OK, we all sat and suffered through the 1997 debacle against the wild card Florida Marlins. And we all griped about the illegitimacy of the wild card team winning the World Series. (Especially after Huizenga, in a staggering display of idiocy, liquidated the team instead of reaping the long-term benefits of a championship team with marquee players.)
Well, now, if they can hold out, the Indians will be the AL Wild Card. They could, conceivably, go to the Series. Against their likely playoff opponents this season, they are 4-5 vs. the Yankees, 7-2 vs. Seattle, and 5-7 against the White Sox.
So, let’s say they do it–they win the AL, go on to the Series, and win the enchilada. Are we going to rail against the illegitimacy of it all, or are we going to be hypocrites? For me, I know I would be a hypocrite. Anyone else?
*TIME ELAPSED SINCE I QUIT SMOKING:
Five months, one week, five days, 23 hours, 52 minutes and 55 seconds.
6639 cigarettes not smoked, saving $829.97.
Extra time with Drain Bead: 3 weeks, 2 days, 1 hour, 15 minutes.
*“I’m a big Genesis fan.”-David B. (Amen, brother!)
Satan, Cleveland just took 3 out of 4 games in two days from Boston, including getting off the Pedro “Now 8-1 Lifetime v. CLE” Martinez shnide. Anything can happen! cough 1997 ALCS cough
Cleveland could be in the playoffs.
But I don’t follow baseball, I am going by what my neighbor says.
We shall see.
Hey, if we DO win the world series I’ll get ya some memorabilia, Phil!
Phil, it is possible to simultaneously oppose the wild card system and root for a wild card team without being a hypocrite. The wild card system is being used, and even though I hate it, as long as they’re going to use it then I want the Indians to win. It’s the same as the DH rule. An Indians’ fan can wish that the AL would abandon the DH without wishing that the Indians handicap themselves by being the only AL team to have its pitchers go to bat in every game. If those are the rules they’re using then its ok to play by them, even if you think the rules should be changed.
As for the 1997 Marlins being a fluke wild card team, they did have the 2nd best record in the NL that year if I’m not mistaken. If the old 8 team divisions had still been in use, the Marlins would have won the NL East and the Braves would’ve won the NL West.
Its never talked about, but in 1997 the real beneficiaries of the 3 division Wild Card system were the Indians, who just coasted thru the AL Central that year. Had the old 2 division system been in place the Indians would’ve only been third in the AL East.
And if the 2 division format would’ve been in place in 1995 and 1996 the Yankees would’ve finished well behind the Indians and never would’ve made the playoffs in the first place, which would’ve been for the good.
Maybe I’m suffering from a little Yankee arrogance, but I feel that ifthe Yanks get to the World Series as a wild card and win, it’s a tainted championship. It would appear to be a lesser accomplishment based on the previous 25 championships.
Not that I would be rooting for Cleveland very much (unless they play the Yankees, the epitome of evil in the universe), but no matter how you win the World Series, you win it.
If the Epitome of Evil had won the World Series in 1981, the Epitome of Evil supporters would have been very happy and likely have crowed about it for years. Instead the Prince of Darkness chose to have a fight with an elevator and issue an apology to his fans for losing.
Sorry, I feel obligated to always complain about the Epitome of all Evil.
I take a certain satifaction in hearing such venom regarding the Yankees, it sure beats the early 1970s and 1990s, when nobody cared much at all.
Sorry, but I don’t care how much they sub-divide the divisions - if you came in second, you don’t deserve to be World Champions. That includes the Yankees AND the Indians.
Venom? Venom? No mere dislike of the Yankees can approach the loating I feel for Roberto Alomar and his band of merry anti-Native-American cheap-bear-swilling Jacobs-field-inhabiting arrogant jerks.
Ah, I’m just kidding. Cleveland had a good run, and now it’s the turn of my guys on the White Sox to shine! However, I would still love to see a great ACLS between the White Sox and the Indians, ending in a game 7 victory at Comiskey Park as Chicago goes nutball.
Had the major leagues still used the old two-division, no wild card system process, the Indians would have finished third, 11.5 games out of first place.
The Florida Marlins would have won the Eastern Division by four games over the Mets and then would have played the Braves in the NLCS - which is what happened anyway.
The new system put the Indians in the playoffs. It didn’t help the Marlins, who under the old system not only would have gone to the NLCS, but wouldn’t have had to play a division series first.
The '97 Indians not only would not have won the pennant under the old system, they wouldn’t even have come close. They were easily the worst team to win a pennant in the last ten years.
Does this make the wild card good? No way. Do the '97 Indians have anything to complain about? No way. The '97 Indians are THE prototypical cheap pennant winners of the three-division era.
Actually, as a Tribe fan of long standing who suffered through the lean years of the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and early 90’s, it feels good to have my team hated. It sure beats having my team being treated as a laughingstock.
Yeah, and you guys at least have a decent field. God, what I wouldn’t give for a time machine to go get the designer of new Comiskey Park (which should have been called Veeck Field, anyway).
Though I admit that when I watch the Dreew Carey Show, I do imaging for a second that they’re declebrating the burning of Jacobs Field in the background.
Anyone else?
