When it comes to playoff rooting, there’s always two schools of thought: either you root for a team within your division (or league) or you root against said teams because of the bitter rivalries from the season.

I am in the latter group. This might sound sacreligious, but I would never describe myself as a “National League fan” or an “NL East fan.” Sure I love National League baseball. I think it’s more interesting and requires more strategy. And uh, I’m a fan of the New York Mets in the NL East. But I’m not blindly a fan of all the teams in the division and/or league.

In fact, when I think about it, I usually find myself completely against those teams. When the playoffs started, I identified the Tampa Bay Rays as the team I’d root for. I also decided I wouldn’t really care if the Boston Red Sox or the Los Angeles Angels won either. Those three teams are AL teams.

When glancing over the NL teams, I really didn’t care for any of them. I decided to hope the Los Angeles Dodgers won the league because they were the lesser of the four evils. And it would stick it to the New York Yankees, which is funny.

But out of all eight teams, I despise the Philadelphia Phillies and prayed they would be quickly eliminated, hopefully in a three-game sweep at the hands of the Milwaukee Brewers. Yes, the Brewers took the last playoff spot. They celebrated on the last day of the season at the expense of the Mets. But to be honest, the Phillies and Marlins left more of a bad taste in my mouth on the last weekend than the Brewers. The Brewers were inconsequential. They contributed friendly fire and accidentally shot us down on the way to glory. I don’t really hold anything against them. So I was fervently rooting for Bud Selig’s boys against the Phillies.

Of course, they failed, which honestly makes me more bitter about the Mets not making it. I felt the same way in 2007. When the team that claimed your playoff spot just dies in the first round, it’s like they wasted it. (I realize these are contradictory ideas, but it being the Phillies dying in 2007 made me feel better. The Brewers just makes me resentful of them.)

So now I root for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and right now it looks like they are going to fail as well. I don’t know if I can take a Philadelphia Phillies World Series, especially coming off a Super Bowl that was absolutely hellish for a Jets fan (New England Patriots vs New York Giants. There’s not a worse possible matchup for a Jets fan to endure.)

So please, Dodgers. Please Red Sox. Please Rays. I cannot take the Phillies really being “the team to beat,” not just for the NL East but for all of Major League Baseball.