These playoffs suck
This is the worst playoff schedule ever, another great example of how MLB is willing to sacrifice fairness and the long-term interests of the game in order to make a quick buck and satisfy their broadcast partners.
Simply, the more crazy rest days there are in and between series, the more thin teams, particularly thin teams with one or two ace pitchers, are rewarded, and the more they make the playoffs into a different competition than the regular season.
For example: if you can put together a team with a good bunch of starting position players (however you want: offense, defense, it doesn’t matter here) but hampered by a horrible bench, where the starting rotation goes great-great-suck-suck-suck and the bullpen has one or two lights-out pitchers, you might struggle to win 90 games in a season. A better-balanced team — a better team — with deeper pitching and quality reserves — might win far more games than you over a season.
In this playoff format, though, it doesn’t matter: they can ride those two starters, those two relievers all series long, because with all the rest days they don’t need a deep staff. Reserves aren’t as important in a playoff series anyway, but with that many rest days they’re almost entirely irrelevant. The roster construction that made for a consistent, successful team are in some ways opposed to those that make a team that can thrive in this crazy scheduling.
Baseball, boredom, baseball, a rhythm that forms a paradise for the 1997 Marlins — this isn’t what I want out of the playoffs.
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At least the head to head matchups are excellent.
…
I agree fully. There should only be one off day per series, and the series should start immediately after the season ends. It’s a load of crap that the Yankess get *THREE* days rest before their series starts. I’m rooting hard for the Rockies make the World Series so the snowouts will make MLB think twice before they schedule November games.
At least TBS doesn’t have all the gimmicks of a typical FOX broadcast, even if their announcers are beyond horrible.
“It’s a load of crap that the Yankess get *THREE* days rest before their series starts.”
But it’s not a load of crap that the Indians get those same three rest days, because, you know, it’s not like they had any say in it.
“I agree fully. There should only be one off day per series, and the series should start immediately after the season ends.”
This I agree with, though.
Baseball is a business and TV ratings are important. It’s as simple as that.
I hate playoff baseball, and I hate that I end up loving playoff baseball. I really wish we could just do it English Premiereship style…the season ends. I’ve never liked the emphasis on fickle short series while a 162-game marathon much truer test seems to be quickly forgotten.
And then I end up watching every game.
I kinda agree, but kinda don’t, especially since we have two leagues. ^^;
Other things I’d be in favor of seeing: shorter seasons to allow for Champion’s League style games between clubs from other countries and an end to the traditional minor-league system, replacing it with something like the English have, with promotion and relegation.
I have no idea how that could be implemented but it could be interested.
Spahn And Sain And Pray For Rain. The Diamondbacks know this well. Sad the playoffs last until November. A shorter season would screw up the statheads.
not to mention that some of the involved cities (Chicago for one) have few houses able to get TBS….
ok, just a little weird. over on FSN, Rich Waltz is on the sidelines as Drew Bledsoe & Mark Brunell go head to head in the Apple Cup. man, there were a lot of future NFL players on those two teams.
If there is any one thing I’d introduce to “America” (now that the beer is finally better) from Europe, it’s “relegation”. Okay, there’s also new generation enviro-friendly diesel cars, a real train system and 10,000 other things, but the relegation thing would be such a positive.
I wonder what “division” the Pirates would be in by now in a relegation system?
Yeah yeah yeah, relegation doesn’t work in baseball as currently established, it’s a lovely romantic concept but you’d have to smash baseball as it exists today entirely.
But let’s not let the corruption of European sports in, thanks.
Ah, but as boring as the playoffs might be, MLB has played the ace up its sleeve. The games are only broadcast on cable. Thus, those such as myself who don’t have cable are spared hours of tedium, and can add days of productive time to the month. You never know, there might be a good game or two; guess I’d be forced to download those somewhere Bud Selig doesn’t know about.
