Anyone who has ever read my Political Junkie column/blog — which began on the Washington Post Web site in 1998 — knows that the passions exhibited here are of politics, of course, and baseball.

A lot of it has to do with the similarities of the two obsessions: the history, lore, stats, trivia.

And unlike politics, where I am scrupulously and reflexively neutral, I don't hide my love for the Yankees.

So I was naturally drawn to Clyde Haberman's fun piece in today's New York Times, which points out (gasp!) that "except for the 1980s, there has been no other decade since the 1910s when the team has not produced a championship." As you know, and are no doubt saddened, the Yanks haven't won the World Series since 2000. And that brings Haberman's focus into the political realm:

Consider this: Michael R. Bloomberg, who grew up in Boston Red Sox territory, has been something of a baseball Jonah for this city. With one exception, he is the only modern mayor who has not had a World Series winner on his watch, be it the Yankees, the Mets or the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers of blessed memory.

The other one was David N. Dinkins, who couldn't catch a break on almost anything. Mr. Dinkins aside, you have to go all the way back to John Purroy Mitchel, who was mayor from 1914 to 1917, to come up with someone with such a sorry record.

Mr. Bloomberg would probably love for the Yankees to sweep the Series to bolster his re-election campaign (as if the $65 million he has spent thus far weren't enough). The Series is not scheduled to begin until quite late this year: Oct. 28. Election Day is Nov. 3. If the Yankees win in four straight games, they would wrap up the title on Nov. 1. The mayor could then throw a ticker-tape parade for them on Nov. 2, just in time to bask in their reflected glory.

 

We do know that the Yankees had the best record in baseball this year. We also know that, come the playoffs, that matters not a bit. We still don't know whom the Yanks will play in the first round, or when.

It all starts today at 5:07 p.m. ET, when the Tigers meet the Twins in a one-game playoff for the American League Central title.

Meanwhile, here's a post-World War II record of Yankee World Series victories and the mayors who headed up NYC at the time.

1947 — Yanks 4 games to 3 over the Brooklyn Dodgers (Mayor William O'Dwyer, D)
1949 — Yanks 4-1 over the Dodgers (O'Dwyer)
1950 — Yanks 4-0 over the Philadelphia Phillies (Vincent Impellitteri, D)
1951 — Yanks 4-2 over the New York Giants (Impellitteri)
1952 — Yanks 4-3 over the Dodgers (Impellitteri)
1953 — Yanks 4-2 over the Dodgers (Impellitteri*)
1956 — Yanks 4-3 over the Dodgers (Robert Wagner, D)
1958 — Yanks 4-3 over the Milwaukee Braves (Wagner)
1961 — Yanks 4-1 over the Cincinnati Reds (Wagner)
1962 — Yanks 4-3 over the San Francisco Giants (Wagner)
1977 — Yanks 4-2 over the Los Angeles Dodgers (Abe Beame, D*)
1978 — Yanks 4-2 over the Dodgers (Ed Koch, D)
1996 — Yanks 4-2 over the Atlanta Braves (Rudy Giuliani, R)
1998 — Yanks 4-0 over the San Diego Padres (Giuliani)
1999 — Yanks 4-0 over the Braves (Giuliani)
2000 — Yanks 4-1 over the New York Mets (Giuliani)

*NOTE: Mayors with asterisks were defeated for re-election that year.