The Fourth of July plays an important role in baseball. According to lore, the standings on our nation’s birthday play a big factor in who ends up with bragging rights once fall comes.

I don’t know how accurate this tale is, but it means a lot to me because of my fantasy baseball team. Right now, I’m in fourth place with a shot to move up to third on any given day.

This is huge. I have been in this league for 15 years now and only finished in the top half of the standings (we have 12 teams) a handful of times. The past few years, I have finished  ninth, 11th, 10th, 11th, 12th (setting a league record for worst season ever), eighth and fourth.

That fourth place finish came in 2001 so maybe I should blame the terrorists instead of my own knowledge of the sport. Does that mean if I finish in the top half of the league, we have officially defeated the terrorists?

If so, thank Justin Duchscherer and Ian Kinsler.