My colleague Grant, over at McCovey Chronicles, brought up the "radical realignment" and how the Giants fortunes may have been different in the playoffs.
One of the scenarios he proposes was in 2003, and it made me smile.
In 2003, the NL playoff teams would have been the Giants and the Twins, with the A's and the Cubs as the wild cards. No Ivan Rodriguez. No Derrek Lee. No Brad F. Penny.
True, the Giants wouldn't have been in the same league as the Marlins. And it is entirely possible that San Francisco would have made it to the World Series, but they would've faced and lost to the Marlins on the big stage. Sorry Grant.