I like to see teams that have not won in a while win in the playoffs. So here is my rooting interest based on the last World Series win:
- Guardians/Indians, 1948
- San Diego Padres, Never won, first season 1969
- Seattle Mariners, Never won, first season 1977
- Tampa Bay Rays, Never won, first season 1998
- New York Mets, 1986
- Toronto Blue Jays, 1993
- Philadelphia Phillies, 2008
- New York Yankees, 2009
- St. Louis Cardinals, 2011
- Houston Astros, 2017 (but they cheated)
- Los Angeles Dodgers, 2020
- Atlanta Braves, 2021
The Rays at the Guardians is a tough one for me because I like both teams a great deal. They’re good organizations with lots of interesting players. The Padres against the Mets means another two team in big droughts face off, so many of the long time chamiponshipless teams could be gone early.