MLB: Baseball, the cruelest game?

[Windy City]

The teams with the three best records in baseball are all in The N.L. Central Division. The Cards, Bucs, and Cubs have 100, 98, and 97 wins respectively. Because the Pirates and Cubs did not win the N.L. Central, their entire 162 game season comes Down to a one game playoff (or shall I say play-in) game on October 7 for the right to play St. Louis in the best of five Divisional Series. How horrible is this?

Look, I'm a Lifelong Cub fan, and I know from first hand experience how tough it is to win a Pennant. The Cubs have had a dream season. Prior to the start of the season, some people were saying that the Cubs could win Ninety-five games and
and I honestly stared at them in disbelief. Surely they'd be a couple of games above or below five hundred I believed. This was still a rebuilding year with a young ball club after all. I thought that while they were headed in the right direction, they were at least a year or two away from being in contention. While I'm glad I was wrong, now I have a one game sudden- death, potentially season ending playoff game hanging over my head. So far everything this season has been gravy for me as a Cub fan but still.... With injuries and the fickleness of a 162 game season there is nothing saying that it might happen again any time soon. Especially give our 107 year run of futility.

Dont get get me wrong, I understand what the rules are, and the poor Pirates fans know better than anyone given their recent experiences, what it entails as well. But seriously how cruel is it that one of two remarkable seasons is going to be determined by the crap shoot of a one game playoff? Why can't MLB end the season a few days earlier and have a best two of three game wild card playoff? I mean Cole vs. Arrieta should be magic, but I'd just like to see a better test of who is deserving to advance to the next round.

I'd love to hear from others on B & B about this.

 

[August West]

Such games are reminiscent of High School ball where an Ace Pitcher artificially determines the success of a team in the playoffs. The game is not meant to be played that way. Five game series minimum in my book.

 

[SanKaloon]

Cubs fan here. I still wish we had only a NL East and a NL West. And only the division winners moved on (ha ignoring this season, of course).

But I do think it was better when only 4 teams made the playoffs. That was the way it was when I grew up watching Harry and Steve on WGN. I'm sure others wish for the way is used to be back in their days as well, likely different than mine.

 

[August West]

 

[FL shaver]

I agree. Best of the three to move on. Like to see the Cubs do something. Watched the Bartman inning last night. Cubs fans are HUNGRY!

 

[Windy City]

I still wish we had only a NL East and a NL West. And only the division winners moved on

But I do think it was better when only 4 teams made the playoffs..

+1

 

[Heron]

the poor Pirates fans know better than anyone given their recent experiences, what it entails as well. But seriously how cruel is it that one of two remarkable seasons is going to be determined by the crap shoot of a one game playoff?

I hear ya (see my post from earlier tonight in your Cubs thread). But, as they say, you have to win your division.
I understand why the league went from two to three divisions and added a wild card, because many teams were out of the race months before the end of the regular season in the old two-division system. And I'm all for a one-game tiebreaker to get in to the playoffs, but you're entirely right that after 162 games, a playoff team deserves at least a two-out-of-three series. Cubs fans deserve a guaranteed home playoff game this year.
Baseball is unique among sports. I wish they'd stop trying to make it like all the others.

 

[BSAGuy]

I agree. This whole 3 divisions, 4th and 5th wild card teams is all about ginning up interest in late season games and the play-offs. That's where the money is.

Cubs fan here. I still wish we had only a NL East and a NL West. And only the division winners moved on (ha ignoring this season, of course).

But I do think it was better when only 4 teams made the playoffs. That was the way it was when I grew up watching Harry and Steve on WGN. I'm sure others wish for the way is used to be back in their days as well, likely different than mine.

 

[ouch]

I hate the idea of the five game series, so you can imagine how I feel about a one game, winner take all scenario.

 

[Rory1262]

I'm not bothered by this, and I wouldn't be even if my team (the Mets) were involved.
There's a good sample of one-game playoffs where a lot more was at stake:

1948: Boston vs. Cleveland for AL pennant
1978: Boston vs. Yankees for AL East (Bucky Dent!)
1980: Astros vs. Dodgers for NL West

Since MLB went to the three-division setup in 1994 -- I can't believe it's been that long! -- there have been six one-game playoffs.
Of those, three were to determine division champions and three were to determine who got the wild card (when there was just one).

I remember when it was the Mets and Reds in 1999, I was excited about having it all on the line in one game.

 

[Haggises]

I don't see that it's that much different from some of the games yesterday.
Texas Rangers needed to win to clinch Division.
Angels needed to win to have a chance at Wild Card, as did Astros.

 

[Graybeard57]

The teams with the three best records in baseball are all in The N.L. Central Division. The Cards, Bucs, and Cubs have 100, 98, and 97 wins respectively. Because the Pirates and Cubs did not win the N.L. Central, their entire 162 game season comes Down to a one game playoff (or shall I say play-in) game on October 7 for the right to play St. Louis in the best of five Divisional Series. How horrible is this?



Dont get get me wrong, I understand what the rules are, and the poor Pirates fans know better than anyone given their recent experiences, what it entails as well. But seriously how cruel is it that one of two remarkable seasons is going to be determined by the crap shoot of a one game playoff? Why can't MLB end the season a few days earlier and have a best two of three game wild card playoff? I mean Cole vs. Arrieta should be magic, but I'd just like to see a better test of who is deserving to advance to the next round.

I'd love to hear from others on B & B about this.

