What Is The MLB Playoffs Missing?

The Major League Baseball playoffs are into their conference championships round and yet I'm hearing more talk about the NBA lockout and the upcoming NFL weekend. So what has us sports fan treating baseball like that girl who's the third option after two hotties reject your prom offer?

In my opinion, it's something I've talked about quite a bit on this blog when it comes to baseball....where are the storylines?

Let's not forget that the last night of the regular season had even a casual baseball fan such as myself jumping up and down like a 5 year old on a moon bounce and screaming out and proclaiming my love for the Rays. But let's be real here, it was less so the actual baseball that got me excited and more so the storyline of the Red Sox crumbling as the Rays made a comeback that no-one thought was plausible in a game where they were down 7 runs.

But as the heat from that legendary night died down, we began to see baseball slowly creep back into the spot it rested in before that night. It probably didn't help that The Rays were quickly eliminated in the first round.

But what about the other teams? The Tigers and Brewers are the closest we can get to a storyline. The small market team rising to glory, but past that there's no real "pizazz" to there team. It's not on the level of the Golden State Warriors taking down the number one seed Dallas Mavericks in the playoffs.

The Rangers are not the surprise they were last season, which kills their story. And the Cardinals are a staple in each years playoff.

Where are the Miami Heat? The Kurt Warner led Arizona Cardinals of 09? The heroes or the villains of the playoffs?

People hate the New York Yankees, but that's what DRIVES interest in the playoffs. The Yankees are good for baseball because we love to hate them, which is why it was awful for baseball to see them eliminated this year. Just like the Red Sox's Curse of the Bambino, the Cubs Curse of the Billy Goat, the Steve Bartman fiasco, and the home-run race of Sammy Sosa and Mark McGuire were/are stories that can drive baseball.

The die-hard passionate baseball fans will always be there. But until the MLB does something to make things more interesting and bring those storylines to the fore-front, they'll continue to lose the casual and undecided fans.