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I am also in favor of taking steps to recognize regular season excellence which historically meant a lot in baseball. Much like league titles in the EPL or whatever, having the best record in the National League should make you The Pennant Winner and should come with a trophy and celebration. If we build a tradition of prestige and honor around this it would make the inevitable larger postseason field more palatable because the regular season would still always "mean something". In such a scenario paired with league-wide seeding for the postseason, this year's Dodgers and Giants would still have had ample reason to fight to the bitter end for the top spot even if a Wild Card Game wasn't at risk for either of them. bawfuls fucked around with this message at 17:36 on Oct 4, 2021 |
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Oct 4, 2021 17:34
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Well Played Mauer posted:That's true, but if you can only be one game better than the two WC teams when your division has four teams under .500, it's not exactly a triumph. In the AL this year, it doesn't really make a difference, but it's bullshit that the Dodgers have to play in when the Braves don't. I was saying that to criticize the white sox. I feel real comfortable saying all four of TB, NYY, BOS and TOR are better than the White Sox and it's dumb that Toronto is out of it entirely and NYY/BOS have to play a 1 game death match. I said this the other day, that Chicago was worse than all of them, and someone was like well they had the division wrapped up forever now they are just messing around.
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Oct 4, 2021 17:36
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Nodoze posted:I feel real comfortable saying all four of TB, NYY, BOS and TOR are better than the White Sox Nothing about their actual records should give you that confidence either, all 5 of those teams are separated by 2 games.
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Oct 4, 2021 17:38
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bawfuls posted:
This is true as well but that also included a balanced schedule, I'm speaking specifically about the division era which is when the schedule changed. The schedule is linked to both the perceived problem and the solution but i also don't think MLB wants to alter the schedule until there's 32 teams and even then i really doubt they'd ever balance it because of the reliance on television money over ticket revenue. It's easy to say hey let's do what the NBA does, but the NBA schedule is largely balanced (which is easy because of the east west split). In the end it's a personal preference over where you want the unfairness in seeding to lie because neither seeding solution creates a fair result with the current schedule.
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Oct 4, 2021 17:38
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bawfuls posted:I am also in favor of taking steps to recognize regular season excellence which historically meant a lot in baseball. Much like league titles in the EPL or whatever, having the best record in the National League should make you The Pennant Winner and should come with a trophy and celebration. This would rule but no-one in North America will ever care about those things.
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Oct 4, 2021 17:39
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Darude - Adam Sandstorm posted:This would rule but no-one in North America will ever care about those things. The World Series was a hit right away but pre-expansion fans and teams absolutely still cared about winning the pennant as an end of it's own, not just because it meant a World Series berth. Maybe the pennant becomes a thing that more dedicated baseball nerds care about, because they're inclined to recognize the difficulty of that achievement over the long 6 month season. For the casual sports fan and broader tv audience nothing will top the October tournament but that's fine. bawfuls fucked around with this message at 17:43 on Oct 4, 2021 |
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Oct 4, 2021 17:41
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Darude - Adam Sandstorm posted:This would rule but no-one in North America will ever care about those things. This is pretty much exactly what I was going to post. It would be awesome, especially for a grueling and grinding 180 day season with so much travel and so many games. It should definitely be honored and seen as an enormous victory. Monetary prizes, trophies, beer celebrations. Then onto the playoffs for another chance at glory. Teams who won both would be enshrined as some of the greatest teams ever.. etc etc. It would be awesome (and never happen in the USA).
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Oct 4, 2021 17:42
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I don't really get why it would never happen. It wouldn't cost MLB anything significant to implement. It's not really a labor issue, it shouldn't produce CBA fights. The league should see it as another way to promote itself, another marketing opportunity. The prestige would come organically with time.
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Oct 4, 2021 17:45
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I guess there are three of us here that think it would be cool. But I bet that 75% of the fans that MLB does have would think it's dumb as hell and lame and "not a real trophy" which would be a problem for the marketing and promoting of it. Obviously that's just my opinion of the fans of MLB and American sports in general, I could be very wrong!
