12 Days of Christmas 2022 Countdown: Day 10 - The NL East and NL Central as Christmas Items

Happy 12 Days of Christmas - my official countdown to the holiday for the second year running.  Each day, leading up to Christmas (for a total of 12 days) I plan to have a themed post based on the number of the day.  

For today, that number is 10 which just so happens to be the total number of teams in two MLB divisions.  As such, this is a perfect time to finish the remainder of my project where I assign a unique Christmas item to each team.  As it stands now, I've covered the entire American League in previous posts as well as the National League West so let's finish with the NL Central and NL East!

NL Central:

Candles - Cincinnati Reds

The Reds were once a shining light in MLB but that time was a long time ago.  Since then, the Reds' have burnt through their fans' trust, tolerance, and patience and now the Reds are nothing more than a pile of useless wax at the bottom of the division.

Christmas carols - Chicago Cubs

What team better epitomizes classic Christmas carols than the Chicago Cubs, a team known for their *ahem* singing of Take Me Out to the Ballgame each home game?  Furthermore, much like those classic carols, the Cubs best days are mostly behind them with only the super fleeting modern hit cracking into the playlist of hits of long, long ago.  From Tinkers, to Evens, to Chance...and maybe Mariah Carey too.

Coal - Pittsburgh Pirates:

Poor Pirate fans have gotten nothing but goal year after year from their team.  A once glorious franchise has been reduced to be nothing more than a glorified farm team for the rest of MLB over the past several decades.  Even worse, the Pirates owner seems to care little about the team meaning he deserves nothing but coal this year as well.  Steel town indeed.

Eggnog - Milwaukee Brewers

Even if you are someone who doesn't care for sweet things, it's kind of hard to actively hate eggnog.  In many ways, that's how the Brewers are.  They are a tough team to hate, even if you don't actually like them.  Decent players, great ballpark, fun game day atmosphere...and heck, the team is named after a beverage - or at least those that make said beverage.  Now go spike that Eggnog.

Nutcrackers - St. Louis Cardinals

The Cardinals have to be the nutcrackers of MLB.  First, they have no reason to be around year after year and yet, somehow there they are.  Furthermore, while there are people who are dedicated to collecting nutcrackers, the rest of us mostly dismiss them (and yet, when push comes to shove, we acknowledge that they are kind of classy and probably worthy of a full ballet written about them).  Oh yeah, and as a Reds fan the Cardinals are consistently cracking the Reds' balls (nuts?) and relegating them to broken scraps.

NL East:

Christmas lights - Philadelphia Phillies

The Phillies are the bright, twinkling lights of the NL East with their robust payroll, shining star players, and the propensity to burn out at the least opportune time.

Scarf - Miami Marlins

The Marlins must feel like the scarf of the NL East.  After all, the main claim to fame for scarves are mothers saying to their children "don't forget your scarf."  That's basically how the Marlins have been for most of their franchise's history "hey, don't forget us."  

Snowballs - Washington Nationals

The Nationals are a lot like snowballs.  They are annoying, they hit hard, and given just a little bit of heat or pressure they'll melt away into nothingness.  

Star on top of tree - New York Mets

Mets fans have a new star at the top of their organization that is now providing a new light and a renewed sense of hope and optimism for the team.  Owner Steve Cohen certainly appears to have no qualms about dropping loads of money on the team...and because of that, it's probably only a matter of time before it's the Mets that are atop the NL East tree.

Wreath - Atlanta Braves

The Braves are the Christmas Wreath of the NL East for sure.  After all, while the Christmas tree (and star on top) might get more attention, it's the classic Wreath that ends up being front and center on most people's houses (and, more often than not, the Braves end up front and center in the NL East).  

And that's a wrap on all 30 MLB teams and their corresponding Christmas items.  As always, I'd love to hear your picks for teams (whether that be one or two teams or all 30)!