The MLB "Survivor" Challenge

In watching the opening two weeks of the MLB season I find myself already wanting to eliminate teams from playoff contention. The Royals and Nationals of the world might just as well hang up their cleats and look forward to 2010 when the young talent they do have might be able to carry the rest of a mediocre roster into the playoffs. Enough rambling, the idea here is that Ted from APABR and I are going to eliminate teams on a weekly basis from the MLB. Officially ending their seasons before they're even really over. In the end we'll each have one team left standing and if one of us manages to pick the team that wins the whole damn thing I'm sure they'll get some kind of prize. Such as a shiny penny with the year of their birth as commemoration for their contribution to this blog.

Here are the general rules:
-We must alternate leagues. If one goes AL, the other eliminates NL that week etc. except ONCE. As the NL has 16 to the AL's 14 teams
-1 team per week for 20 weeks.
-2 teams per week for the final 4 weeks.
-The Final elimination during the playoffs opening week.
-With each elimination we will provide a reason. Said reason does not at all have to be a well thought out, valid and insightful one.

Here in the first week I've got the National League while Ted will be taking the American League to tribal council.

Leaving The Diamond: The Washington Nationals
Reason: The obvious pick for the first National League team who's season is already over the Nationals are arguably a AAA team masquerading as a Major League team. The only player on the Nats entire roster I'd want on my team is Ryan Zimmerman. The promising young third basemen is surely to compete with David Wright as the best third basemen of the league for years to come. A fantastic defensive player as well as a solid offensive contributor Zimmerman just missed out on last season's rookie of the year award. He's likely going to leaving Washington whenever he becomes eligible for Free Agency a few years from now.

While I would attend a Nationals game if I lived in the DC are and someone gave me tickets I doubt I'd pay more than 5 dollars to go to a game. I feel sorry for any die hard baseball fan who lives in the DC area as the alternative (Baltimore) isn't a whole lot better than these guys are.

Moving forward one can only hope the Nats can figure out what the hell they're doing in the front office. Not trading Alfonso Soriano last season was one of the worst decisions I can remember by a front office at the trade deadline. Especially considering the Nats knew for a fact they weren't going to be able to resign their best player. The Nats do not currently employ even one pitcher I'd trust to take the mound for my team.


Onto the AL where Ted will cast off his first team.

Leaving The Diamond: The Kansas City Royals
Reason: My logic? Simple. Even with a relatively hearty performance from Zach Greinke, and an overall Royals team that beat the Red Sox on Opening Day, KC is still the worst team in baseball through the first two weeks, with the Nationals victory Monday night. The team has promise: Alex Gordon, if he stays, will be a stud; Mark Teahen will, as well; and Emil Brown is the best player you've never heard of not named David DeJesus. You also have to figure (hope?) that Dayton Moore knows something about running a baseball team, considering that: a) he studied at the foot of John Schuerholz, and b) he could have had the Boston job in '05.

As a final piece of workable logic, there's this: my friend invited me to a Royals game this summer. It's a friend I haven't seen in a while, and it's summer baseball, and it's bad summer baseball, which to me is a little slice of heaven (doesn't matter how drunk you get, now does it?). I still declined. I told him we could meet up at the new Busch instead, which involves a great deal more logistics. I just can't sit in the sun at Kauffman and not cry. This team is that bad.

And that concludes week one of as Ted called it "the Sports Show on Mute Kinda-Like-Survivor MLB Challenge." If any of you other bloggers out there would like to join the challenge just leave a comment or send me an e-mail at sportsshowonmute(at)gmail(dot)com with your blog name and your first two eliminations. One from each league to be posted next week alongside Ted and I's second elimination.