I'm with you on this one.

 

[jpakstis]

I love it! And I'm someone who thinks every league and sport should be set up and played the way it was when I was a kid in the 80's. It places more emphasis on winning the division. As a Red Sox fan, watching those mid-2000s teams just ease back and cruise into the wild card just about every year, it was nice but it'd be nicer to have something on the line for the last week or so. Plus the regular season records become virtually immaterial once you make it. We've seen an 83 win team win it all ('06 Cardinals) and a 116 win team barely make a sound in the ALCS.

Baseball will never have a "fair" playoff system. Even if you go back to the old two division series setup, having a 162 game season decided by two 7 game series that would make up less than 10% of a season doesn't seem all the fair and if you go back further when there weren't any divisions, having a single seven game series (that would make up less than 5% of a season) doesn't seem that fair either. The only truly "fair" method of deciding the champion, now that interleague is more and more a part of the season, is to just crown the top regular season team.

The other thing is the managing acumen that's necessary to get through the end of the season, the one-game playoff, and then if you win, the next series.

 

[Atalk]

IMO, wild card match-ups should be 5-game series and all other rounds should be 7-game sets. At least baseball playoffs are better than the NBA setup where it seems that a series can take 2 weeks to complete.

 

[Rory1262]

IMO, wild card match-ups should be 5-game series and all other rounds should be 7-game sets. At least baseball playoffs are better than the NBA setup where it seems that a series can take 2 weeks to complete.

Even as it stands, this year's World Series will stretch into November. Granted, it's the first time since 2010 -- but I can't say I'd be keen to see the baseball season stretch well into November.

 

[TexLaw]

Anyone who gets to play a one-game playoff to get into the wild card spot is lucky to have the chance. It wasn't all that long ago that such a chance didn't exist unless there was a tie. Under the pre-1994 structure, the Cubs and Astros wouldn't have a game to play at all. The Yankees and Pirates have better records than their respective opponents, but by one game. In any case, they

One game is not a "crap shoot." It's a game. You play it. If you were talking about an actual coin flip, I might be with you, but you get to come out and play.

Very often, baseball comes down to one game. If teams go 3-3 in a seven game series, it comes down to one game. Would you propose extending such a series to eleven games because of the cruelty of coming down to the "crap shoot" of one more game? This ain't tennis, volleyball, or ping pong. One game, head to head, can be enough.

The Yankees, Cubs, Astros, and Pirates already had 162 games to prove their worth, and this is where they wound up. Getting stuck in a division with a colossally dominant team is a bad break, but that's baseball. It's why the wild card exists in the first place. If you can't be bothered to get your act together for one more game to keep your season alive, then go take a seat.

 

[DVPremo]

The 1942 Brooklyn Dodgers won 104 games, they didn't make the playoffs. That's when only one team in each league played beyond the regular season.

 

[garyg]

Anyone who gets to play a one-game playoff to get into the wild card spot is lucky to have the chance. It wasn't all that long ago that such a chance didn't exist unless there was a tie. Under the pre-1994 structure, the Cubs and Astros wouldn't have a game to play at all. The Yankees and Pirates have better records than their respective opponents, but by one game. In any case, they

One game is not a "crap shoot." It's a game. You play it. If you were talking about an actual coin flip, I might be with you, but you get to come out and play

Very often, baseball comes down to one game. If teams go 3-3 in a seven game series, it comes down to one game. Would you propose extending such a series to eleven games because of the cruelty of coming down to the "crap shoot" of one more game? This ain't tennis, volleyball, or ping pong. One game, head to head, can be enough.

The Yankees, Cubs, Astros, and Pirates already had 162 games to prove their worth, and this is where they wound up. Getting stuck in a division with a colossally dominant team is a bad break, but that's baseball. It's why the wild card exists in the first place. If you can't be bothered to get your act together for one more game to keep your season alive, then go take a seat.

Agreed - The season is already way too long, the games themselves are the slowest in sport (though the constant booth reviews are sadly bringing football into that sphere now). Why prolong the agony? Me, I'd go with the old format, 140 games is plenty, then best in each league (true Pennant Winners) to the World Series to be finished by October 1st. Or maybe that would offend the beer sellers, or sports books, or other such worthy enterprises that are driving sports into the ground with the constant extensions of games and seasons?

 

[Windy City]

Wow. Harsh stuff. My Ballclub just knocked a terrific Ballclub out In A one game playoff. Am I happy? Of course. But it still doesn't mean that I agree with The structure of the system. For gods sake, the Pirates deserved a better chan e to play on. I AM 52 YEARS OLD AND AM A LIFELONG CUBS FAN. I understand better than most, that the baseball gods are cruel. And perhaps, thats what makes me rail against the injustice of the structure of this iteration of the playoff system. Maybe it's also why I couldn't buy into this game the same way as I have other Cubs playoff runs in the past. It just did t feel,like a playoff game (and I was at Wrigley when the Cubs knocked the Giants out in a one game playoff in the nineties). I feel horrible for the Pirates organization and their fans. The team won NINETY SEVEN ball games. Would I Feel the same way for "Cardianls Nation"? I'd like to think so, but probably not. Yet given the same record, they too would deserve a better opportunity of acquitting themselves in the post season.

 

[Heron]

Well, one and done (at home) two years in a row is better than twenty years of no playoffs. By the way, with Toronto in the playoffs now, which team has gone the longest since their last playoff appearance?