Baseball. Top to bottom

Despite the endless mind-numbing array of statistics our loveable media is fond of blathering on about, major league baseball remains quite an unpredictable entity. These days they've got stats from hell that most people don't understand, and don't much care about if they do. WAR (wins above replacement) is what's going on in the middle east. And Sabermetrics sounds like something Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader would have been concerned about -- not baseball fans.

In baseball, like most other sports, the talking heads and scribes can slice/dice, and crunch the numbers any which way they want to, but only one thing matters in the end. Wins and losses. And major league baseball is a fickle game indeed when it comes to that.

Consider the San Francisco Giants. Two years ago in 2012, they swept the Detroit Tigers 4-0 in the World Series to become champions. Last year, they finished at the bottom of their division. This year, they're slugging it out with the LA Dodgers for supremacy in the NL west conference. Top, to bottom, to maybe top again. Weird.

Same with the Boston Red Sox. They're the reigning World Series champs, but currently find themselves in last place in the AL east conference, a whopping 11 games behind division leading Baltimore. And who thought the Orioles would be leading that division by a few games at the end of July? Sabermetric THAT.

Another enigma is the Detroit Tigers/Oakland As. Currently the As have the best record in baseball, some 7 games better than the Tigers. But the Motowners have owned the Moneyballers in the post-season in recent years. Which team is better is certainly debatable, but the Tigers seem to have a way of knocking off the As when the playoffs start.

Yet the Tigers are a mystery themselves. They, and their local media would have us believe they have the best starting rotation in all of baseball, and a regular murderer's row batting lineup. And they just might be right. To their credit, the Tigers' organization has shrewdly obtained some terrific players via trades and free agent signings over the years. They pitch well, they hit a ton, but.....

The Tigers can't seem to close the deal. They haven't won the World Series since Orwellian days -- 1984. Back when the 20 mule team Gipper was occupying the Oval Office in his first term dreaming of his own "Star Wars" initiative, and long before Al Gore invented the internet and Bill Clinton had that little stain on a blue dress problem. Let's just say it's been quite a while. As in 30 years and counting.

The Tigers have been close -- sort of. Besides the brooming they took from the Giants in 2012, they made it to the Fall Classic in 2006. Alas, they were drubbed 4-1 by the St. Louis Cardinals. But nobody cares about second place finishes. For that matter, even past champions are quickly forgotten, save for the occasional nostalgia. Right or wrong, it's all about NOW in sports.

Detroit teams present a mixed bag of possibilities. The Tigers certainly have a shot, but the playoffs and/or World Series is a crap shoot. Sometimes the "best" team doesn't win, despite the above-mentioned stats from hell. The Red Wings look to be a middle of the pack team in the near future. Despite the expected optimism of new president and heach coach Stan Van Gundy, the Detroit Pistons are light-years away from being title contenders.

And the Lions just started training camp, the last team to report. Yet, never fear, the annual Honolulu blue and silver Pollyanna propaganda vehicle has been started, is warming up, and will no doubt crank out some serious horsepower. Their always gullible fans will go wild with excitment -- until they realize their race car is a few laps behind in December. Good grief, it's happened most every year since "I like Ike" buttons were popular. The Lions know about the bottom. They're the only NFL team in history to go 0-16. What they don't know about is the top. They've never been there. Not even runner-up. If the Lions win the Super Bowl this year, yours truly will print out and eat a copy of this blog post. It -- ain't -- gonna -- happen. They'll be lucky to win their own division, let alone bump heads with the big boys in the postseason.

But back to baseball. Personally, I'm rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers, who somewhat surprisingly are also leading their NL central division. After all, Milwaukee is famous for two things. Making a lot of beer and the home of Harley Davidson.

Everybody has their priorities and preferences......