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Go Cubs!!! Two of Three Best Teams in MLB Play Wild Card Tonight


Gator Hazard
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At 8:08 ET tonight the first step will be taken to validate Back to The Future Part II's prediction of the Cubs winning the world series.  Two of the leagues best pitchers are going to face off in an epic one game takes it all battle.   

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MLB's wild card format is stupid.

 I have been saying it for years now and will continue to do so as long as it is like this.

 The Pirates and I didn't look but I think the Cubs also had more wins than any other team in baseball except the Cardinals and one of the teams will be gone after a single game. 

 You can't even say in a situation like this that they played in a week division because they had to play the Cardinals quite a bit and still had more wins than anyone else. 

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MLB's wild card format is stupid.

 I have been saying it for years now and will continue to do so as long as it is like this.

 The Pirates and I didn't look but I think the Cubs also had more wins than any other team in baseball except the Cardinals and one of the teams will be gone after a single game. 

 You can't even say in a situation like this that they played in a week division because they had to play the Cardinals quite a bit and still had more wins than anyone else. 

I think it is an unfair format as well.  One of these three teams is winning the NLCS  and I will go out on a limb and say one of them will win the World Series.  Probably going to be the Cardinals, even though I feel The Cubs have been playing better baseball lately and have performed well against them, the Cards will have home field advantage.  Tonight is a coin flip in my opinion and two of the three best teams in baseball shouldn't be in that type of a scenario.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/nl-wild-card-preview--cubs-pirates-231302797.html

 

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MLB's wild card format is stupid.

 I have been saying it for years now and will continue to do so as long as it is like this.

 The Pirates and I didn't look but I think the Cubs also had more wins than any other team in baseball except the Cardinals and one of the teams will be gone after a single game. 

 You can't even say in a situation like this that they played in a week division because they had to play the Cardinals quite a bit and still had more wins than anyone else. 

Except it's only really unfair for the Pirates considering that if they hadn't switched to this format last year then the Cubs would be playing golf right now.  It's certainly not great - I would like to see them simply go to a 3 game series and cut the next round back down to 5 (assuming that dates and lengths are their stumbling blocks) - but Cubs fans would probably prefer the one game coin flip to no playoffs at all.

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(edited)

No matter who the teams are, I think that a system that in this instance punishes two teams purely for being in the same division is unfair.  The Cubs and the Pirates deserve to be in the playoffs based on their continued success throughout the year. The difference between the second and third best team in all of baseball over 162 games is ONE GAME with Pirates being 98-64 versus Cubs at 97-65. The next best record in the National League belongs to The Dodgers (92-70).  The Mets are 90-72.  The ONLY correct seeding in the National League Playoffs based on season equity is the Cardinals at the #1 seed.  The Pirates and the Cubs are the 4 and 5 seeds.  That is ridiculous.  I know it is what it is, but that doesn't mean it is fair or that people are going to like it.  

Edited by Gator Hazard
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The WC playoff is, to put it mildly, wrongheaded.

1 game?

If they are going to do this, add another team to do this correctly and just make it part of the regular playoffs - division winners and what, 3? wildcards? Whatever it takes to integrate it into the "real" playoff system.

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The WC playoff is, to put it mildly, wrongheaded.

1 game?

If they are going to do this, add another team to do this correctly and just make it part of the regular playoffs - division winners and what, 3? wildcards? Whatever it takes to integrate it into the "real" playoff system.

Or just scrap the division winners entirely, the real best team in each division is known by the regular season record in the divisions.  Seed the teams in the leagues based on their rankings.  The Dodgers and Mets should not get the luxury of several games over the Pirates and the Cubs, who owned them in the regular season.

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Or just scrap the division winners entirely..

Yes, exactly this. No divisions. Just NL and AL. Top 4 teams in each make the playoffs. Simple. Fair. 

Winning baseball games is hard, there is no reason a team that wins less games should be in just because they played in a different division. It rewards the winner of a poor division over the runner-up in a tough division. Dumb. 

- Mark

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Or just scrap the division winners entirely, the real best team in each division is known by the regular season record in the divisions.  Seed the teams in the leagues based on their rankings.  The Dodgers and Mets should not get the luxury of several games over the Pirates and the Cubs, who owned them in the regular season.

Agreed.

I only pay attention to the AL West for the most part - the Rangers - and since they caved in 2013 and were the worst in 2014, I haven't paid much attention to the wild card, other than the Rangers losing that one game to Balt in 2013. I wasn't familiar with the system, and wondered ... one game?

Seed according to record, but they would have to redo the schedule so all teams met each other more frequently instead of within the division.

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Or just scrap the division winners entirely, 

 

Yes, exactly this. No divisions. Just NL and AL. Top 4 teams in each make the playoffs. Simple. Fair. 

Assuming you guys are saying that they eliminate divisions entirely, which would also necessitate that they balance the schedules, I would be on board with this also.  The problem with doing this now is that the schedules are not balanced.  Teams play 76 games against the four other teams within their division, 66 against the other 10 teams in their league, and 20 against various teams in the other league.

That's a little too lopsided when you consider that the Mets got to play 35% of their games against teams that were 20 games below .500 or worse.  On the other side of the coin, the worst team that the Blue Jays had in their division was 78-84.

As long as the schedules are that lopsided, I believe that there should be a reward for winning the division.