I laughed out loud at that. Yeah, there’s a whole other rant somewhere about how much baseball’s doing to limit its markets by tying itself to cable broadcasting.
so, looking at it, the East Coast teams will have day games during the week, and no day baseball when the kids are actually home on the weekend. well, unless they are the Yankees.
and woohoo.
“Chip Caray and analysts Tony Gwynn and Bob Brenly will be the lead crew and will work this round and the NLCS. The other announcing teams for the first round will be Dick Stockton and Ron Darling, Ted Robinson and Steve Stone, and Don Orsillo and Joe Simpson.”
Actually, with as many off days as there are, a really deep bullpen could help overcome a really awful rotation spot or two. Don’t like your number 3 starter? Tell him to pitch 3 innings all out, and then go to the bullpen for the rest of the game. Everyone gets to throw all out, and sure, you might be screwed if there are extra innings, but you might be more screwed if you need your 3rd starter to get to the fifth inning. And if you have the next day off, everyone in the ‘pen gets an off day.
I wouldn’t have as much problem bastardizing the strategy like this if the team with the best regular season record got more credit. That is, if it was clearly recognized by everyone that winning the regular season is completely different than winning this crazy, messed-up tournament, and that winning the tournament was no better or worse than winning the regular season–just different. As it is, if you have the best regular season record and don’t win the tournament, you’re looked upon as a failure when clearly you’ve put together a great team.
not only that, but TBS has exclusive rights to the division series games, so unlike other years, playoff cities can’t also broadcast the game on a local channel
“Yeah, there’s a whole other rant somewhere about how much baseball’s doing to limit its markets by tying itself to cable broadcasting.”
Yes and no. Cable is a very accessible option for most people to consume television broadcasts, as well as being (relatively) affordable. It’s not as if people are forced to buy a satellite dish, wrap it in Egyptian cotton and stand on one foot to get a clear signal.
While the asinine scheduling is a completely separate issue, can you really blame MLB for not giving its product away for free?
Cable isn’t really all that affordable. For anyone near the poverty level it is an extreme expense. I assume that MLB and the TV networks are not advertising to poor people. By the way, this makes them no worse than other sports leagues and many businesses. They do not care about you if you do not have money to give them.
MLB never gives its product away for free. The broadcast networks paid for the rights when they broadcast it. They just have one of the worst ideas of long-term strategy that I can think of.
This schedule wackiness is exactly why I stopped watching the NBA. At one point it felt like they were only playing on weekends. I’m completely in agreement with you on this.
MLB is trying to give the NBA a run for the title of “worst postseason.”
17:
If you want to use an extreme example, then I suppose cable TV is a significant expense for someone at the poverty line. I happen to believe that:
1) Somebody at the poverty line has more important things to worry about than seeing playoff baseball game on TV for free.
2) Realistically, AM radio is free. It’s not a perfect solution, but it is a free solution.
I find it funny that some hold professional sports to a higher standard when it comes to the price of its product. Google doesn’t give out free advertising and Chevron doesn’t give away free gasoline; why would Major League Baseball give away free airtime during its most popular stretch of games?
19:
At least the NBA scrapped the 5-game series in the first round.
I don’t think I’ve ever agreed more, Derek.
Further, which is the one team that might deserve the extra day of rest?
The Rockies, who played last night.
But, no.
Yeah, the playoffs are so important now, they’re broadcast on a crappy cable channel that isn’t carried in HD in most markets. I know the media loved to say how poor a draw the playoffs were on fox, but this isn’t going to help.
Derek– Does the ‘01 Diamondbacks pretty much fall into your description? I don’t think they had much of a team outside of Johnson and Shilling.
Anyone else notice how the Rockies had the best run differential in the NL this year? And also better than the Angels or the Tigers?
3 – “Baseball is a business and TV ratings are important. It’s as simple as that.”
It’s not as simple as that. Broadcast sports, heck broadcast anything, is full of terrible short-term or greed-based decisions that end up doing more harm to the business than good.
FOX might not care about the long-term health of the sport, but MLB obviously should… and they screwed up by letting it happen. Or, if they couldn’t stop it, they screwed up when they agreed to a contract that ceded control to FOX.
