Is It A Bucket List If It Only Has One Item? (A Post About Baseball)

There are 30 Major League baseball stadiums. Twenty-nine are in the United States and one in Toronto, Canada. Major League Baseball is actually two leagues, the National League and the American League. Each league is divided into three divisions, the Eastern, Central and Western. Each division has five teams.

The winner of each division, is not surprisingly called the Division Champion. The playoffs pit the three division champions from each league and the best two teams that didn’t win their division against each other. The winner of that series of games becomes the Conference Champion. The conference champions meet in a seven game playoff called the World Series.

There are seven teams that have never won the World Series.

San Diego Padres
Tampa Bay Rays
Washington Nationals
Colorado Rockies
Milwaukee Brewers,
Texas Rangers
Seattle Mariners

Last year, the World Series went to the Houston Astros. The city was still recovering from the hurricanes that hit earlier in the year and the World Series win was a bright spot in a year that had few of them. Of the list above, only two teams, Washington Nationals and the Seattle Mariners have never even been to the Fall Classic. However, the old Washington Senators, who played in Washington DC from 1901-1960 won it all in 1924. Leaving hapless Seattle as the only Major League City to never send a team to the Series.

On the other hand, of the 113 times the World Series has been played, the New York Yankees have represented the American League 40 times. They took the championship 27 times.

The longest drought between championships was the Chicago Cubs. They won it in 1908 and then didn’t win again until 2016, 108 years later. But, hey, anyone can have a bad century.

The championship series was cancelled twice. Most recently in 1994 because of a players strike. The other time was 90 years earlier in 1904. Apparently the National League champs, the New York Giants didn’t want to play the AL winners, the Boston Americans.

The 2018 baseball season is in full swing. My hapless Mariners are just a game and a half out of first place in the American League West Division. “If the season were to end today. . .” Yeah, Seattle still wouldn’t be headed to the playoffs.

I don’t have much of a bucket list. I’d like to see my kids grown. Maybe dance at a grandchild’s wedding. I have a couple of other goals that are just for me. But, the one sure thing on my bucket list is to visit all 30 baseball stadiums and buy a fitted cap for every team. Currently, I’ve been to eight.

Safeco Field (Seattle Mariners)
Wrigley Field (Chicago Cubs)
Turner Field (Atlanta Braves)
Fenway Park (Boston Red Sox)
Great American Ball Park (Cincinnati Reds)
Ballpark at Arlington (Texas Rangers)
AT&T Park (San Francisco Giants)
Camden Yards (Baltimore Orioles)

I’ve driven past the Rockies stadium in Denver and the old Comisky Park on the South Side of Chicago where the White Sox played, but never been in.

Tomorrow I fly to Columbus, Ohio for a business trip. My flight arrives at 3:00, but my meetings aren’t until the following day. It’s three hours from Columbus to Pittsburgh, where the Pirates play in PNC Park. I figure I can make it in time for the first pitch at 7:00pm. My only worry. . .they’re predicting rain.

Let’s hope they PLAY BALL!

Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren. 

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