The Hallowe'en and Hot Stove Kickoff Chat Thread

The season is over. The Cardinals lost, the Giants won, and then they went and kicked in the teeth of the Detroit Tigers for good measure. (You know, having your team in the World Series is obviously better than the alternative, particularly when you're talking two appearances in just six years, but Tiger fans have to be hurting more than a little at how poorly their team has shown the last two times they've made it to the Fall Classic, between their 2006 comedy of errors and this year's massacre.)

It's somewhat interesting, to me at least, that the last three years the World Series champion has not, by most objective ideals, been the "best" team going in. I use quotation marks there because, obviously, the concept of the best team is fairly subjective anyhow, but I don't think anyone would argue the Giants of 2010 or this year, or our brilliant red-clad heroes of last October, were the best teams on their respective fields.

The Yankees of 2009 were a slightly different story, but each of the last three years we've seen the hottest team take home the Commissioner's Trophy, rather than the team that put together the most impressive resume in getting to the series. It's probably just a coincidence the way things have worked out, but I wonder if it says something about the level of parity in the game right now that the hottest team, the team playing well at the right moment, is more likely to take home the hardware than the team most people would think of as the superior squad.

You know, I was hoping to actually be attending a World Series game tonight. I had an opportunity to go, if a Game Six between the Cardinals and Tigers had been in the cards, so to speak. Obviously, we didn't even come close to that eventuality, but I can't help sitting here thinking how things might have been different. Wistfully wishing they were. Oh, well. Hypothetical regrets are, I suppose, even less useful than real regrets in life. At least you can learn lessons from the actual mistakes you've made or the roads you haven't traveled.

Anyhow, it's Halloween today, which is nice. I really love Halloween. We're also entering into the Hot Stove season, which is a ton of fun also. With all that in mind, we should have a chat. I'm stuck at the computer for awhile anyway; I'll try to be as attentive as possible. Possible topics include, but are not limited to: offseason moves the Cardinals should or should not make, various candies and opinions thereof, autumn/winter fashion, and, well, pretty much whatever you feel like. You know I never get too very upset when topics stray far afield.

I'll be here for a little while. Hour and a half at least. Chat thread engage!