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Subject: The Wildcard is great (no fantasy value) Posted by: Madman - [44633210] Wed, Sep 13, 22:49 I've heard a number of commentators declare how wonderful the wildcard is, and that it has allowed so many cities to stay involved in the pennant drive. As of 10:30 PM CST, 9/13, one division title is up for grabs in the AL, with Sea battling Oak. In addition, the loser of that battle might not make the playoffs (horror) since the loser of that battle will likely be neck and neck with Boston and/or Cle. So we have two races in the AL. In the NL, of course, all pennant races are essentially over. Granted, we don't know who will win the East, but the loser of that battle will almost assuredly be in the playoffs, anyway, making the whole point largely moot. To make a fair comparison regarding what re-alignment and the subsequent decision to include a wild-card has done to baseball, I'll compare the current status quo to the old East/West division, adding the expansion clubs into their current divisions. Here would be the relevant races under this scenario: AL East NY up by 9 over Bos, and the AL East is a run-away, just like it is now. AL West The ChiSox are up by 8, and the AL West is largely decided. NL East The race between Atl and NYM now becomes prime-time, reminenscent of the classic 1993 Braves/Giants battle, although neither ATL or NYM can claim to be quite as good as the eventual loser of that battle. NL West Mark McGwire's loss is starting to kill StL as the Giants in a tremendous second half-comeback have over-taken the Cardinals, and lead by 2.5 games. I wonder if McGwire would be on the bench if StL was down by 2.5 rather than up by 10? Moral of the story? I don't know if there is one. It's definitely a matter of taste. But I'd take the two intense races in the NL (and a subsequent great matchup assured for the NL Championship) any day over watching teams with .530-.540 winning percentages "slug" it out for the scraps, and then see those same teams have a chance to win it all. (Note: there would be 4 teams in chases in the NL under the old alignment. Currently, there are 4 teams in chases in the AL this year.) Finally, take it back to 1968, and what do you have? AL A death match between the surging Yankees and the stagnate White Sox. NL What had looked like a StL/Atl runaway now is a wild 4 team race, one of the tightest in baseball history, and being led by the SF Giants who back in late June were buried in 8th place! Just an observation. | ||||||
| 1 | beastiemiked ID: 145191710 Wed, Sep 13, 22:55 | Cardinals were in the East. Thus making the division race even better. | |||||
| 2 | ksoze ID: 5963241 Wed, Sep 13, 23:00 | And the Braves were in the West... I think Madman just took into account the obvious re-alignment that would have been necessary even without extra divisions and wild-cards. Very interesting stuff. | |||||
| 3 | Madman ID: 44633210 Wed, Sep 13, 23:47 |
ksoze. No, I've had a very bad brain day. Just got it backwards. Very embarrassing error. How quickly we forget, eh? I appreciate your assumption that I had it right, however. Putting them into their "CORRECT" divisions would have made the whole thing even better, however. . . | |||||
| 4 | steve houpt ID: 337580 Thu, Sep 14, 07:11 |
The three divisions are a joke with the schedule they play. There are 'really no divisions'. Here are the leaders in inter division play. AL East - NY Yankees 25-14, Toronto 22-16 AL Central - CWS 22-16, KC 22-17 AL West - Texas 16-11, Seattle 14-14 NL East - Florida 20-16, Atlanta 20-20 NL Central - STL 30-19, Houston 26-20 NL West - Arizona 23-14, LA 19-16 It's a wonder these teams can even remember who's in their division, they play each other so few games. Seattle has played 28 games against their division opponents. | |||||
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