What’s the government shutdown got to do with Major League Baseball?

A lot, actually.

One Braves fan particularly upset by Atlanta’s loss to the Dodgers in the NLDS Monday night wrote his congressman, Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.,), and begged him to take a stand against this baseball injustice. How, exactly? By pushing Congress to “outlaw Major league Baseball until the Dodgers cave” and agree to reverse the results of the game (that they clearly won, by the rules).

Sound familiar — and also pretty ridiculous? That’s probably because the letter’s author, Paul Kaplan, has perfectly paralleled the NLDS and the current government shutdown. And he wrote it all to a congressman who has voted with House Republicans on continuing resolutions that do not include Obamacare funding.

“This outrage cannot be allowed to stand,” Kaplan wrote. “But the system has failed us. We tried to resolve this issue through traditional means: In last night’s game alone, we must have sent batters to the plate at least 40 times. But just because we couldn’t score enough runs, the Dodgers refused to relinquish the title — and worse, they won’t even discuss it.”

One can’t help but be reminded on the 40+ times Republicans in the House used “traditional means” to repeal Obamacare — and failed. Now Kaplan, like Congress, wants to turn to more “unconventional” measures: shut it all down.

While Kaplan admits that some consider this “too drastic a step,” and one that could endanger baseball as we know it, this kind of injustice against the Braves can’t stand. “Just because the Dodgers had more hits, scored more runs, and won more games doesn’t make them right. You can help them see that. And if that means the country will be deprived of its national pasttime — well, the Dodgers will only have themselves to blame.”

Now, I’m a Yankees fan. But after reading this letter, even I have to say go Braves.

Read the full letter from NBC Sports, here.

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