FJM: Bill Simmons Edition, Part II

A line Simmons said with Matthew Berry on his podcast

This year's Angels are very similar to what the Brewers had last year, that they have a lot of Black players which really helps them with their swagger

And the Angels, like what the Brewers did last year, got ousted from the playoffs and did not make it to the World Series. Why are "sports experts" allowed to just make up all these intangibles! All these unquantifiable quantities Simmons has assigned all these teams are teams that ended up not going to the World Series. Notice how Simmons didn't assign any intangibles to the Phillies or Yankees? (Well, the Phillies are a NL team so Simmons doesn't even know they exist)

A line Simmons has repeatedly said on his podcast:

The Angels scare me, they have the "Nick Adenhart" factor, something all these players can rally around; they want to win it for him

Listen, I in no way want to make light of the tragic death of Adenhart, but look how how this "Adenhart factor" has helped the Angels. In a short luck-based series, LA defeated Boston, and in the longer series, they got beat by the Yankees. And did the Angels really ever feel like they were in this series? Did the "Adenhart factor" just help the Angels finally got out of the first round. Does Vlad Guerrero have to die in order for the Angels to the World Series? Or maybe some little kid can wish they win the pennant and that is the "intangible" the Angels will need.

SIDENOTE: How come in all these sports movies, the goal isn't to win the World Series? In "Angels in the Outfield", the Joseph-Gordon Levitt character only wanted the Angels to win the pennant. If you're gonna wish for the Angels to win and be good, why not ask for Angels to help the baseball team win it all, as opposed to just MAKING IT to the World Series. In Major League (I), their goal was just to make it to the playoffs. You know what would have stuck it to the new owner and gain a lot of fans, win a World Series.