Major League Baseball

Who Do Yankees Fans Root for During the 2016 Postseason?

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Are you like most Yankees fans, unenthused about watching the 2016 MLB playoffs because your team isn’t in it? Well have no fear, here’s an easy way to pick one team to root for over the next month.

Well here we go, the 2016 Postseason field is set. After two wild–Wild Card games, in which both were decided by majestic late inning home runs, the even-year darling San Francisco Giants will face off against the National League’s top-seeded Chicago Cubs, while the Los Angeles Dodgers square off with the Washington Nationals.

Over in the American League, it’s the Yankees’ dreaded rival Boston Red Sox vs. the Cleveland Indians–and the Toronto Blue Jays going up against the Texas Rangers and their home field advantage.

As a Yankees fan, the easy thing to do is call it quits on this season–or just watch the playoffs for the sheer fact of potentially entertaining baseball. But what’s the fun in that?

We as fans need to have a vested interest–someone or something to pull for. That’s the reason many of us play fantasy sports, otherwise, would you really want to watch the Rays take on the Orioles 18 times a year?

You now have permission to root for a side not donned in pinstripes over the course of the next month. But choose wisely.

8. Boston Red Sox

To quote Will Ferrell’s character Brennan in ‘Step Brothers,’ “Not even if there was a fire!”

7. Toronto Blue Jays

Blue Jays fans continue to act like a bunch of spoiled, overgrown soccer hooligans. For two straight Postseasons, they’ve thrown bottles of perfectly good refreshments at players–shout racist epithets, and think that’s not going to reflect poorly on the lovely city of Toronto? Besides, this is a division foe, that beat the Yankees 12 out of 18 times this season.

6. Texas Rangers

I have a hard time rooting for any other AL team to win the World Series, as you can probably tell from the first three teams on this list. Yes, the Yankees dealt Carlos Beltran to the Rangers, and it would be nice for him to put a championship cherry on top of his illustrious career sundae, but he was only a Yankee for two and a half seasons. He severely tested my loyalties shortly after the trade when he claimed

Beltran severely tested my loyalties shortly after the trade when he claimed that playing in Texas was all about baseball, unlike in New York.

5. San Francisco Giants

Madison Bumgarner may be this generation’s most dominant big-game pitcher. Wednesday night’s complete game shutout is the second in his career while doing so in a one-game playoff. Buster Posey is a class act–Hunter Pence seems like a lot of fun to be around–Jeff Samardzija played football at Notre Dame, and Joe Panik is a Yonkers native who went to St. John’s.

Putting all that aside for a moment, the bitter Yankees fan in me doesn’t want to see the Giants continue their even-year dynasty anymore. I get that they were once a New York-based team, but enough is enough already! Unless the Yankees are winning titles year after year, I say share the wealth.

4. Washington Nationals

I really wanted to rank this club higher, especially because they are led by Bryce Harper and his ‘Make Baseball Fun Again’ campaign. I genuinely enjoy watching the youthful exuberance of guys like Trea Turner and Anthony Rendon–the excellence of Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, and Daniel Murphy.

But this club has dealt with an abundance of injuries this season, so who knows how many of their stars we’ll even see during the playoffs–Wilson Ramos in out for the remainder of the season with a torn ACL. While I do want to witness Harper “go off” as he’s capable of any time he steps on a ball field, I’d rather him continue to be irritated by the Nats’ inability to advance in the Postseason. Because each time that happens, Harper gets a little closer to wearing a No. 34 Yankees jersey in 2019.

Because each time that happens, Harper gets a little closer to wearing a No. 34 Yankees jersey in 2019.

3. Cleveland Indians

This club is simply not very exciting. They play small ball, focused on winning with solid pitching and good defense. Their roster is a mix-mash of rejuvenated veterans (Mike Napoli, Rajai Davis, and Carlos Santana), homegrown stars (Francisco Lindor and Jason Kipnis), and the pending 2016 AL Cy Young Award winner, Corey Kluber. That’s all fine and dandy, but wake me when it’s over.

Terry Francona is a baseball genius and part of the Indians’ high ranking here is found in my desire for his club to beats the pants off the Red Sox. Whether that happens or not remains to be seen.

The other vested interest I have is Andrew Miller. I was gutted to see the Yankees let him go, and even though I still don’t fully agree with the trade, it gives the Yanks a better “chance” of winning down the road. Miller loved playing for the Bombers–that’s not something you see very much these days. So I’ll root for him to make a difference, in getting Cleveland to represent the AL in the World Series.

Besides, ‘Major League’ is one of the best baseball movies of all-time.

2. Los Angeles Dodgers

This is a rivalry that has gone from borough to borough–to coast to coast. The other big-market team that grabs as many high-priced players as it does free agents. Though the Yankees and Dodgers have not met in the World Series since 1981, the two historical clubs have actually played one another in 11 different Fall Classics.

The baseball purist and sentimentalist in me wants the Dodgers to win one in Vin Scully’s final season in the booth. I mean 67 years calling games is astonishing!

Clayton Kershaw is quite arguably one of the greatest left-handed starting pitchers of all time, and he still only 28-years-old. Pending NL Rookie of the Year Corey Seager is the next great all-around shortstop.

For the same reason, your girl watches those trashy Bravo “unscripted” reality shows, is why you and I tune in to see what Yasiel Puig will do next. You just never know.

I liken hating on the Dodgers as a Yankees fan to looking in the mirror and then slapping yourself over and over again in the face. It doesn’t make sense. Us big market clubs need to stick together–show the little guys whos boss.

1. Chicago Cubs

Unless you’re a masochist, or a Cardinals fans, how can you not pull for the Cubbies to end their 108-year World Series Championship drought? The poor fans of this lovable losing organization have been through the ringer. From the curse of the billygoat to Steve Bartman in 2009, if this isn’t the Cubs’ year to right the wrong of more than a centuries worth of underachieving, then it may never come.

If you’ve ever sat down and watched a complete Cubs game, it’s easy to see how the city of Chicago has fallen in love with Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Addison Russell, and others. This team plays with determination, heart, and an unrelenting spirit because they know what a championship would mean to this fanbase. Just look at how they’ve embraced David Ross, a career backup catcher. Having won 103 games, this could very well be a team of destiny.

Want your voice heard? Join the Yanks Go Yard team!

If you’re still undecided on a team to root for, take the Cubs, because as Yankees fans, we have firsthand knowledge of what Aroldis Chapman brings to the table. And maybe–just maybe, the Yankees will resign him this offseason.

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