Why It's Possible to Do the Unthinkable

Just minutes from now, the 2009 version of the World Series will be underway in the Bronx. The series features two of the larger-market teams in baseball, the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies. A great deal of non-Phillies/non-Yankees fans I know with any slight interest in the Series have been going through the following thought process in deciding who they want to root for:

"I don't really want the Phillies to go back-to-back, and I don't like their fanbase, but I REALLY hate the Yankees. So, I guess I'll cheer for the Phillies."

Like these people, I am interested in checking out this World Series, but neither team is the one I root for full-time. However, I'm finding myself much less inclined than others to hate the Yankees going into this World Series, the 40th in which the Yanks are appearing. On that note, as a non-Yankee fan, I'm going to shock the world by attempting to justify cheering for the Bronx Bombers. I've broken my arguments down into what I call the 3 P's...

1. Payroll
As a fan of a small-market team, why on earth would I want the team with a payroll many times larger than mine to win it all? For fans of these teams, it looks like with a payroll currently exceeding $200 million, the Yankees are trying to "buy championships." Well, if the team that's throwing the most money into team salary continually wins the World Series, then perhaps in the near future, there will be a higher possibility of more attempts to level the playing field among the 30 MLB teams. If a team that is being resourceful with a low payroll can't win the World Series, then the one who splurges on re-signing players, making trades and signing for marquee players deserves the championship. It's painful to cheer for a team that is harming the equality of the teams in the league, but with them winning more and more, more calls for change could be on the horizon.

2. "Parity"
If my team can't win in back-to-back seasons, then I don't want anyone's team to repeat. Believe it or not, the Yankees haven't won a World Series since the unfortunately over-hyped 2000 Subway Series with the Mets. Thus, if you're a strict fan of parity in professional sports, you probably want the Yankees to take this one, despite this being possibly their 27th World Championship. Also, if the Yankees win, perhaps they can officially regain their famous swagger throughout the organization and fanbase that they've held for decades. With that swagger that everyone loves/hates, maybe baseball can grow again. Or at least other baseball fans can be even more justified in hating the Yankees.

3. Power Players
Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, and Hideki Matsui are just a few of the names on the Yankee roster without rings to their name. I don't expect you to love all of them (I wonder which one of those three is liked the least...), but I at least find their style of play to be very exciting on most nights. Seven of their starters hit at least 20 home runs this year (Derek Jeter also had 18). The Phillies certainly have a great deal of bats that can match up with the Yankees, but if you love the offensive slugfests in baseball, no one scored more runs in Major League Baseball this season than the Bronx Bombers.
If you want to define "power players" even more broadly, you could throw in the many power arms included in the Yankee pitching staff. CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Mariano Rivera, and even young guys like Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes bring some serious heat from the mound.
Also, who can write about the Yankees and not include the Steinbrenners? As owners, their aggressive approach to winning and getting the pieces necessary to win games put this year's team in a great position to take home the trophy. I think a lot of non-Yankee fans, especially fans of small-market teams, would trade their owners for ones as dedicated personally and financially as the Steinbrenners have been over the years.

To tell you the truth, that was somewhat painful to write. However, it does make me feel a little better about being a neutral fan this time around. Hopefully, if you're in the same boat as I am, this at least eased your hatred of the Yanks a little bit. Enjoy the Series...