Where Should Red Sox Fans’ Rooting Interests Lie?

Red Sox fans face a tough decision this postseason now that our beloved baseball team has been swept out of the playoffs: Who do we root for?

Sure, there's the temptation to take our ball and go home now that our team is out of the race. After all, it's football season, and the Patriots clearly need our help. The Bruins are playing and looking to build on last year's success, and the Celtics — with colorful new addition Rasheed Wallace — open their season against LeBron James, Shaquille O'Neal and the Cavaliers on Oct. 27. We surely can be forgiven for distracting ourselves with other sports.

But if we decide to follow this baseball postseason to its conclusion, it's that much more exciting if we have a reason for rooting. There are arguments for and against adopting the cause of all four remaining teams. Some are stronger than others. But as the ALCS and NLCS get under way, it helps to explore our options.

Phillies
Being the defending champs, the Phillies are certainly riding the wave. They took out the surprisingly good Tampa Bay Rays in last year's World Series, thereby — by some twisted fan logic — somehow vindicating the Red Sox’ seven-game loss to the Rays in the ALCS.

But aside from that, what ties do Red Sox fans have to the Phillies? The Red Sox played the Phillies only three times this past season, taking two out of three at Citizens Bank Park, but the teams will play each other six times during the 2010 season. While it would seem that most people around baseball like and respect Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins (especially in light of Rollins' hilarious commercial), the Phillies player Red Sox fans most identify with is pitcher Pedro Martinez.

Pedro is scheduled to pitch Game 2 at Dodger Stadium, and some of us still have fond memories of the man. Partially, it's because we appreciate great pitching and will forever be thankful for what he did for us. And partially, it's because we know that his greatest years were in Boston, and to witness that was something special. While Philadelphia fans can enjoy him for now, we really feel like he's still ours.

Pros: Pedro
Cons: Pedro and … really nothing else.

Dodgers
Red Sox fans have a more complicated relationship with the Los Angeles Dodgers. There's the whole Manny Ramirez issue, for one, with some of us remaining bitter about the often schizophrenic nature of the slugger's time in Boston. Some Red Sox fans place the blame squarely on the Red Sox organization. Others cite Ramirez's immaturity as the catalyst for the deterioration of the relationship. A World Series in Los Angeles would perhaps invalidate our somewhat irrational belief that Manny needed us just as much as we needed him.

Additionally, Ramirez was suspended for 50 games at the beginning of this season for violating MLB’s performance-enhancing drug policy, and baseball purists have a difficult time rooting for someone who has used PEDs.

On the other hand, the Dodgers are coached by former Yankee manager Joe Torre, who brought Yankees great Don Mattingly to the West Coast as his hitting coach. During his tenure in New York, Torre was perhaps the most respected member of the Yankees organization by Red Sox fans, but we still think of him as a Yankee — primarily.

Mattingly also told Sports Illustrated that "the country wants" a Dodgers-Yankees World Series, which smacks of the typical New York arrogance and presumptuousness that so many Red Sox fans dislike about the Yankees. Mattingly, in our opinion, will always be a Yankee. More importantly, he's a Yankee without a World Series ring. Red Sox fans would like to keep it that way.

Pros: Former Red Sox favorite Bill Mueller serves as special assistant to GM Ned Colletti, and who doesn't like Bill Mueller?
Cons: Complicated relationships with former Sox slugger Manny Ramirez and former Yankees coaches Joe Torre and Don Mattingly. 

Angels
Frequent playoff foe, the Angels finally broke through this year and swept the Red Sox out of the playoffs. Fifth time’s the charm. Despite some bitter feelings, Red Sox fans can be forgiven for rooting for the Angels by the logic that if the Angels ultimately prevail, the Red Sox will have been beaten by the best team — therefore lending honor to the Red Sox' loss.

Perhaps more importantly, an Angels World Series win would mean a Yankees loss in the ALCS, and the one thing Red Sox fans like almost as much as a Red Sox win is a Yankees loss.

The Angels also have dedicated their 2009 season to pitcher Nick Adenhart, who died as a result of injuries suffered in a car crash in April of this past year. It was a tragic loss for a team to endure, and winning would be a fitting tribute to the pitcher.

Or course, some of us will revel in the bitter feelings and root for an Angels loss, if for no other reason than the fact that they are the team that unapologetically foisted the horrendous Rally Monkey on an undeserving public.

Pros: Beaten by the best, Nick Adenhart tribute, Yankees loss
Cons: Rally Monkey

Yankees
Believe it or not, some Red Sox fans might actually cheer for a Yankees victory. Whether it's because a Yankees triumph would swing the balance of power back to the AL East, or because we have friends or family who are Yankees fans and want to see them happy, it's likely to be a halfhearted rooting interest. I very much doubt Yankees fans would do the same, if the situation were reversed.

Of course, they're the Yankees. Cheering for their demise is always more fun.

Pros: AL East power
Cons: Insufferable Yankee fans and the fact that we could no longer taunt them about their World Series drought. Also the traitorous and dirty feeling of rooting for the enemy.

So there it is, a team-by-team breakdown. Personal experience leads me to believe that most Red Sox fans — if they haven't already abandoned Fenway for Foxborough — will be halfheartedly cheering the Angels to victory. In a postseason without a clear-cut front-runner, it seems like the lesser of several evils.

Let's just hope the Rally Monkey didn't make the playoff roster.