With the Rays being in the playoffs, it occurs to me that this might be another arrow in the quiver of those who might defend baseball's parity in comparison to other professional sports.  However, it also occurs to me that it might be very helpful to have some sort of actual objective measure(s) of parity to compare with other sports (like the NFL, which many consider a panacea of parity).

So, how do we measure parity?  One time a person told me parity is how much a fan "feels" like their team is still in it.  I suppose a poll could measure that, but I'd like something more objective: playoff appearances, playoff wins, world series appearances, world series wins, etc, which can be compared to other sports.  Any thoughts?

I was in the nosebleed section.  I was 1 row away from the highest seats possible.

That being said: Bronson's changeup looked ridiculously good through the whole game.

A lot of Reds fans in the park, and I got some friendly ribbing for my Reds attire from Cleveland fans.

If you haven't been to Progressive, I recommend going: it's a very nice park.  The concessions seemed a little bland and generic, but maybe I was just looking in the wrong place.  Also, I really like the Indians throwback uniforms (especially the block-C hats).

Three guys at Yahoo Sports project the Reds to have a winning season (or at least a .500 season): Y! experts peer into a crystal baseball.

They aren't projecting the Reds of taking the division, but certainly aren't saying the Cubs will run away with it either.

"The first time I really talked to Bud Black, the first question he asked me was: What's the best pitch in baseball?" Harang said. "It caught me off guard. I said 'fastball' or something like that, and he was like, 'No, it's strike one. It's the best pitch in baseball.' That's always stuck in the back of my head."

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