MLB: Post-season

The Game Room
21

If Oakland advances, I will refuse to recognize the legitimacy of the A’s in the AL playoffs. Ten days ago, Oakland and Kansas City were tied. That tie breaker has already taken place, over the ten games since, and Kansas City won. There is no justification for them to have to win again.

Pittsburgh and San Francisco would have had to have a tie-breaker, in any case, as they finished with identical records.

If it is absolutely necessary to swell the number of playoff contenders to half the league (to spur excitement where none is deserved), then designate some arbitrary date in advance, and award the WC to the team with the best record after that date. At least, the WC representative will then have shown evidence that, as the playoffs begin, they are currently competitive, and the hottest team at the end will be rewarded.

22

There is no connection between being hot at the end of the season and winning in the playoffs, and rewarding a team that is hot at the end of the season is arbitrary. That’s why the teams with the best records for the full season make the playoffs.

23

And part of the rationale for the Wild Card Game is that it punishes the WC teams by having to burn their best starter (or Edison Volquez if you’re the Pirates… cough) just to make the LDS.

24

There has been some talk in San Francisco that they shouldn’t be starting Bumgarner in the WC game, because that would mean that he probably won’t be available until Game 4 of the NLDS, and there’s no way he would be able to pitch more than one game in the series.

There has been other talk suggesting that lining up your rotation for a series that you might never play is questionable strategy at best.

25

By the same logic, there should be no wild cards at all, because they too ‘lost tie-breakers’ to the division winners in the regular season.

To say that the wild cards should get to undo the work of 162 games by beating their division winner in a 7-game playoff, but that the second wild card shouldn’t get a chance to beat the first wild card in a single game, makes no sense at all.

Any system involving wild cards will naturally cause playoff results from time to time that negate a long season’s outcome in a short series. That’s why I’m against wild cards: my opinion is that the results of 162 games shouldn’t be undone in a short postseason series. But the wild card is here to stay.

I’m happier with the current playoff structure than I was with the one that existed from 1995 to just a few years ago, because the old system put the wild card on much closer to an even footing with the division winners. The crapshoot of a one-game playoff between the wild card teams took care of that in the sense that the wild card is definitely not almost as good as a division win anymore.

But the advantage of a division winner over the surviving wild card team is really no greater than the advantage of the division winner over the wild card used to be.

26

Why do continue to insist on showing your contempt for baseball? Your posts add nothing to the discussion.

27

I wonder if he refuses to recognize the Cardinals’ win in the 2006 World Series. And I wonder if anyone cares about the recognition. :wink:

28

IMO the “play-in” game will be accepted once a team goes from winning the game to popping champagne.

29

Which is one of the reasons that, while I hate the Wild Card, I was actually ok with adding a 2nd WC team. If you are going to have a non-division winner compete in the playoffs against a division winner, having the non-division winner weakened is fine by me.

30

I have no contempt for baseball. I have contempt for the autocrats who have taken over baseball for obscene profit, who are primarily the TV networks and the cabal of club investors. What is “good for baseball” is defined as what is good for their financial interests.

Question: Why aren’t existing rules enforced to reduce games from 3 hours to 2 hours?
Answer: How much do concession stands take in between 9 and 10 pm?

Have you ever, even once, heard a commentator suggest that the commercial break between innings could be shortened?

31

Sports is entertainment, as such they are designed to make $$$.

32

I think of it like this: as the number of divisions increases, the value of winning a division decreases, and the value of having the 2nd best record in baseball increases.

If the total number of divisions is small (2 or 4) then the value of winning a division outweighs having the 2nd best record, so the wild card doesn’t make sense.

Once you get up to 6 or 8 divisions, however, this is no longer the case. Now it doesn’t make sense not to have a wild card. “So, we’re gonna put 8 teams in the playoffs, but, uh… let’s not include the 2nd best baseball team in the world? Does that sound good?”

No, it doesn’t sound good. That ship has sailed, returned, been scrapped for parts, burned, and dispersed into the air. If many teams make the playoffs, then the 2nd best baseball team in the world should be guaranteed to play a 7 game series, because the value of being 2nd best shot up as the number of divisions increased. If you want to go back to 2 or 4 divisions total, then I can see your point, but at the moment you are proposing logically incompatible systems.

