Only name I can think of to describe a qb who throws a ball up for grabs in the middle of the field in OT of a playoff game
I don’t know about the NFL and the NBA, but I do seem to recall the MLB has a rule that specifically states that, when a team is playing another team that is in playoff contention, they must field their best available lineup. IOW, MLB specifically prohibits “tanking”.
The OP should bear in mind that a team that has been eliminated from playoff contention suddenly gains one advantage: It can afford to take far more risks.
Go for it on 4th down. Do fake punts. Do trick plays and gadget plays. Throw deep more often. Try onside kicks.
Being able to play much riskier and gamble much more boldly, makes it a more dangerous team than a team that has to play it safe and careful.
This is definitely not true. This is the Indians starting lineup last Tuesday the day after they clinched the Central Division but playing Detroit who was and still is in contention for a wild card.
Naquin CF (a platoon “regular”)
Martínez 2B (a utility player)
Almonte RF (a platoon “regular” not eligible for the playoffs and so not needing rest)
Santana DH The one regular who is only DHing
Guyer LF (a platoon “regular”)
Aguilar 1B (a minor leaguer most of the year)
Gimenez 3B (The back up catcher playing a position he hasn’t played regularly in years)
Moore C (a minor leaguer most of the year)
González SS (a minor leaguer most of the year)
Missing are Ramirez (3B), Lindor (SS), Kipnis (2B) the three qualifying players with the highest batting averages on the team and Napoli (1B) the team leader in HRs and RBIs, all of whom played almost every game and arguably could use the rest.
The four relief pitchers they used were all late call-ups as well.
First, remember this important fact:
In baseball, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS AN UPSET!!!
Got that? We’re shocked when the Cleveland Browns beat the New England Patriots. We’re shocked when the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Cleveland Cavaliers. We’re shocked when Slippery Rock beats the Alabama Crimson Tide.
But bad baseball teams beat excellent baseball teams ALL THE TIME! Nobody is surprised when the Twins take a game from the Red Sox, or even when they sweep a three game series from the Sox. Such things are common in baseball. A great pitcher sometimes has a bad game, a hot hitting team may cool off for one series, a bad pitcher may go on a tear, a weak hitter may go on a hot streak.
That’s why we have a 162 game season in baseball. Over the LONG run, the best teams show themselves. But in one game or a short series, anything can happen, and every fan ought to KNOW that.
I’m not even sure how this could be enforced.
It was the top four teams. Hence the old terms “first division” and “second division.” In an eight team league the top four teams were “the first division” and got descending amounts of World Series prize money.
Well, this would explain some of the confusion. Stump’s biography of Cobb is complete fiction. I would estimate that aside from getting his name right and accurately stating he played many seasons for Detroit, Stump made up pretty much everything he wrote about Cobb. The entire book is not just complete horseshit, but is actually now regarded as a case study of an unreliable source.
Indeed, almost every crazy story one hears about Ty Cobb was made up or wildly twisted by Al Stump. Cobb was not, in fact, the insane racist horror he’s portrayed as being - he was an intense competitor, and was arrogant. but he was a fairly normal human who did not in fact go insane an assault every black person he saw walking down the street. In terms of personality he was a lot more like Jose Bautista than Jason Voorhees. There is little contemporary evidence Cobb was a psycho racist and he was a supporter of the integration of baseball.
Cobb loved Roy Campanella and Willie Mays, in particular. He specifically called out Roy Campanella as the player who most reminded him of himself. I’ve always found that comment weird, because (aside from both being terrific baseball players) Roy Campanella wasn’t anything like Ty Cobb. Cobb was an outfielder, lefthanded, as fast a man as there was in baseball, and a multidimensional hitter. Campanella, a catcher, hit righthanded and was basically a big lumbering guy who hit a lot of homers and stole fewer bases in a year than Cobb did in a good week.
When I looked at this thread title, I thought this was going to be about some dumb sportscaster who said something like “The reason that team lost the game was that they scored less points.” That is, the one thing losing teams do regardless of sport is score less of the points that matter than the team they’re playing against.
Joe Morgan actually provided that as a form of insight some years ago during a playoff series between the Braves and Astros.