I’m pleased to welcome our first guest-poster here at Butterscotch Sundae. Rockford has asked Chris to talk to you about baseball, and our favorite expat was kind enough to agree to do so.

I was born and raised a Dodgers fan because my Dad was a Dodgers fan. I remained a Dodgers fan until I got to the age when you start to disagree with your Dad, and then I became a Braves fan. I loved the Braves when they sucked, in the ’80s when they wore powder blue and averaged 65 wins per season. When Dale “The Stormin’ Mormon” Murphy was their sole All-Star. There’s something pure about a team that bad, something simple and something loveable. The best thing was that every single game could be seen on “The Superstation” sandwiched between reruns of “The Dukes of Hazzard” and “Dallas.” That glorious 1995 series win over Cleveland made it all worthwhile, yet their hapless record in the post-season kept things simple.

The Braves didn’t make the playoffs this year. But it doesn’t matter because as the 2008 MLB playoffs get started up, I’m a die-hard Tampa Bay Devil Rays.* This isn’t because I grew up in Florida; Tampa Bay didn’t have a team until I had left the Sunshine State firmly in my rear view mirror. Nor is it some kind of bandwagon jumping. I’m pulling for the Devil Rays this year because they’ve got the second-lowest payroll in major league baseball.
Continue reading Let’s go Devil Rays! Or, how the MLB lost its biggest fan. →