Sean Casey, key member of the 2008 Boston Red Sox, celebrates heartily (pictured).

To be fair, Casey is super clutch (.432 career postseason hitter)!

With the playoff clinching of the Red Sox, though, comes the joyful and official elimination of the New York Yankees (note: nothin' doin' at Pinstripe Alley as of this writing).

You take the good, you take the bad, you take 'em both and there you have the facts of life.

It will be somewhat refreshing to see the first postseason since 1993 that does not feature the New York Yankees and their crummy stadium's mystique and aura. (Told ya my niceness about Yankee Stadium couldn't last long.)

I can't hate any team because they're good, though. That's just a loser's mentality, I think. I hate the Yankees because they're the Yankees, and I hate the Red Sox because they're like the sophomore Yankees. But hey! Good job, Red Sox. Way to win games. More than we can say.

Somewhere over the rainbow, y'all.