Inside The Cage: Dodgers Win The Division And Celebrate With Pool Party; Update On Rest Of The League

Dodgers Celebrating Division Win Photo by Ross D. Franklin/AP

I know, I'm late with this article, to tell you the truth I've been pretty busy with work-- so here's the rundown: Looks like it’s a wrap for the NL West; the Dodgers, as of last week, are the division champions and not without controversy.

When they clinched, the Dodgers had won 7 of their last 17 games played, going into the month of September. With only one day off in between that time span, they've been a little banged up. It seems as if someone is always coming out of a game with some kind of, either, new or nagging injury. Regardless if any of the die-hards care or not, it does take its toll on them.

The majority of the fan base doesn't want to see players coming out of a game. One reason is: we've been seeing it since the beginning of the year, starting with Hanley Ramirez. Soon thereafter, Matt Kemp’s stalled, complete with an injury to the non-surgically repaired shoulder and constant leg injuries.

Manager Don Mattingly has been, pretty much grilled by the fans for, what they feel is, poor mismanagement of his ball club. They light up twitter with posts about pulling, or resting players when he feels they need rest, all the while complaining about how the high-priced talent should be playing. I’m very torn on this, as I can understand the wear and tear that comes from playing the game.

After the Dodgers won the division Thursday afternoon, no Dodger fan was complaining. The Diamondbacks and their fans, however, are a completely different story.

Many of the Dodger players celebrated by jumping in the pool that’s located in the Left Field area of the stadium. Why would it matter how a team celebrated a big win like they accomplished, especially with the obstacles the Dodgers have had to jump over, to anyone playing the game?

The Diamondbacks HAD their chance to run away with the division, they had their chances to pull away from everyone within their division, but they didn't. They continued to play like a team that shouldn't be in the playoffs, and the Dodgers did the improbable; they started winning. They started winning a lot of games and playing like a team destined for the playoffs.

Here’s an idea: if you don’t want anyone in your pool, don’t install a pool the first place. Willie Bloomquist was the first, to my recollection, to open their mouths about the pool incident to the media, calling the Dodgers “classless and disrespectful.” I don’t think a team can call an opposing team classless when they have a mascot that’s wearing Speedos, shaking their rump in front of the opposing team’s dugout with the words “Beat L.A.” firmly stitched across its rear. It’s all in good taste and fun, right?

And speaking of tea kettles, Senator John McCain recently offered his two cents on the whole, “pool-gate” scandal, calling players, “spoiled brats.” I’m sorry, but I don’t think anyone from the senate, or in politics in general has any room to stand when calling somebody a spoiled brat; just my two cents.

Anyhow, the Diamondbacks won’t see the Dodgers until next year when they meet up in Australia. Until then, they’ll just have to pout and complain to the Padres about how the Dodgers are a bunch of meanies.

This isn't, at all, the rants of a die-hard Dodger fan, I’m writing this as a fan of the game, in general. If someone does something you feel you wouldn't do, what does it matter to you– especially in pro sports? So, you don’t like the way the other team celebrates? That’ not a big deal, it just makes you come off as a pretentious cupcake. Is that how you want the kids that are watching to turn out; to the point where they can’t celebrate and relieve a ton of stress after an almost disastrous year?

I believe Brandon McCarthy had the right frame of mind; “Celebrating is fun. I don’t care how or where you do it. Only thing to care about is what we need to do to celebrate in our pool next year.” Bravo, Brandon, bravo, you actually get it.

Remember when the Dodgers were in last place, a billion games out of first and everyone had an opinion about salary and chemistry? Those people should understand, more than anyone, else why the Dodgers were celebrating the way they were.

As far as the playoff picture for the rest of the league looks like, Atlanta, Oakland and Detroit are all running away with their respective divisions, with Boston recently winning theirs.

As far as the rest of the division goes, the A's, Tigers and Red Sox have all won their divisions in the AL, where as in the NL, aside from LA, the Braves are really the other team that's locked up theirs.

The Central is a bit more congested, as the Cards, Reds and Pirates are all still within earshot of the division title; I'm still thinking the Cards will take the division and the Reds will win the Wild Card slot over the Pirates in the one-game playoff.

AL Wild Card should come down to Tampa Bay and Cleveland; both teams have been hot as of late, as they both have winning streaks of five games going into Wednesday. I'm thinking it's going to be Cleveland and hopefully it'll be just as awesome as when when they made it in the playoffs in 1989.

Remember, there’s no crying-- there’s no crying in baseball!