33

In the years when there was a single wild card spot, plus the three division winners, how often has the wild card team had the worst record of the four?

34

Does that mean sports are also to be performed by actors, according to a script that has been prepared in advance with a certain ending, known to the actors but not always the audience, which will maximize the $$$?

35

No, sports is merely another branch of entertainment, always has, always will.

36

Take this hijack to another thread; one you make, if you wish. But this thread is for talking about the baseball post season and things related to it…not quibbles regarding fiances/money or your stand on it.
Everyone else, please try to ignore the hijack and just focus on the on topic discussion.

37

I had a meeting end half an hour early this afternoon, so I had some free time:

The single Wildcard format was in use from 1995-2010
That was 17 seasons, so 34 races.

16 times, the Wildcard team had the worst, or tied for the worst, record of the four teams in the league playoffs.

10 times, the Wildcard had the third best record of the playoff teams.

2000 - AL
Chi White Sox 95-67
Oakland 91-70
#WC# Seattle 91-71
NY Yankees 87-74

2002 - AL
NY Yankees 103-58
Oakland 103-59
#WC# Anaheim 99-63
Minnesota 94-67

2003 - AL
NY Yankees 101-61
Oakland 96-66
#WC# Boston 95-67
Minnesota 90-72

2003 - NL
Atlanta 101-61
San Francisco 100-61
#WC# Florida 91-71
Chi Cubs 88-74

2005 - NL
St Louis 100-62
Atlanta 90-72
#WC# Houston 89-73
San Diego 82-80

2006 - AL
NY Yankees 97-65
Minnesota 96-66
#WC# Detroit 95-67
Oakland 93-69

2006 - NL
NY Mets 97-65
San Diego 88-74
#WC# LA Dodgers 88-74
St Louis 83-78

2008 - NL
Chi Cubs 97-64
Philadelphia 92-70
#WC# Milwaukee 90-72
LA Dodgers 84-78

2009 - AL
NY Yankees 103-59
LA Angels 97-65
#WC# Boston 95-67
Minnesota 87-76

2009 - NL
LA Dodgers 95-67
Philadelphia 93-69
#WC# Colorado 92-70
St Louis 91-71

8 times, the Wildcard team had the second best record in the league.

1997 - AL
Baltimore 98-64
#WC# NY Yankees 96-66
Seattle 90-72
Cleveland 86-75

1997 - NL
Atlanta 101-61
#WC# Florida 92-70
San Francisco 90-72
Houston 84-78

1998 - AL
NY Yankees 114-48
#WC# Boston 92-70
Cleveland 89-73
Texas 88-74

2001 - AL
Seattle 116-46
#WC# Oakland 102-60
NY Yankees 95-65
Cleveland 91-71

2001 - NL
Houston 93-69
#WC# St Louis 93-69
Arizona 92-70
Atlanta 88-74

2004 - AL
NY Yankees 101-61
#WC# Boston 98-64
Minnesota 92-70
Anaheim 92-70

2007 - NL
Arizona 90-72
#WC# Colorado 90-73
Philadelphia 89-73
Chi Cubs 85-77

2010 - AL
Tampa Bay 96-66
#WC# NY Yankees 95-67
Minnesota 94-68
Texas 90-72

So the Wildcard team had a better record than one of the Division winners 53% of the time, and had a better record than 2 of the Division winners 24% of the time. I’m not sure what argument that supports, but there are the numbers…

And how about those 2001 Oakland As? They won 102 games…and finished 14 games out of first place!

38

Not much. Beer sales cut off at the end of the seventh, and most of the food places are wrapping up shortly thereafter. Trying to find a hot dog in the ninth inning can take you halfway around the stadium.

39

And Ned Yost single handedly destroyed the royals only chance in 29 years to win a playoff game. Seriously? Taking out Shields in the 6th after 88 pitches , with a 1 run lead, after a bloop single and a walk is questionable enough. But instead of herriera, good relliever with 1.5 era, or Davis, one of the best in the game, to bring in a rookie starter? It’s the most mind boggling atrocious managerial decision I’ve ever witnessed. Grady little x 100.

40

Idle: my apologies for my role in the hijack.