I've been on vacation, and it's been lovely. But soon, it's back to school for term 2, and the real life. 

One of the things I've been thinking about during my sabbatical is a crazy idea: what if, instead of a World Series, the baseball championship changed hands like a championship belt in boxing or wrestling? In other words, in this case the words of the immortal Ric Flair, "to be the man, you've got to beat the man." Personally, I think this would be fun to track, and when I get back home, I'm going to add a box to the top of my blog to note the current holder of the "championship belt."

First, a couple of rules:

1. Because of the nature of baseball, where even the worst teams win close to 40% of the time, having the belt change hands on the results of a single game is a bit capricious. Even the real World Series is settled over a number of games. So we'll use the results of three, four or even two-game series.

2. To win the belt, a team has to win the series from the current holder. In the case of an even-number series that's split 2-2 or 1-1, the current champ retains the belt. 

3. The Giants, as the World Series champions, start out with the belt. But we won't start fresh next season. If the final holder of the belt at the end of regular season doesn't make the playoffs, they will hold the title for the entire offseason (because they won't have been beaten since they aren't playing any games). BUT...if the last regular-season holder does make the playoffs, they will need to defend the belt. This will eventually result in the team that wins the World Series holding the belt, since they will have won the final series of 2011.

4. The belt starts in the National League, but can switch over the the American League during interleague play. Think of it like WWE belts switching between Raw and Smackdown. 

So here's what's happened so far this season:

The Giants had the belt, but immediately surrender it to their rivals the Dodgers when they lost the opening series of 2011, 2 games to 1.

The Dodgers then go and get swept in a two-game series by the Rockies, handing them the belt. 

The Rox, the surprise package of the season so far, successfully defend the belt against the Pirates, Mets and Cubs. However, the Rockies dropped two out of three to San Francisco from April 18-20, making the Giants the first team to re-claim the belt.

However, that glory is short-lived as the Giants promptly got swept by the Braves. The belt leaves the NL West for the first time this season. The Braves successfully defend the belt on the road against the Padres, winning two of three. They returned to Turner Field to play the Cardinals in a three-game set this weekend. 

Obviously, I hope they successfully defend the belt again because I want the Cards to lose as many games as possible. :)