21 – Good points. And the so-called ‘poverty line’ is nothing but hogwash, anyway.
What makes the NCAA Tournament so great is the huge numbers of games over the first two weekends of the tournament. It builds so much momentum that when most of the teams have been eliminated, you can’t help to watch when it does slow down with fewer teams.
I’m not saying they should expand MLB to 64 teams and let them all in, but I agree. Speed it up and get the first two rounds over with. People will find a way to watch if there is no time to lose the momemtum of the prior games and rounds.
I was serious — baseball and cable ties into broadcast rights and territories, and it’s a whole other super-complicated rant.
Don’t think you won’t get it eventually because I’m not getting into it here.
21 – “Google doesn’t give out free advertising and Chevron doesn’t give away free gasoline…”
What? I’m not sure I even understand how those two examples are related let alone how they relate to MLB and its options.
“…why would Major League Baseball give away free airtime during its most popular stretch of games?”
No one is suggesting this. MLB would always make money whether they sold to cable or broadcast networks.
Maybe I’m just too drunk to understand your logic, but I doubt it. Whatever, I give up. MLB is stupid and the broadcast companies are greedy. We can probably all agree on that.
16 – “Yes and no. Cable is a very accessible option for most people to consume television broadcasts, as well as being (relatively) affordable. It’s not as if people are forced to buy a satellite dish, wrap it in Egyptian cotton and stand on one foot to get a clear signal.”
That’s not “yes and no”, that’s “could’ve been worse.” They are still limiting their market.
“While the asinine scheduling is a completely separate issue, can you really blame MLB for not giving its product away for free?”
What scenario has them giving it away for free?
21 – “1) Somebody at the poverty line has more important things to worry about than seeing playoff baseball game on TV for free.”
That’s crap. Seriously. F**k poor kids, they should be washing your car, not watching a ball game?
Being poor doesn’t mean you shouldn’t watch a ball game. And not being able to afford cable tv doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t work your ass off, either.
“2) Realistically, AM radio is free. It’s not a perfect solution, but it is a free solution.”
That’s not a solution, really, it’s an alternative. So is just reading the box score the next day.
“I find it funny that some hold professional sports to a higher standard when it comes to the price of its product. Google doesn’t give out free advertising and Chevron doesn’t give away free gasoline; why would Major League Baseball give away free airtime during its most popular stretch of games?”
1. Who said FOX or MLB should give it away?
2. Doesn’t your Google example disprove your entire point? They sell ads, right? Not making you pay a monthly fee?bYou think charging per search would increase their user-base or decrease it?
2. The point was that they are limiting their market. It was a comment on bad strategy, not “They have no right!”
Agreed, Derek. The one thing that gets on my nerves about pro league postseasons are the contrived days off for media concerns, not just in MLB but the NBA and NHL too.
Any ideas for suggestions on improving the current format? I’m at a bit of a loss myself beyond ‘go back to playing playoff games everyday and screw it if the networks don’t like it.’
John in L.A.,
Thank you so much for being able to explain what I have wanted to say since October 2nd, 2007 at 9:38 pm.
Sincerely,
giuseppe
27 – “And the so-called ‘poverty line’ is nothing but hogwash, anyway.”
I have no idea what you mean by “the poverty line is hogwash”, and I’m probably better off not knowing.
But since the only reason the expression was used was to indicate that at some point a small expense becomes a big burden, I think I can safely guess that whatever you meant by hogwash is pretty irrelevant here.
Daygames on the weekend would be nice.
34 – Really? I doubt it’s an appropriate discussion to have here, but I firmly stand by that statement.
When I was a kid, I had to skip school or sneak in a radio to get any of the daytime World Series games. I was thrilled when they started playing night games.
Somehow we went from a short and sweet post-season, to playing the 7th game of the Series on Nov. 1. And instead of my friendly neighborhood TV station carrying games at night when I’m home from work, I have to have extended cable and hope they carry the right channel. I remember some games on ESPN2 when our cable company didn’t carry it. And instead of having a travel day scheduled for a reason, the networks get to decide when they can most profitably show the games.
