Royals sweep Orioles, advance to World Series

The Royals have swept the Orioles to advance to the World Series, where they'll await the Giants/Cardinals winner.

I don't have the most effusive perspective on this, so maybe the less from me, the better, and feel free to stop reading here if you've gotten caught up in this series. The Royals are a fun team to watch, and it's hard not to like their fans, but I think Dayton Moore is not a very good GM, that the playoffs are a giant crapshoot, and that Moore's signature move (the James Shields trade) was a terrible gamble that just happened to work out.

But man. In eight years, we've gone from this to the World Series. The Pirates and Royals were at the absolute bottom of the baseball heap -- not just in 2006, but for years, or decades, before and after. And now the Pirates are near the top of that heap, and the Royals are one of a handful of teams currently above them. I'm not a Royals fan, but it's wild how things change, and it's a good thing, too. The Royals are good, and the Pirates are good, and the Yankees are not. That's beautiful.

Anyway, like I said, the less from me, the better. If you're enjoying this playoff run (and I know it's hard not to, unless you're an Orioles fan or a curmudgeon like me), and  you're enjoying a franchise in a position similar to that of the Pirates making it all the way to the World Series, here's your thread.