Fear-Free Fall

5 out of 6
With the Boston Red Sox playing in the postseason as the American League's wild card team, this is the 5th time in 6 years that the Sox have been in the playoffs. It is a gift to see your favorite team play in October, and I hope I never take it for granted.

0 out of 86
The Red Sox went 86 years, from 1918 until 2004, without winning a World Series.

2 out of 4
Three years after the Red Sox won the '04 World Series, they won the '07 World Series.

1
Only one team -- the Red Sox -- has won the World Series twice in the 21st century so far.

I'll repeat my above hope that I never take it for granted when the Sox are playing in October. Even in the 6 Divisions & 2 Wild Cards Era (8 of MLB's 32 teams make the playoffs in the format that started in 1995), it's still a gift to follow your favorite team in the playoffs.
For me, there's an especially sharp distinction between regular-season games and postseason ones. During the regular season, I listen to games on the radio more than I watch on TV. Come playoff time, I put the TV on. As avid a baseball fan as I am, I often don't know what players look like, what their batting stances are like, or how acrobatic they are defensively until October.
For many years, I held my breath on almost every single pitch when the Sox were in the postseason. That had tons to do with the 1918 monkey on the back of every Sox fan, and after celebrating two World Series championships in recent years, it just doesn't happen any more. I'm excited, and proof is that I'll watch every freaking inning of these West Coast games with their 10:30 p.m. starts. But I'm not on pins and needles any more. And I'm not sure that's a good thing.
Who knows? If Boston gets into a tense, emotional postseason series with, say, Tampa Bay, I may feel differently in a week. If they go into 5 games with Anaheim, I may become a nervous wreck. But for now, even though I'm back in New England watching a Red Sox playoff series for the first time since 1990, I watch with interest and without jitters.