Monday, October 15, 2007

Stop the Rocks

The Rockies are certainly a cute story, but they are not a particularly good baseball team. Whether or not they win the World Series, MLB will really have to re-examine the divisional round of the playoffs. When the Rockies make the World Series, it will mark the sixth consecutive season that a Wild Card team has become its league's champions. Before one even considers the inherent disadvantages of being

  1. a lesser team
  2. ceding home field advantage in the first two rounds of the playoffs

the wild card should have a 1 in 4 chance of reaching the World Series. When the Rockies finish off the D'Backs, it will mark the sixth consecutive season that a Wild Card team has advanced to the fall classic. If they win it all, they will become the 4th wild card in 6 years to do so. In fact, last year's Cardinals, although they won their division, would not have made the playoffs without the extra division of playoffs. They would have finished 14 games behind the Mets in the old NL East. Thus, only 1 of the last 5 champions would have even made the playoffs, just 13 years ago. I can't imagine that this is what Bud Selig had in mind, when the new system began.

When a wild card succeeds every few years, it legitimizes the extra round of playoffs. When it becomes routine, it cheapens the regular season. I hate the idea of letting more teams into the playoffs. However, I have become a reluctant proponent of adding a Wild Card to each league. On the Monday after the season ends, have the two best non-division winners in each league play a one-game playoff, burning their best pitcher in the process. Then make them start their Divisional Series the next day, against the best team in the league. Unless they are comfortable with hot, but mediocre, teams routinely picking off the best teams in baseball, this must be done.

15 comments:

Shawn Harstad said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Shawn Harstad said...

Thats not only ridiculous, it doesn't make any sense. The Rockies and the D-backs had the best records in the NL. They should be in the LCS. Why does it matter of they won their division or not?

Anonymous said...

Tremont is way too in love with commas.

Tremont said...

If your, offering, anonymous, I would, accept a, tutorial, on, the proper, usage of, commas. Seriously. Sorry Harstad, the Rockies had an extra game to finish with 90 wins. Like the Phillies, the Rockies finished 89-73 in 162 games this year. As such, they should be at a greater disadvantage in the postseason than they are. It seems we agree that it DOES NOT matter whether a team wins the division. However, I believe it SHOULD matter. The NFL plays a 16 game regular season and it gives it's best teams a HUGE advantage in the playoffs. MLB plays 162 and the slate is essentially wiped clean come October. It's a problem.

Tremont said...

2 More Points

1) I am surprised nobody countered my post by noting that the Rockies essentially played the play-in game that I was calling for. They won it and then stampeded the Phillies and D'Backs. So I should tip my cap to the Rockies and move on.

2) As tough as it is to wrap my head around this fact, the Rockies might truly be the best team in the National League. They probably belong in the World Series. I don't know that they would play .500 ball in the AL, but they might still be the best NL team. Wow!

Anonymous said...

20 commas enter, 8 commas leave. And we coulda cleaned up some more if we could risk altering your hokey form of prose we all love.

Stop the Rocks

The Rockies are certainly a cute story, but they are not a particularly good baseball team. Whether or not they win the World Series, MLB will really have to re-examine the divisional round of the playoffs. When the Rockies make the World Series it will mark the sixth consecutive season that a Wild Card team has become its league's champions. Before one even considers the inherent disadvantages of being a lesser team - ceding home field advantage in the first two rounds of the playoffs - the wild card should have a 1 in 4 chance of reaching the World Series. When the Rockies finish off the D'Backs it will mark the sixth consecutive season that a Wild Card team has advanced to the fall classic. If they win it all they will become the 4th wild card in 6 years to do so. In fact, last year's Cardinals, although they won their division, would not have made the playoffs without the extra division of playoffs. They would have finished 14 games behind the Mets in the old NL East. Thus just 13 years ago only 1 of the last 5 champions would have even made the playoffs. I can't imagine that this is what Bud Selig had in mind when the new system began.

When a wild card succeeds every few years it legitimizes the extra round of playoffs. When it becomes routine it cheapens the regular season. I hate the idea of letting more teams into the playoffs. However, I have become a reluctant proponent of adding a Wild Card to each league. On the Monday after the season ends, have the two best non-division winners in each league play a one-game playoff, burning their best pitcher in the process. Then make them start their Divisional Series the next day against the best team in the league. This must be done unless they are comfortable with hot, but mediocre teams routinely picking off the best teams in baseball.

Anonymous said...

Mr or Mrs. Anonymous,

Why don't you leave your name so we can all bask in your grammatical correctness. Douche.

Tremont said...

I just did some research on the subject of comma usage. It turns out that I frequently use commas where they are NOT REQUIRED, but rarely use them where they INCORRECT. Most, if not all, of the corrections you made were a matter of personal taste. I appreciate your criticism. Without it, I would been too lazy to research a question that has long bothered me.
From this point forward(optional comma removed) I will lighten up on the commas.

P.S. Obviously you are a regular reader of this blog. So there is a 90% chance that you know one or more members of the SYHD team. Don't be an anonymous cunt. Reveal yourself.

Anonymous said...

Less is more in writing. I never said your commas were incorrect (though a couple were), but its a much cleaner read without them. Language is an art. See, its written right up there on your chalkboard, Teach.

-Cunty

Tremont said...

Have you extended your "less is more" philosophy to apostrophes as well? In your most recent comment,you twice wrote "its" (a word indicating possession) when you should have written "it's" ( a contraction of "it is"). Language may be an art, but it is also a science. I may have offended your highfalutin sensibilities, but at least I am not in direct violation of the rules of the English language.

Tremont said...

Thanks for leaving me that opening, stupid. I thought I was about to take my first ever SYHD loss.

Anonymous said...

This isn't a competition, Tremont. I honestly want to help you get better.

-Matthew McConaughey

Tremont said...

Was it you all along, Bobby Snyder? I didn't take you for a grammar snob.

Tremont said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

It wasn't, me One side. I ain't big on grammar and I don't know nothing about where no commas go,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,.