Yes, Tampa Bay lost game one of the World Series to Philadelphia. Does that mean Obama will lose to McCain?
Hey, who expected either the Rays or Obama to be here, anyway? Well, Nate Silver did. The genius behind FiveThirtyEight.com (after the number of Electoral College votes) not only has the most authoritative poll aggregator around, but he’s also a baseball whiz. The two go together, obviously.

In fact, in this Feburary 26, 2008 post at Sports Illustrated, “Leap Year,” Silver predicted that the Rays would be a greatly improved team. No, he didn’t predict the World Series (or even a playoff appearance) for the AL champs. But even that might have been a bit audacious back then, given that the Rays had still never–let me repeat, NEVER–had a winning season in franchise history.
As for Obama, Silver is predicting a win. But much can happen. As the Rays found out last night.
PS: Sorry about the BoSox. Cardinal O’Malley, who blogs here, has–perhaps understandably–not mentioned the seventh game loss, despite our reference to his interventions on the home team’s behalf…