno. Sure looks to me like the Cardinals are in a playoff series and the Braves are golfing, but maybe I just need to clean my glasses. I was personally indifferent to playoff change when they proposed it, but tell ya what: if you were on record against the expanded WC and said explicitly you were against it even…

You should probably slap an irony tag on that; it's indistinguishable from the earnest "arguments" put forth by the Braves Kool-aid Brigade on this one.

Victory at any cost! You shall have glory in remembrance!

But the important thing to remember is that we won the meaningless internet pissing contest, dammit.

Well, they could of course have forfeited in protest of being forced to (horrors!) win a baseball game to advance in the playoffs. The six-games-back Cardinals team can't have been that much worse than the Braves, what with the winning the ballgame and all.

So to sum up: 1) I (Isaac Rauch) do not understand the infield fly rule, because it is so notoriously difficult that it's become cliché; 2) despite my lack of understanding of the rule, I feel comfortable ridiculing those who DO know the rule based on many years of having been a major league umpire or accredited…

"this is what happens when you fuck a stranger in the ass Larry"

You DS guys are just being amateur idiots on this matter. I've come to expect a certain degree of professionalism in your idiocy, and am disappointed.

Hence the lack of containment. Now the Ted staff know it can happen, so they'll be better prepared for it. Live 'n' learn.

The Nationals might dispute whether the Braves would've had a "real" playoff birth. Half to three-quarters of the point of expanding the wild card was to emphasize winning the division, because if you didn't, well, you might just end up crapping all over your own field.

I rip on NY fans when they do it, but it seems that, when it does happen, it's less damaging because the stadium staff are already braced for it. Same goes for Philly. Misbehavior happens; uncontained misbehavior is the hazard.

+1 for style.