What will 100 regular season wins get you in the postseason?SFA.
And if you are the 2008 Anaheim-ish Angels, it sure as hell won't get you a matchup against the weakest of the playoff entrants. Instead, because of a stupid rule that states that the Wild Card team can't play a team in their own division in the LDS, the Angels got the 95-win Red Sox in the first round, while the Rays had the luxury of facing the 88-win White Sox.
Where's the justice in that? Why can't MLB just seed the playoff teams comme du monde?
Three quick losses and that's that for the Angels. For as quick as the series came and went, they might just as well play three games of rock-paper-scissors to determine the winner.
I'd be in favour of 7 games, but the Red Sox would be up 3-1 now. Do you think the Angels would have won 3 straight?
ReplyDeleteIt got the Angels home field against an East Coast team. And they promptly lost them both. The Angels just weren't that good.
ReplyDeleteThe division series kind of make sense to me - the best record (Angels) take on the wild card (Red Sox), with the other two division winners to fight amongst themselves. I just really wish they'd change it to a seed system, so the Jays might have a shot at making the playoffs, instead of this 4 teams per league nonsense.
ReplyDeleteThey always talk about TV markets and how the MLB wants NY to be in the playoffs. Not sure if it's true, but fuck it's short-sighted. You think maybe Toronto would catch baseball fever if we got into the playoffs?
ReplyDeleteOf course, I am posting this from Butt-Fuck, Nova Scotia, so what the hell do I know.
And, no, it wasn't known as Butt-Fuck until I moved here.
Actually, Lloyd probably nailed it.
ReplyDeleteWe never thought that the Angels were that good...we just didn't think that they were that BAD either.
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/statistics/standings.php
ReplyDeleteBP's strength-of-competition adjusted standings (the third one there on the right), has the Angels as the 7th best team in the AL, and 13th in baseball.
They really weren't particularly good at all.
I second Lloyd, LAA was always overrated and got what they deserved.
ReplyDeleteThat said, the whole MLB playoff system is complete garbage to begin with. I won't respect it until they use a balanced schedule in the regular season. If they're not gonna do that, at least allow 6 playoff teams to account for the unfairness. Preferably they would implement both ideas.
What could possibly be so bad about having 6 teams? It helps the best teams because they could either get byes or they get to play weaker teams in the 1st round. The 3-4 seeds would get a more fair match up and it would avoid this LAA vs. BOS type of BS. And then most importantly, 2 more teams get in the playoffs. It's just ONE MORE 5 game series! I would argue that it makes the regular season even MORE relevant and the playoff revenue for the MLB and teams is just frosting on the cake.
People keep comparing this idea to the NBA where too many teams get in and it lasts forever but it's nothing like that. A balanced schedule ensures that everyone who gets in deserves to be there and since they play simultaneously every day, it wouldn't even lengthen the playoffs.
LAAAAAAAAAAAA spent all of September playing the A's, Mariners and Rangers. Yeah, they were ready for October baseball.
ReplyDeleteFuck em.
And the Sox too.
Go Rays.
tbqh what I really want to see is Manny win a world series with LAD in Fenway.
ReplyDeletePerfect to spite both the Sox and the Angels.
baseball has a somewhat retarded playoff system.
ReplyDeletethey need a seed system and each round should be best of 7.
CONFIRM/DENY?
The team with the most wins should be able to chose their opponent or the team with the least wins.
ReplyDelete-brent in Korea
I can't believe people want TB over BOS. Can you imagine fucking Rays Nation?!! The last thing this world needs is more bandwagoning in the AL East. Go Boston, I wanna see Manny vs. the Sox.
ReplyDelete^^^^^^^
ReplyDeleteI agree. The fact that Tampa is doing well just makes my skin crawl for some reason. Boston already has their titles; one more won't hurt me that bad. I can't handle having another AL East team with a World Series to lord over us.
No, you're bitter.
Make the 1985 ALCS a best of 5 instead of best of 7 (like every prior year) and the Jays are your 1985 World Series Champions.
ReplyDeleteLooking at Baseball Prospectus' adjusted standings, they have 4 of the best 5 teams playing in the AL East. The Jays would win every other division, save the NL central but they get the wildcard.
ReplyDeleteBALANCE THE F**KING SCHEDULE OR EXPAND THE F**KING PLAYOFFS