EDIT: @Mr. Desmond beat me to it.  Also, I recognize that it's a bit of a circular thing too.  With so many games against the same teams, the records are ALL affected drastically.  The NL East might only appear that bad because the Mets are that good, and the opposite could be true about the Blue Jays.

Edited by Golfingdad
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Assuming you guys are saying that they eliminate divisions entirely, which would also necessitate that they balance the schedules, I would be on board with this also.  The problem with doing this now is that the schedules are not balanced.  Teams play 76 games against the four other teams within their division, 66 against the other 10 teams in their league, and 20 against various teams in the other league.

That's a little too lopsided when you consider that the Mets got to play 35% of their games against teams that were 20 games below .500 or worse.  On the other side of the coin, the worst team that the Blue Jays had in their division was 78-84.

As long as the schedules are that lopsided, I believe that there should be a reward for winning the division.

EDIT: @Mr. Desmond beat me to it.  Also, I recognize that it's a bit of a circular thing too.  With so many games against the same teams, the records are ALL affected drastically.  The NL East might only appear that bad because the Mets are that good, and the opposite could be true about the Blue Jays.

Absolutely, balance the schedules across the board, not hard to do if you drop inter-league play. 

- Mark

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Absolutely, balance the schedules across the board, not hard to do if you drop inter-league play. 

Interleague play has proven itself to be a somewhat failed experiment anyway, hasn't it?  Nobody in San Diego gets excited when the Mariners come to town, and I know the feeling is mutual. ;)

Even a little bit of extra games within the division is fine.  Play 15 against each division opponent and 10 against the other teams in the league.  Or 13 and 11 - math works perfectly. ;)

But I still think that it would help in the interim if they revised the series' lengths.  Instead of 1-5-7-7, go 3-5-5-7 or 3-3-7-7.  Or just cut a week off the end of the season. 155 is plenty of games and since the steroid era, the magical baseball record numbers don't mean anything anyway.

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I think the season should be shortened. It's just too long in my opinion. I don't mind divisions as long as there is a reseeding for the playoffs. 

I can give or take interleague play. 

I think they need to ditch the DH all together. I hate it. It's stupid. Pitchers have been hitting all the way from little league till you reach the American League. It's a stupid position. 

If you are going to have a play in spot, make it a best out of 3 series. 

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If you are going to have a play in spot, make it a best out of 3 series. 

Agreed, or just get rid of it completely, you've had 162 games to "play in".

- Mark

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Except it's only really unfair for the Pirates considering that if they hadn't switched to this format last year then the Cubs would be playing golf right now.

This is the third year in a row the Pirates have played in the WC game… because the Cardinals keep winning the division. Last year they ran into Bumgarner, but had a better record than the Giants. In fact, they won 14 more games than the Giants last year, but because in a one-game "series" you can put Bumgarner out there, that was that. 162 games and winning almost 10% more games, but you lose ONE game and bam, you're done.

Ridiculous.

EDIT: @Mr. Desmond beat me to it.  Also, I recognize that it's a bit of a circular thing too.  With so many games against the same teams, the records are ALL affected drastically.  The NL East might only appear that bad because the Mets are that good, and the opposite could be true about the Blue Jays.

I think the NL East doesn't look all that great.

The NL Central looks awfully great. Think about it: the Cubs, Pirates, and Cardinals all had to play a lot of games against each other, and yet they STILL managed to get the three best records in baseball. That's like playing in the NFL against two teams that go 14-2 or something: you probably lost both of the games you played against them (12.5% of your season). If you still manage to go 12-4, you did awfully darn well…

Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
Director of Instruction Golf Evolution • Owner, The Sand Trap .com • AuthorLowest Score Wins
Golf Digest "Best Young Teachers in America" 2016-17 & "Best in State" 2017-20 • WNY Section PGA Teacher of the Year 2019 :edel: :true_linkswear:

Check Out: New Topics | TST Blog | Golf Terms | Instructional Content | Analyzr | LSW | Instructional Droplets

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Yeah, the system was unfair enough when there was only one wild-card team; it is even worse now.

I'm just hoping against hope that the Pirates can comeback, AND end up playing the Mets - I'd love to see a Mets playoff game here in Pittsburgh.

- John

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This is the third year in a row the Pirates have played in the WC game… because the Cardinals keep winning the division. Last year they ran into Bumgarner, but had a better record than the Giants. In fact, they won 14 more games than the Giants last year, but because in a one-game "series" you can put Bumgarner out there, that was that. 162 games and winning almost 10% more games, but you lose ONE game and bam, you're done.

Ridiculous.

I think the NL East doesn't look all that great.

The NL Central looks awfully great. Think about it: the Cubs, Pirates, and Cardinals all had to play a lot of games against each other, and yet they STILL managed to get the three best records in baseball. That's like playing in the NFL against two teams that go 14-2 or something: you probably lost both of the games you played against them (12.5% of your season). If you still manage to go 12-4, you did awfully darn well…

I don't disagree with any of that.  However, were they to go to simple seeding but continue with the lopsided schedules, then at some point in the future there will be times when teams with better records against worse competition get invited to the playoffs over teams with worse records against better competition.  Certainly that's not the case this season in the NL but it would be someday.  (If they went to that format)

Edited by Golfingdad
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Yeah, the system was unfair enough when there was only one wild-card team; it is even worse now.

Both of those ideas are debatable, and it's probably a matter of perspective right now.  Cubs and Astros fans would generally agree with you on the first point, but Pirates and Yankees fans would agree on the second.

Whats not nearly as debatable is that as it stands now is very much less than ideal.

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