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Oct 4, 2021 17:46
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R.D. Mangles posted:Yankees/Red Sox wildcard game is aesthetically disgusting. About the only good news that will come of it is that one of them has to lose, and the other faces the Rays.
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Oct 4, 2021 17:47
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bawfuls posted:You shouldn't, the White Sox have a +160 run differential while Boston and New York have +80 and +40 respectively. Yeah one division is a lot harder than the other. All four of those teams easily win a hundred games playing the al central instead of the east
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Oct 4, 2021 17:48
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Nodoze posted:Yeah one division is a lot harder than the other.
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Oct 4, 2021 17:51
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Nodoze posted:I was saying that to criticize the white sox. I feel real comfortable saying all four of TB, NYY, BOS and TOR are better than the White Sox and it's dumb that Toronto is out of it entirely and NYY/BOS have to play a 1 game death match. I said this the other day, that Chicago was worse than all of them, and someone was like well they had the division wrapped up forever now they are just messing around. Oh yeah, I was agreeing with you.
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Oct 4, 2021 17:52
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bawfuls posted:I don't really get why it would never happen. It wouldn't cost MLB anything significant to implement. It's not really a labor issue, it shouldn't produce CBA fights. Because the entirety of North American sports is built around tournaments (largely because of geographical issues) and MLB can't change this history on their own.
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Oct 4, 2021 17:54
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counterpoint: the white sox rule
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Oct 4, 2021 17:55
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bawfuls posted:I don't really get why it would never happen. It wouldn't cost MLB anything significant to implement. It's not really a labor issue, it shouldn't produce CBA fights. The NHL has done this with the President's Trophy, and other similar accolades, for almost the entire history of the league and everyone still thinks it's afterthought.
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Oct 4, 2021 17:57
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bawfuls posted:That doesn't explain 120 runs worth of run differential, sorry. The White Sox are good and you can not say with confidence they're clearly worse than the Yankees, that's absurd. Lots of things could explain 120 runs worth of differential, did the Mariners and Blue Jays teach us nothing? Anyway, I can't honestly say whether the White Sox are better or worst than the Yankees or Red Sox, mostly because I just haven't had a chance to see many of their games. Seems to me that the fact that the AL Central is the weakest division in the AL should count for something. I mean, the difference between the AL East and the AL Central is pretty goddamn extreme - one division has 4 teams *over* .500, while the other division has 4 teams *under* .500.
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Oct 4, 2021 17:58
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kaworu posted:Lots of things could explain 120 runs worth of differential, did the Mariners and Blue Jays teach us nothing? The Yankees were 11-8 vs Baltimore, with a +39 run dif in those games. They were only +42 overall, which means the Yankees run differential against all non-Baltimore teams this year was only +3. And I'm supposed to believe this team is clearly better than the White Sox? bawfuls fucked around with this message at 18:10 on Oct 4, 2021 |
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Oct 4, 2021 18:04
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more falafel please posted:Go White Sox
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Oct 4, 2021 18:06
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bawfuls posted:Reminder that the Baltimore Orioles went 52-110 with a -297 run differential. Their record against teams NOT in the AL East was 32-54. The Orioles were terrible and all four of the other teams in that division got to pad their records and run differentials against Baltimore this year. The White Sox incidentally were 7-0 vs Baltimore this year with a +29 run differential in those games. The White Sox spent all year playing the Royals and Twins. If you put them in the AL East instead of one of TOR/NY/BOS/TB do you think they finish with the same record If you swap them with any of those 4 teams, all four of them are easily winning a hundred games playing the central instead of the east
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Oct 4, 2021 18:14
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Look, I might be wrong about the White Sox. But I'm not gonna look at them beating up a crap bag division and say definitively that they are good.
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Oct 4, 2021 18:20
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Yeesh, this playoff field sucks. Who do I root for? The White Sox I guess?
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Oct 4, 2021 18:22
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https://twitter.com/BizballMaury/status/1445053512048537614?s=19 Huge if true.
