- Both wild card games were won by the team with the best record. Good. Even so, having two one-game “playoff” games is stupid. Playing 162 games and making the “playoffs” for one whole game just doesn’t make sense. Neither does having a five-game series in the playoffs. It’s as if MLB wants lesser teams to win.
A better system would be to eliminate divisions. They were created in 1969, so it’s not like they have ancient roots. Instead each league should play a balanced schedule; the current unbalanced schedule in which teams play almost half of their games against the other four teams in their division is absurd. Repeat: absurd.
A balanced schedule would put all teams in a league on equal footing; none would play a weaker or stronger schedule. My scheme is radical, so I might as well double down and propose that MLB decrease the schedule from 162 to 154 games.[1] One hundred fifty-four is the perfect number for two reasons. First it allows each team in a league to play every other team 11 times. Second, it’s the number of games that all major league teams played from the early 20th century until 1960 when baseball expanded.[2]
Notice that there is no provision for interleague games. Even better. That was another silly Bud Selig creation (like the one-game wild card playoff), that is best discarded as quickly as possible. With 15 teams in each league and each team playing all of its games within its own league, one team in each league will always be without an opponent. So what? Let the players enjoy a few three-day vacations during the season in addition to the all-star break. I’m sure they will love it. And the fans will be able to adjust.
Ok – no interleague play, no unbalanced schedule, no divisions, and “only” 154 games. Time to tackle the playoffs: the top four teams in each league make the playoffs. The #1 and the #4 seed play in the first round, as do the #2 and #3 seeds. There will have to be a tie-break system to determine seeds, but no extra games, unless the #4 and #5 or more finished tied.
The first round will be seven games with no extra days between games. That will reward the team with deeper starting pitching. Because of travel and other off days built in to the current system, many teams only use their top three starting pitchers. The second round and the World Series would also be seven games with no extra days between games. The teams all fly charter planes, so the players will be able to handle it, just like they do all year. I might even consider a longer World Series. In the early days, a few World Series were played until a team won five games (1903 and 1919-1921).[3]
Eliminating travel days would help the better teams, who are presumably deeper in pitching and position players – otherwise they wouldn’t have won more regular season games. It would also enable the post-season to end before November. Baseball should not be played when players can see their own breath.
These ideas are available to MLB for the asking. If they want to give me two tickets to the next World Series game seven, I probably wouldn’t say no.
- In November 2004, Colin Powell, then US Secretary of State, in response to Russian interference in the elections in Ukraine, stated “We cannot accept this result as legitimate because it does not meet international standards and because there has not been an investigation of the numerous and credible reports of fraud and abuse.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10212-2004Nov24.html
In September 2017, President Donald Trump, in response to various investigations regarding Russian interference in the elections in the United States, stated “I call it the Russian Hoax, one of the great hoaxes.”
I’m not saying Trump’s victory wasn’t legitimate – it was unless someone can prove otherwise. And, as far as I can tell, nobody is even trying to. That does not mean the Russians did not interfere, which is why the investigations are important. We must determine what happened and attempt to prevent it from happening again. Calling it a hoax demeans virtually every American, all of whom know that the Russians were up to something. Whether that something worked, whether it was collusion, even whether it influenced a single vote, has not been proven – and may never be. But that doesn’t mean that the interference doesn’t matter. And it is beyond debate that their attempt to influence the election was not a hoax.
- Q: Why is Ohio State’s football team ranked above Washington State’s?
A: Pedigree.
Oh, I guess you could argue that OSU is more likely to win the rest of its game than WSU. But based on what has happened so far, there is no reason to rank OSU ahead of WSU. They have both played five games – WSU is 5-0, OSU is 4-1.
OSU has beaten juggernauts like Indiana (48th in Sagarin’s College Football Rankings — http://sagarin.com/sports/cfsend.htm ), UNLV (101), Rutgers (108), and Army (138). That’s an average ranking of 99. 99! That is an incredibly unimpressive string of victories.
WSU has done something similar, defeating Boise St. (49), Oregon St. (111), Montana St. (135) and Nevada (138). That’s an average ranking of 108, even worse than OSU, though not appreciably so.
But what about the fifth game you ask. OSU played Oklahoma (who was ranked in the top ten at the time) at home and was favored by a bit more than a touchdown. They managed to lose decisively. The final score, 31-16, was not indicative of how little chance OSU had to win. Oklahoma dominated the second half.
Meanwhile, WSU played USC (who was ranked in the top ten at the time) at home and was a five-point (or so) underdog. They won. It wasn’t decisive, but it was a victory.
To recap – OSU and WSU have played four nobodies and beaten them. They have also each played one (at the time) top ten team. WSU won; OSU lost, but is higher ranked because . . .
- Neologism (see previous post https://www.notesfromnokomis.com/?p=627 ) – peripathetic. This word was created (by yours truly) in “honor” of the Cleveland Browns. The word combines “peripatetic,” which describes a person who travels from place to place and “pathetic,” which needs no explanation. Neither does the ascription of that word to the Browns.
[1] There would be 5% fewer games. The overall impact on revenues is uncertain, but would likely be less than 5%. For example, no team operates at full capacity, so they can still sell the same number of tickets, just at slightly fewer games.
[2] Does anybody know why baseball expanded? I gave you a clue in my last post.
[3] Baseball expanded in 1960 to forestall the Federal League.
OSU being ranked in front of WSU is the result of the same BS that led to FSU remaining in the top 25 in the coaches poll, despite the fact that they were 0-2 after their first 2 games. The coaches poll is particularly ridiculous. First of all, conference coaches are inherently biased towards their own conference. They want their conference to look good. So, they vote for teams in their own conference. Second, college coaches do not really watch very much football. They only watch the teams they play. They are busy every Saturday afternoon. I guaranty that I watch much more college football than almost every Div. 1 coach does. It’s absurd that they vote in a major poll. Enough of my rant…..
I think you should be a voter. An intelligent fan is better than the coaches.