I’ve been thinking a bit about how to decide which team to root for. Mostly I just want to stay logically consistent with the way I choose to root for a team (when the Dodgers aren’t playing obviously).
After much thought (and sketches on my iPad) I’ve come up with this table to help me determine who to root for:
Opp1 / Opp 2 | NL West | NL Central | NL East | AL West | AL Central | AL East |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NL West | Root for team that helps the Dodgers | NL Central Team | NL East Team | NL West Team,unless it hurts the Dodgers | NL West Team,unless it hurts the Dodgers | NL West Team,unless it hurts the Dodgers |
NL Central | NL Central Team | Root for underdog | NL Central Team | NL Central Team | NL Central Team | NL Central Team |
NL East | NL East Team | NL Central Team | Root for underdog | NL East Team | NL East Team | NL East Team |
AL West | NL West Team,unless it hurts the Dodgers | NL Central Team | NL East Team | The Angels over the A’s over the Mariners over the Rangers over the Astros | AL West Team | AL West Team |
AL Central | NL West Team,unless it hurts the Dodgers | NL Central Team | NL East Team | AL West Team | Root for underdog | AL Central Team |
AL East | NL West Team,unless it hurts the Dodgers | NL Central Team | NL East Team | AL West Team | AL Central Team | Root for underdog (unless it’s the Yankees) |
The basic rule is root for the team that helps the Dodgers payoff changes, then National League over American League and finally West over Central over East (from a division perspective).
There were a couple of cool sketches I made, on real paper and my iPad. Turns out, sometimes you really need to think about thing before you write it down and commit to it.
Of course, this is all subject to change depending on the impact any game would have on the Dodgers.