Science fiction is a favorite pastime of mine and one of the most popular genres is alternate history. What would happen if the Civil War was a stalemate? Harry Turtledove has made a fortune off that concept. And the plethora of alternate outcomes from various conflicts or worlds that may have existed if a minor change had taken place.
Baseball fans look and say “only if” when looking at how a player rudely dismissed, not made a free agent offer or rejected in trade suddenly appears in the upper statistical ranks.
In the last few seasons the Red Sox have been victimized by overinflated expectations or hype regarding players either in their system, free agents or on the trading block.