They wouldn’t win the division today because they’d be tied with San Francisco, of course. They could win it TOMORROW.
The intriguing scenario is if the Padres win AND Atlanta wins, in which case they’re all 91-71 and there has to be two playoff games.
Atlanta has a shot at playing a lot of games against California teams. If San Diego wins today, then SD and SF must play Monday to determine the West winner, and the loser would play Atlanta to determine the Wild Card. Were Atlanta to win that game they would then be matched up in the NLDS against the team that won the division playoff game, since they can’t play Philadelphia inthe first round.
But if the Braves lose today, and thus are out of the Wild card running, my understanding is that SF-SD wouldn’t play a single-game playoff simply to decide the Wild card. The WC would be decided based on head-to-head results.
Isn’t that the case?
Right.
But this is only if the Braves also win today. If the Braves lose today, there are two possible scenarios:
SD wins the game (91-71), winning the West on tiebrakers. SF (91-71) gets Wild Card. Braves (90-72) eliminated.
SF wins the game (92-70), winning the West. SD (90-72) play the Braves (90-72) for the Wild Card.
As i explained earlier, and as RickJay noted, if all three teams end up tied, we would have a two-playoff scenario, with a one-game playoff between the Giants and Padres for the West, followed by a one-game playoff between the loser and the Braves for the Wild Card.
the reason for this is that, while the Division Winner / Wild Card split can be decided by head-to-head tiebreakers (i.e., which team has the best record against the other team in the regular season), no team can be eliminated from the playoffs altogether on such a tiebreaker. Teams tied on W-L record and in contention for a payoff spot must have a single-game elimination to decide who progresses.
And if SD, SF, and ATL are all tied, there has to be two elimination games; one to decide the West, then one to decide the WC.
I really, really hate the idea of rooting for Atlanta to lose just so the Giants can, if necessary, back their way into the playoffs…but if it means my team gets to play another series, I’ll take it.
Of course, I’m not rooting for the Braves to lose *just *for that reason. I’m also rooting for them to lose because I’m still pissed about 1993.
And on preview it’s now 2-1. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr…
The underlying principle is that while you can decide seeding of playoff teams based on tiebreaking criteria, like head-to-head record, actually winning or losing a playoff spot can only be determined by winning or losing baseball games.
Assuming the Braves lose, yep.
This is just fantastic, isn’t it? 161 games and we still might have to have extra games. I love baseball.
It would be the first time that the double playoff would happen, but a long time ago the National League used to decide its pennant winner with a best of three playoff. The Giants and Dodgers played such a playoff in 1962 (they did in '51 as well, but that was a 154 game sked.) The Giants won 2-1, for a regular season record of 103-62.
Ah. I knew about NL best-of-three playoffs,* but I didn’t recall that any happened since the 154-game season.
They never made sense to me. If a game’s difference is enough in the scheduled games, then a game’s difference should be enough in extras too. It’s the “rubber game” of the season.
and the Yankees limp into the playoffs as the wild card. Disappointing? Maybe, but I’m thrilled to have another year of playoffs. I am predicting a first round exit, but who knows? The bats may get hot at the right time. Should be good playoffs all around.
Part of the limping was the starters. CC in game one against the Twins is a good start to a 5 game series. Hughes matches well against their 2 or 3 starter and I’ll have faith in Andy Pettitte and his lead in Post Season wins. I’m think Yanks are going 3 man in the first series so expect CC in 1&4 on short rest. I am not sure if Andy gets 2 or 3. The #2 starter will be available for game 5 on full rest.
Most of the Yankee Lineup is now healthy. During this dreadful September far too many key players were hurting.
And the Blue Jays hit two solo homers to edge the Twins 2-1. The split of the four-game series gives the Jays a final record of 85-77, which is better than everybody thought they’d be.
Much credit to Bruce Walton and Cito Gaston for getting the pitching staff through the season relatively unscathed, something that didn’t happen so much in the Gibbons/Arnsberg era. Looking forward to 2011.
