Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe says it all.

They will tease you for months. They will tell you they are different from their forebears. They will claim that what happened before has nothing to do with them. They will make you believe this really is the year.

But in the end, they will fall and sometimes they will do it in excruciating fashion. The weight of the Boston uniform is always too heavy.

Meet the new Red Sox. Same as the old Red Sox.

I’m really only a very casual fan of baseball, but I can’t help feeling the pain. A Red Sox/Cubs world series would’ve been fun for all of America to watch. Two old teams with history peppered in heartbreak putting it all behind them. The fall classic played in the two oldest ball-parks with ghosts laid to rest. Two consummate underdogs, cousins in misery, playing for the title. That’s the magic of the game. It’s what baseball should be all about.

As a casual fan, I have absolutely no interest in watching a Marlins/Yankees world series. There’s no magic to it, no baseball lore. Who outside of Miami really wants to see an expansion team that’s only existed for ten years win a second championship. Who outside of New York really wants to see the Yankees win again. Either scenario bores me.

Instead of the dreamy idea ‘wouldn’t it be great if they could both win somehow’ it’s ‘wouldn’t it be great if they could both lose’.