If we were fortunate enough to make the World Series, how would you feel about playing the Nats?

[OFFNY]

In 1983 and 1984, the Philadelphia Stars had just made it to the U.S.F.L. Championship game (1983), and then won the U.S.F.L. Championship game (1984.)

At the time, the Philadelphia Eagles were an average team, but in a superior league (the N.F.L.)

There was talk (half-serious, half-kidding) about having a showdown game between the two teams, with $10 Million going to the loser ...... to get out of town.

Haha, only in Philadelphia would a team that had just been to the Super Bowl three years prior get that kind of treatment from its hometown fans.

Well, it wasn't really a hostile sentiment of the city, it was an off-hand comment made by a sportscaster during a U.S.F.L. game during a regular-season game in a nationally-televised Stars game in 1985 (my photographic memory.)

Also, I think his comment wasn't so much hostile as it was a combination of the city's love both for both teams, humor, and ....... well, maybe a certain amount of hostility toward the loser of the big showdown.

It was kind of like the city (of Philadelphia) loved both teams, in different ways. You had the 3-time world champions Eagles (1948, 1949, and 1960), who had also recently appeared in a Super Bowl (1980), and who played been playing there forever in the most competitive league in the world. They were the ESTABLISHED, PERENNIAL team, champions, or no champions.

And on the other hand, you had the upstart champions of an upstart league (U.S.F.L.) that was a good league, but not on the same level of the N.F.L.

Kind of like that perennial contender that they had loved for the longest time (the Eagles) against the new, upstart champion (the Stars), who were knocking on the door and saying, "We're here, too."

And finally, the "$10 Million to the loser to get the heck out of town" was the funny, semi-affection/semi-hostile way of saying,

A) If the Eagles can't beat a team from a new league that is not on the level of the league that they are playing in, then they are frauds, and they may as well just pack up and leave.

B) If the Stars can't beat an average team from the N.F.L., then THEY are frauds, declaring themselves to be "champions," when they can't even beat an average N.F.L. team. So take your paper championship, and pack up and leave.

Have a greenie for provoking more discussion on the subject though, which I enjoyed.

[OFFNY]

o

Oh, back on topic.

Sorry.

Yeah, I would rather have the Nationals lose in the first round of the playoffs, and have the Orioles face another team ...... particularly the Cardinals, since they were one of 3 teams (the Cardinals, the Braves, and the Mets) that I predicted would wind up playing the Orioles in this year's World Series back in April.

[TouchemAll]

Of course I am not quite ready to assume we'll make the playoffs, much less make it to the World Series. But in that scenario, how would you feel about playing the Nats? Would that be extra exciting for you? Would it add to the already-high stakes? Or are you indifferent? Personally, I think it would be extra awesome to have that element.

We dominated them BRING IT ON!

[Barnfather]

I went to see the Nats during my Baltimore trip. Thought their ballpark lacked the charm of OPACY and their fans were less friendly and seemed a touch more full of themselves.

Whilst it would be great to see their ballpark filled with orange on national (even global) TV, I think I would prefer to mitigate the chance of losing to them, by them not making it.

Of course I'm not getting ahead of myself here though. We haven't won the AL East yet, let alone made the WS.

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[SteveO]

Beating the Nats in the world series would be a blast.

[Br10n]

Beating the Nats in the world series would be a blast.

The Nats do not have a WS bullpen. Starters are nice but you need a pen also.

[TonySoprano]

Great. This is another opportunity for a Baltimore-Washington steel cage match in the OH Battle Royale.

O's beat the Nats in 6 games, and yes, I think it would be great to see a Beltway series.

[JR Oriole]

Nats won again on a walk-off. Impressive, until you look at their schedule and see the opposition they have been playing. I think they are a very talented team on paper, but I have no idea how good they really are because playing the Mets, Phillies, Pirates, and D-Backs isn't a good indicator of much.

[Orioles4Life21]

Nats won again on a walk-off. Impressive, until you look at their schedule and see the opposition they have been playing. I think they are a very talented team on paper, but I have no idea how good they really are because playing the Mets, Phillies, Pirates, and D-Backs isn't a good indicator of much.

9 straight is impressive 100% of the time. Don't care who the opponents are.

[Scrat1]

Orioles/Nats or Orioles/Braves are the two series I'd most like to see. My grandma is a big Braves fan, so that would just be fun for sentimental reasons. Also, would be nice for them to put a really great season on while she's still around.

[JR Oriole]

9 straight is impressive 100% of the time. Don't care who the opponents are.

Fair point, but I will take what we have done since early July over 9 straight wins by the Nats against the garbage of the NL. Since the Yankees series right before the ASB, we have played a BRUTAL schedule....even when we finally get a relative break against a sub .500 team like Chicago, we still have to play them in their park and face their 2 best pitchers. What we have done is MUCH more impressive to me than what any other team in either league has done for the last 2 months. I think the opposition does matter and we have 100% earned this 9 game cushion. Let's see the Royals play who we just played over the last 34 games and go 22-12.

[Orioles4Life21]

Fair point, but I will take what we have done since early July over 9 straight wins by the Nats against the garbage of the NL. Since the Yankees series right before the ASB, we have played a BRUTAL schedule....even when we finally get a relative break against a sub .500 team like Chicago, we still have to play them in their park and face their 2 best pitchers. What we have done is MUCH more impressive to me than what any other team in either league has done for the last 2 months. I think the opposition does matter and we have 100% earned this 9 game cushion. Let's see the Royals play who we just played over the last 34 games and go 22-12.

Now this I agree with.

[FlipTheBird]

o

Oh, back on topic.

Sorry.

Yeah, I would rather have the Nationals lose in the first round of the playoffs, and have the Orioles face another team ...... particularly the Cardinals, since they were one of 3 teams (the Cardinals, the Braves, and the Mets) that I predicted would wind up playing the Orioles in this year's World Series back in April.

Cardinals would be fun. Very "classic" feel to that series. Dodgers, too, for that matter.

Honestly, I don't much care who the O's play... they're going to win, or they're going to lose. Given that the other team made the WS, too, we'd be facing a championship caliber team no matter what.

[Moshagge3]

First priority: I want the Orioles to play the team I think they have the best chance at beating. Second priority: a matchup that isn't going to make me want to throw things at the TV and rant about media bias. If it's the Dodgers, the media focus is certainly going to be tilted heavily towards LA. If it's the Nationals, then that steals the Orioles' thunder a bit, too, not to mention all Bryce, all the time on ESPN and FOX. The Brewers would be a good matchup, albeit one that would make the FOX executives head for the nearest tall building to jump from.

[Uli2001]

Not to get ahead of ourselves, because there are a couple of teams in LA that could have something to say about that. But what if it happens?