Phillies Beat Dodgers 10-4, Will Defend World Series Title
October 22, 2009 by Staff
Filed under All Sports
What can you say about this Philadelphia Phillies team?
They seem to be rolling right along, as if last year’s postseason has carried over into 2009. In a series that everyone predicted would go 6 or 7 games, the Phillies manhandled the Los Angeles Dodgers in 4 out of 5 games, with their lone loss being a game they probably should have won.
But their mission is still incomplete. The jubilation you see from some teams when they win the NLCS or ALCS wasn’t there last night. Sure, the Phillies players were happy, but that euphoria that was there in 2008 wasn’t there last night—and for good reason.
Once you have reached the mountain top, you don’t get excited about every milestone during your next journey. Especially when your experiences tell you, that milestones are just that; milestones. They don’t predict the future, nor do they necessarily embody your past. A milestone just means you have gotten to one point, but you still have that much further to go in your journey.
While the journey is 99% of life, it’s the destination that matters in the world of sports, business, and all forms of competition. Take Wall Street for example. A company can have a great product, a tremendous following, huge public appeal, and even be very profitable, but if their stock price is low, the company doesn’t do well. I know what you’re saying that doesn’t make any sense. But in the world of Wall Street, the only thing that matters is the value of a company’s stock, and if it doesn’t grow and it doesn’t make its shareholders any money, then it doesn’t matter how well-run the company is, something has to be changed.
The Dodgers certainly don’t like what their stock is worth right now. They have played great baseball for two years in a row. They have made it to the final four of the sport twice, and they finished with the best record in the National League this year. Their pitching staff was much improved, a lot of young hitters on their team have grown up, and they seem to be headed in the right direction for years to come. Those are all the signs of a positive quarterly report, and yet the market still isn’t buying Dodger Blue, because they couldn’t close the deal.
Don’t get me wrong though, Phillies investors haven’t cashed in either. Sure, their earnings last year were out of this world when they won the World Series, but that only affected last year’s dividends. To make money in 2009, the Phillies have to repeat. And just like on Wall Street, it’s not about how good you do this year; it’s about how good you do this year in comparison to last year. In any aspect of life where money and winning isn’t on the line, being the best one year and being the second best the next year would be welcomed with high praise. But on Wall Street and in sports, falling back a foot is like falling back a mile; there’s no difference between the two, because all people want to see is growth.
Unfortunately for the Phillies, they can go no higher, and they can take no other route. A company can come up with new streams of revenue, buy another company, split its stock, or do a myriad of different things to achieve growth in different areas of its business. However, in baseball, there’s just one goal, and there’s only way to go about getting it. The Phillies can’t merge with Mets. They can’t launch a new venture in the American League. And they can’t sell their assets to become a leaner company. The Phillies simply have to win the World Series again. That’s all there is to it. And now they will get that very chance, hopefully adding value to their shareholders’ investments by bringing home another world series. Who says that a Wall Street mentality is just for New Yorkers? Philadelphia knows how to get greedy too.
