Afternoon Baseball

ESPN.com - MLB - Klapisch

Wow, it's suddenly 2000 again. The Mets, wisely, aren't taking the bait of saying they are better than the Yanks. Obviously, they might want to win the division for the first time since Dwight and Darryl were snorting coke but still being productive players.
But Bob Klapisch, the ultimate jump-the-gun columnist who doesn't have the initials D.S. and writes for the Boston Globe, errs in the statement that the Yankees could find themselves out of the playoff picture because of the strengthed AL East. Is that a possibility? Surely. But let's not pretend like this Yankee-toppling dynasty is news. It was said in 2005, and 2004, and most years before that. Gammons predicted Toronto as the wild card just two years ago. We all saw where that went.
Meanwhile, the Braves' demise has been called for for a good decade. The Marlins have found a way around winning the division, for sure. But the Mets could never afford a dismantling as the price of a championship. Neither can the city of Miami, actually.

Both divisional dynasties will fall someday, just like the Roman Empire, the Third Reich and Ja Rule's street cred. But let's acknowledge the current talk for what it is: offseason hype based on nothing but dollar sheets and wishful thinking.