It Wasn't Really Close, Was It?

By Mike McClary, The Daily Fungo

Watching the on-field celebration at Busch Stadium and it definitely stings.

A magical season — one we didn't see coming — ends in a fashion we didn't see coming. Was it too much to ask to go from not-quite-worst to World Series? Maybe. But the Detroit Tigers owned the Central Division for most of the summer, they stunned the New York Yankees in the ALDS and then won the American League pennant.

Would we have taken that on Opening Day? You bet.

Still, when you reach the World Series you want to win. When your team is the overwhelming favorite to win that World Series, you expect to win.

Someday soon we'll think back to this season and this World Series and see it as the foundation for a terrific future. I'd like to think that this is the first of many postseason appearances and, eventually, World Series championships.

As much as we still think fondly of the 1984 team, they gave us just one (thrilling) championship and we clung to it.

Until this year.

I believe this team will produce more than a few championships. The future isn't merely bright — it's blindingly so.

Sure, it will be a while before we can even start to think about 2007. But when we do, at long last, we can realistically look forward to next year.

The Dream Season from out of nowhere was one for the ages. They just came up short.

Yep, it definitely stings.