We’ve lost the intensity of a short post-season and the momentum that can be built during a longer post-season to pick up casual viewers going into the World Series. Nice job, MLB.
It could be worse. MLB could’ve made the playoffs only available to DirecTV subscribers…
Or mlb.com.
I’m more likely to watch at mlb.com than I am to sign up for TBS.
BTW, Verducci at SI had this same rant a couple of weeks ago (though, amusingly, he speculated that the biggest beneficiary of the format might be the Padres…)
Then again, extra days of rest may save the Rockies … and I’m pulling for them after watching the third-most-awesome one-game playoff of my lifetime (behind only Seattle-Anaheim, 1995 and New York-Boston, 1978).
Is there any doubt now that Matt Holliday will be the NL MVP?
But in general, DMZ … point taken. Hell, I won’t see any of the games anyway unless I’m in a bar because a) I don’t have cable; and b) I work afternoons and nights.
How long till nine-game playoff series(es)?
Totally agree that this has got to be the suckiest post-season scheme ever. I don’t even know what’s worse — the retarded scheduling with all the unnecessary “rest” days, or the fact that due to limited cable I’ll hardly be able to watch any of it for the first two weeks, anyway.
Well, the Cubbies and D-Backs are playing at 7 o’clock tomorrow night. Maybe I can go catch THAT one down at the bar — and at least, for one night, deprive the Fox nazis the satisfaction of getting any friggin’ Neilsen points off MY TV for the season premiers of whatever idiotic reality shows they’re trying to jam down our throats ’til they get around to showing the World Series! >:(
How long till nine-game playoff series(es)?
1889 Brooklyn Bridegrooms, here we come…
For years one of the main arguments against expanding the DS to 7 games was, ‘Then the World Series would drag on into November.’ Well, its that way now. Fill those off-days with the extra games and call it good.
If baseball is just a business, I hope that baseball, sportswriters, and baseball fans will stop pretending it is something different, something more special, etc.
If baseball is just a business, I hope congress will finally take away the antitrust exemption.
If baseball is just a business, I hope people will stop feeling betrayed when players treat it like a business.
If baseball were really just a business, would any of us follow it so passionately?
Of course baseball is a business. Of course it is also more than a business. Can we stop with the crap arguments that being a business trumps everything else?
As for libertoonian assertions about poverty, the less said the better.
I agree that this playoff scheme is damaging to baseball, and that it is frustrating to see imbalanced teams rewarded and balanced teams penalized. At least it isn’t quite as bad as the NBA, where the game fundamentally changes in the playoffs, and everyone just shrugs and says Well That’s Playoff Basketball to excuse physical play that verges on football.
I’m even willing to grant 2 rest 2 rest 1 but this red sox series is a joke.
and attendance records or no, doesn’t MLB want to grow their fanbase, especially among kids who are already atarting to turn away from the game?
Ken Rosenthal thinks it’s a great idea!
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/7291710
Ken Rosenthal is a tool.
sheesh. I hadn’t looked recently– to get TBS in Seattle is $50.00 a month.
another reason to dread the playoffs …
“Jeter Never Fails To Shine When Calendar Turns To Fall”
Are we sure they don’t just suck because Bob Melvin and Pat Gillick are in the playoffs?
49- Ditto, Ken is a tool. He is saying that only 2/5ths of regular season baseball is worth watching cause most teams only have 2 good starters on avg, if that. DUMB!
We get TBS as part of an ‘extended’ package with Comcast. My wife wanted the IFC and I wanted ESPN 2(i like college football) so TBS was part of the package.
I watched my first TBS baseball broadcast in forever when the Rockies-Padres game was on Monday night. It was rather awful. That said, almost everyone does every sport better than Fox. Talk about shameless self-promotion. I really do get having to advertise, but good lord…
They Myth of Jeter took hold early and will never die.