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Oct 4, 2021 18:24
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Nodoze posted:The White Sox spent all year playing the Royals and Twins. If you put them in the AL East instead of one of TOR/NY/BOS/TB do you think they finish with the same record I disagree that all four are "easily winning a hundred games playing the central" that's an absurd statement about the Yankees in particular. The Yankees went 4-2 (+8) vs KC 6-1 (+22) vs MIN 4-3 (-8) vs CLE 3-0 (+4) vs DET They also got blown up by the Mets, 2-4 (-15) This is some peak Yankees-brain to assume they'd easily win 100 in the central. Nodoze posted:Look, I might be wrong about the White Sox. But I'm not gonna look at them beating up a crap bag division and say definitively that they are good. Which is why I object to the assertion that the Yankees and Red Sox are clearly better than the White Sox.
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Oct 4, 2021 18:24
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Praise jeebus
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Oct 4, 2021 18:24
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Peggy Edson posted:Yeesh, this playoff field sucks. Who do I root for? The White Sox I guess? The Brewers, clearly.
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Oct 4, 2021 18:24
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bawfuls posted:KC and MIN were bad but not awful. Of course it matters. But Baltimore was epically bad, which somewhat balances things out. They won 92 games and went 8-11 vs Tampa and Toronto Have you ever seen them play the Twins
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Oct 4, 2021 18:25
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Their pythag was 86-76 the Yankees should feel lucky to host the WCG
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Oct 4, 2021 18:27
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Tony Phillips posted:The Brewers, clearly. Hell yeah, listening to Eucker call playoff baseball fuckin owns.
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Oct 4, 2021 18:30
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bawfuls posted:Their pythag was 86-76 the Yankees should feel lucky to host the WCG They are on the road actually! But uh, even though I don't mind pythag I think using it to say one team is better than the other is kind of silly. Especially when they don't even play the same schedule
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Oct 4, 2021 18:30
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I'm not using it to say any team is better than another. I'm using it to disprove your claim that the Yankees are obviously and clearly better than the White Sox.
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Oct 4, 2021 18:31
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Jesus christ dude
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Oct 4, 2021 18:32
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Nodoze posted:Teams going on cruise control for months at a time is a myth. The White Sox didn't just stop trying because the AL Central sucks Nodoze posted:Giants kept winning cause they had to, the Dodgers were right behind them Seems contradictory, IDK
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Oct 4, 2021 18:40
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The Pussy Boss posted:Seems contradictory, IDK It's not contradictory, the White Sox didn't have nothing to play for either. If they won more games they could have had home field advantage against Houston
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Oct 4, 2021 18:44
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Fair enough. And I think you are right, there's no way the Giants win 107 without LA chasing them down. Like you know how every team has blowouts where you can bring in the mopup guys to pitch.? Giants had maybe a couple games like that in the last two months. Every drat game was close. Tyler Rogers pitched in 80 games this year. Insane.
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Oct 4, 2021 18:56
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The White Sox easily winning their division is a sign they are good team even if it wasn't unexpected, if they barely eked out the division then sure you could argue they got lucky with a weak division but that wasn't the case. They had winning records against Toronto and Boston as well (1-5 against the Yankees though) so it wasn't like they got stomped outside their division.
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Oct 4, 2021 19:01
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If the Giants bullshit their way into another title at least this time it isn't going to include Bumgarner getting a ring
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Oct 4, 2021 19:17
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Popete posted:The White Sox easily winning their division is a sign they are good team even if it wasn't unexpected, if they barely eked out the division then sure you could argue they got lucky with a weak division but that wasn't the case. They had winning records against Toronto and Boston as well (1-5 against the Yankees though) so it wasn't like they got stomped outside their division. They didn't really stomp the central as hard as I first thought, aside from the Twins. They cleaned up against the cannon fodder like the Cubs, Reds, Pirates, Rangers and Orioles Also drat, Baltimore really laid down for Tampa. I know the Orioles suck something fierce but at least they tried to put up a fight against the other teams in the division
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Oct 4, 2021 19:18
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World Series MVP Kevin Gausman Edit: maybe Tampa is just better
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Oct 4, 2021 19:18
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Intruder posted:If the Giants bullshit their way into another title at least this time it isn't going to include Bumgarner getting a ring What's wrong with Bum other than he was annoyingly great in the postseason?
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Oct 4, 2021 19:23
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