If we still lived in Southern California, I might feel differently.

But not only do I not mind the San Francisco Giants winning a World Series … I prefer it to the Kansas City Royals winning it.

How I arrived at this place:

–As an expat, I appreciate the concept of California. All of it. Not just the southern half. I’ve been in San Francisco dozens of times, I’ve seen several games in the new ballpark. From the other side of the world, it seems familiar. This notion of North vs. South has very little grip on the mind, from the perspective of Abu Dhabi.

–I have limited knowledge of or affinity for Kansas City. Been there twice. Once driving through on Interstate 70 just at sunset, once to see the Los Angeles Raiders play the Kansas City Chiefs.

–This may be an age-driven thing, but National League vs. American League still has a resonance, for me. I am a National League guy. The Senior Circuit. The league where the pitcher hits, as he should. I prefer to see the National League win the All-Star Game, and I’m not sure I have ever rooted against the NL team in the World Series. With one exception– in 2002, when the Los Angeles Angels played the Giants of Barry Bonds, and the series became something about Good vs. Evil.

–These Giants, by the way, are not the Barry Bonds Giants. (He left the room after the 2007 season.) During this run, which has seen the Giants win two World Series and appear in a third (this one) … they have been an intelligently crafted team, seemingly in tune with their fans, who play the game as it should be played. This is a franchise that is easy to like, in the competitive sense — including their manager, Bruce Bochy, one of the best of the game, and someone I met in 1991, when he was manager of the Single-A High Desert Mavericks and easily reachable by phone.

This makes the them a sort of anti-Dodgers, who had the period of the loathesome McCourt regime (about which I wrote numerous times on this blog) followed by this latest group, which has a New York Yankee for a manager and spends $240 million on payroll but produces weird, dysfunctional teams that are hard to like and harder to appreciate.

By reaching the World Series, and perhaps winning it, three times in five years, the Giants stand as an example of intelligent design to the Dodgers. A team the Dodgers could take some tips from.

And perhaps they will, especially if the Giants make it three championships in five years.