Jeter, regular season career: 317-388-462
Jeter, postseason career: 314-384-479
I’m not Jeter fan, but to be able to put up almost your exact career line in the post-season would seem pretty good to me. You’re not facing the D-Rays 19 times and it’s usually some pretty good pitching in usually more high leverage situations. I agree there’s a ‘Myth of Jeter’ in the post-season, but it’s not as if he’s batting .250 either. And with as many appearences as the Yankees have the last 10 years, there’s a pretty good sample size now.
the PI does its seasons-end wrap today, including a ‘no excuse for missing the playoffs’ column by Thiel, with an odd final thought…
But he has calm eyes! And he’s a Yankee! And he knows how to win!
A-Rod career postseason: .280/.362/.485
Cap’n Jetes has an extra 19 points of OPS, and that is only after A-Rod’s 2 horrific ALDS performances in ‘05 and ‘06
I suppose times are changing, but for me growing up the playoffs (and baseball coming to network TV) was one of the best times of the year. I know it helped me retain interest in the game. Cable isn’t an option if you live in a rural area, the minidish companies hadn’t taken off yet…and my family certainly wasn’t willing to pay the cash for a full satellite dish.
So during the year I listened to games on the radio (towards the end usually internet radio, since MLB hadn’t decided to kill that yet). I could catch a few games on TV, and every once in a while would get to head over to Seattle to see one live, but the playoffs were really the only chance I had to see a bunch of games in a row.
I’m just not sure whether the whole network–>Fox–>TBS shift has been a cause, or a symptom, of the marginalization of baseball as a popular sport.
Oh man, I totally agree there’s an almost unbearable stench of bs everytime Jeter is talked about in regards to well…anything.
#57– IIRC, weren’t Alex’ numbers vs Boston just fine (and the Yanks were winning) until the turnaround?
oh, and speaking of the eye of the beholder, you gotta love Boras: apparently he thinks $20M per/7 years for Andruw is about right.
58:
Has baseball really become marginalized as a popular sport? MLB sets a new attendance record every season, it has begun serious expansion into Asia and has done a very good job of leveraging new media sources like mlb.tv. As an organization, I would say that Major League Baseball has been very proactive in maintaining its status as a marquee sports league.
The sainted Cubs are in the playoffs, and the evil Mets are not, so this is one of the best playoffs ever.
Regarding the schedule, I’m already tired of listening to the northeast media whine about the late start times of games. If they don’t like it, they should move to the Best Coast, and miss all the games that start at Noon.
I’m glad that my Mets didn’t make the season because I don’t want any part of whatever Dane Cook is talking about.
The evil Mets? What exactly makes those purveyors of failure, those lovable losers, the Mets, evil? Hispanic players? New York City? Shea Stadium?
oh, and speaking of the eye of the beholder, you gotta love Boras: apparently he thinks $20M per/7 years for Andruw is about right.
Boras is a genius; he’ll probably get that.
Just wait until Santana gets his 6 year/$180 million contract next offseason.
DMZ wrote:
You mean the National League isn’t second division?
Seriously, this is one mega-shared rant. If it were up to me, the regular season would be shorter (probably back to 154 games), playoffs would start 1-2 days after the regular season (you have to leave a day for one-game playoffs like SD-Colorado), all teams would have as close to the same amount of rest as all other teams (or alternatively, as suggested, the “easier” schedules would be earned by a better record, in a balanced regular-season schedule), and under NO circumstance would the World Series end later than Halloween.
Teams that have a punishing stretch run should play the first round tired. That way there’s an incentive to lock up the division early.
But to make playing that first series tired be worth anything, it should probably be a 7 game series.
The evil Mets? What exactly makes those purveyors of failure, those lovable losers, the Mets, evil?
They have a higher payroll* than the Mariners; that automatically makes them evil.
*Granted, only by ~$9M, or somewhere between a Weaver and a Washburn.
The Mets are evil because of 1969.
