Just because we’ve suffered another devastating September collapse doesn’t mean that I can’t enjoy some October baseball.

Granted, it’s tough watching the postseason knowing the Mets aren’t in it, but hey - it’s baseball at the most competitive level with everything on the line.

This post season, I’m rooting for the Rays.

In general, I don’t think it’s good for sports when certain teams always lose like the Rays have in their limited tenure in Major League Baseball.  Similarly, I find it boring when the same teams make the playoffs every year, which is why I am particularly enthused that the Yankees failed to make the playoffs this year. 

I also think it is good for the sport to prove that dishing out the dollars doesn’t buy a playoff birth.  Of course I would never want the Mets to miss the playoffs, but it is important to note that the teams with the three highest payrolls (Yankees, Tigers and Mets) all failed to make the post season.  It is good for the sport as a whole when a team builds through the farm system and creates a playoff caliber team internally, rather than purchasing overpaid mercenaries through free agency.     

Plus, I’m also a sucker for an underdog story and I think it’s awesome that a team with a $44 million payroll beat the Yankees ($209 million), Red Sox ($133 million), Blue Jays ($98 million) for the always contested AL East crown. 

Briefly, here are my thoughts on the other playoff teams:

• Angels: Frankly, I like them a bunch too - they play baseball the way it was meant to be played.  They play mistake free, heads-up baseball that is rarely seen these days, especially in the American League.  Mike Scioscia might be my favorite manager in baseball.
• White Sox: I like Kenny Williams, but other than a source of laughter I strongly dislike Ozzie Guillen.  Plus they beat the Twins, who I like for many of the same reasons I like the Rays and Angels.
• Red Sox: I’m happy they won once, but I’ve had enough of their winning.  Boston as a city is becoming too dominant in the sports world. 
• Dodgers: I’m glad they made the playoffs just to stick it to the Yankees for low-balling Torre, but nothing else about them particularly excites me. 
• Cubs: I don’t buy into the whole lovable loser story, but that’s just me.
• Phillies: I hope like last year, the Mets win as many playoff games as the Phillies.  If you can’t do the math, I hope they get swept. 
• Brewers: Again, I like when teams that typically haven’t done so, do make the playoffs, but I can’t bring myself to root for the team that we handed our playoff spot.

Yeah, it is tough to see Scott Kazmir pitch and imagine what could be and then realize sadly what is reality, but it’s time to get over that and get behind a fun, youthful and underdog Rays ball club.   

In the Red Sox rays game last night, OF Coco Crisp was hit intentionally by Rays SP James Shields. Tensions were looming since Wednesday when Crisp was angry about SS Jason Bartlett blocking 2B on a play. Two innings after Bartlett blocked the bag, Crisp stole 2nd and slid extremely hard into 2B Akinori Iwamura, taking out his legs. Following the game on Wednesday, Rays manager Joe Maddon said Crisp intentionally tried to hurt Iwamura.

Last night, Crisp was hit and immediately charged after Shields. While the brouhaha was not quite as entertaining as the spatter of words between Dan Lerner and Andrew Smith yesterday here on Hot Foot, punches were thrown by both Shields and Crisp. Rays catcher Dioner Navarro was able to tackle Crisp before any hard punches landed, and by then the whole benches were clearing. Here is a video of the melee:

Brawls are always so entertaining. They really make watching Sportscenter an awesome experience in the morning, getting up to see all these athletes taking hacks at each other.

It’s also great getting to see the guys from the bullpen spring into the action thirty seconds into the video after everybody is out there. They’re like, “Wait for us! We’re angry too!”