MLB Showdown Obsession

 Baseball is, of course, America's pastime, but it's reach is global. Ignoring for a moment the various baseball leagues in other countries, there is also the World Baseball Classic. On top of that, Canada is featured in the majors; first in Montreal, and later (and currently only) in Toronto with the Blue Jays. Unlike the Expos though, the Jays had some winning seasons and close calls in their hunt for a title, with division titles in 1985, '89 and '91 but falling in the ALCS each time. For 1992, the Blue Jays were seeking to avoid falling back in the standings after an ALCS trip like they did after both previous attempts in the '80s. Cito Gaston guided them to a 96-66 record and a 4 game gap over the 2nd place Brewers. The AL West champion Oakland Athletics had an identical record as they came to the SkyDome for the ALCS. After a mostly tight back and forth series, the Jays took a 3-2 series lead back home for a lopsided Game 6 win to clinch their first pennant. T...

 A franchises first taste of playoff baseball is always special. Way back in the day it meant World Series or failure, so of course a first time entry to the postseason would be automatically special. But with expansion and additional teams, the Championship Series was introduced. Then in the 90's came the Wild Card and Division Series (if you don't count the one off in 1981) and from there came the Wild Card game, turned Wild Card Series. So while "Hey, we made it to the NLDS" isn't quite the same as "We won the pennant" if you're a fan of a team that's never played in October, it's still a notable moment for your team. After a decade of terrible baseball in DC, the Senators moved to Arlington and became the Texas Rangers. That was the only change though, as they continued to fall short of the postseason. As the calendar turned to the 1990's there was a shift at long last. In '95 Johnny Oates was hired to manage and the powerful offe...