The two reason the Cubs didn’t win it all in 1969:
1. The Evil Mets.
2. Richard Nixon, who in mid-August 1969 told a soldier from Chicago about to be deployed to Vietnam that the Cubs had a great chance to win the World Series that year.
There may have been other reasons, but I didn’t know much about statistics in 1969, so I’m sticking to this story.
hmmm. does being a current Cub negate the Ex-Cub factor?
My wish is for the scheduling of the playoffs to be like the NCAA Basketball tournament. I would love to have 3 games going at once. If one is lame, bounce to another one. Game times should be scheduled appropriately in regards to home team. Day games at Wrigley of course. Off days only for travel. Pipe dream yes, but in the long run I think MLB would find it gets more fringe fans interested.
Who here thinks the Mariners are going to sign Tom Glavine to be their number two starter? 300 wins? Now that’s a track record.
and he has that hockey background, so you know he is gritty as well as veteran.
Right after the sign Julio for the Mateo / Parrish / White gascan reliever slot.
I hate TBS. But not as much as I hate Fox. Both have terrible commentators, and neither is available in HD on Dish Network.
As for the TBS broadcast of the Rockies-Pads one-game playoff, didn’t Joe Simpson get the memo that this was *not* a Braves broadcast? Hello, the vast majority of the audience doesn’t care if Chipper Jones wins the batting title. He must’ve mentioned about 30 times how Matt Holliday has to fail at the plate in order for Chipper to attain the top NL batting average.
On the Fox side, I can’t stand anyone they trot out there, either as the primary announcer, or the color commentator. And Kevin Kennedy is useless, both as a manager, and in the studio.
Baseball isn’t marginalized? True story: I went into a bar after work yesterday with my Diamondbacks (I’m resettled here from Phx) cap, and the guy next to me not only had no idea the playoffs were occuring, but he had no idea who the Diamondbacks were and even had no idea that there was a Central Division.
But he knew who Mel Ott was.
He knows it’s football season, though. Watches the Seahawks every Sunday.
If it ain’t on broadcast TV for some people, it don’t exist. And it has nothing to do with economic background.
And, yeah, it costs fifty bucks to get TBS, but that doesn’t include the cost of installation and (since I don’t watch anything but baseball on live TV) the cost of deinstalling it after the playoffs are done.
“Jeter’s calm eyes”: I always think he looks stoned. Is that the same thing?
Then again, I don’t have a woody for The Captain like so many baseball broadcasters/writers.
Perhaps if the WS is rained/snowed completely out, MLB will do something to stop this insanity.
anybody watching vs listening to the first game? who is the HP ump?
Dale Scott is HP ump.
A never ending question: Is Bob Melvin better or the division he is worse?
50: Based on this cable-only “wave of the future” post-season scheme that all the major sports leagues seem to be headed toward, here’s a thought…wouldn’t it be nice if, instead of paying $50-60 per month just to get a few channels that you REALLY watch on “Extended Basic”, you could instead subscribe to a “customer’s choice” package for, say, $30-35 per month with the option of customizing it to whatever your interests are (i.e. sports, movies, classic TV, etc.)? I know I would jump at the chance to order a custom package of FSN, ESPN 1 & 2, TBS, Versus, and maybe a couple of other sports channels for $10-15 more per month rather than having to pay $30-40 more per month to get a chunk of channels for which I might watch 5-10 of on a regular basis then wind up deleting the rest off my remote.
Like I said, just wishful thinking. I realize cable companies are too f-ing greedy to actually come up with anything so creative.
I saw the list of UZR ratings published today…Is there a logical explaination why Carl Crawford is rated below average, Magglio at +14 in RF and Ichiro at -14 in CF?!
Discussed in the previous post.
Is there a reason why Ichiro is rated as a NEGATIVE anything other than the possibility that whoever published those ratings is smoking something?
That pitcher for the Rockies… What is he, about 12 years old?
Don’t those Rockies know that they can’t win with young pitchers?
So much for that listen to the games on free AM radio thing. At least in Portland, I couldn’t get the Rockies-Phillies game in the car.
And to me, the Mets will always be Amazin’.
Can’t believe this game’s actually on KJR-AM. I know they claim to be “Seattle’s home for major league baseball,” but it seems like every year when the playoffs roll around, they only get around to having a few of the games on, anyway.
That’s weird. I usually come to this site to read
A. Vidro Sucks
B. Bloomquist Sucks
C. The Front Office Sucks
D. Hagrove Sucks / McLaren Sucks
Now its
E. The Playoffs Suck
What’s next?
F. The World Series Sucks
and then when we get to
G. Baseball Sucks
there will be no reason to keep reading.
87 – Dude, you must have a tiny life to come here and complain about people complaining.
Let’s see if that works.
“Baseball sucks”
Now you can stop reading.
“Flash” Gordon is in for the Phils? Sheez, he’s like 97 years old isn’t he?
Think I’d rather him though than Mesa.
KJR & the other station I only get in some parts of the house are carrying most of them, as far as I can tell:
#87 – That’s odd, because what I also see is…
A. Ichiro Rules
B. Beltre Rules
C. Adam Jones is awesome
D. Putz & Sherrill are awesome
E. Felix is King
What’s next? They claim to love baseball and that they’re die-hard fans of the Mariners? Oh, the insanity of it all!
Must be a glass half-empty/ half-full thing…
Walt Jocketty is out as general manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, one year after the team won the World Series for the first time since 1982. “I think we had a little different philosophy and vision with respect to some baseball issues,” owner Bill DeWitt Jr. said Wednesday.
I agree that there shouldn’t be any more rest days added to the post season. Actually you are partly covering the reason why I believe the As, barring this year, don’t do as well in the postseason as the regular season. The patient approach to hitting fares well against the average pitcher, but when you go into postseason the starting staff is the top 3 (or 4), and now 2 from your rotation. Surely, not the best way to determine which team should be best suited to win the championship.
I may be in the minority here, but I like Joe Simpson. He was a color man for the Mariners way back when I was a kid. I have missed him alot over the years. He was never afraid to speak his mind while not being too over the top while doing it.
I did notice him rambling about the batting title and Chipper, but I’ll take him over anybody Fox will throw out there.
Hmm. Lackey doesn’t seem so “awesome” today.
I think the Fox crew tends to just be generally bad as a rule.
Joe Simpson may not be the greatest PBP guy in the world, but yes, compared to most of the ass-clowns that Fox puts behind a mic, he almost reminds one of Vin Scully.
96: Er, to add another twist to that…
Tonight…on the Channel 87 Late Movie…a sports-horror cult classic…David Ortiz, Josh Beckett, Kevin Youkilis and Man-nah Ramirez star in…
DIE ANGELS DIE!
I was beginning to get a little worried there, but thank goodness, TBS managed to get the obligatory Jeter Fix up on the screen so that we all can make it until tomorrow.
I love America so much – I must buy a Chevy.
100 Yeah, he deserves to go back to John Cougar for that.
Joining already in progress:
Relegation will not work in baseball because of the farm system. It sounds nice to “promote” Sacramento while relegating the Rays, but Sacramento is the A’s minor league team — what of all those players that should be under Oakland club control? And how you going to realign, especially if it’s just for one year?
The reason promotion/relegation works with the English League is because the country is much smaller than the US. Newcastle to London is 272 miles. Bellingham to Portland is 262 miles. So a small country means you could have a 20 team division. Here a 30 team division just wouldn’t work.
I’m not minding Dick Stockton with the D-Backs/Cubs. He’s at least done it. Everyone else sucks.
good thing the D-Backs have all those gritty veterans playing.
103 – same thing with the rockies.
Unlike the AL, I don’t really have a major hate-on for any of the NL PS teams this year…however, what cracked me up about tonight’s game in Phoenix is that they FINALLY get a certified sellout at Chase Field — and then half the crowd (or so it seemed) were rooting for the Cubbies anyway!
[Piniella]
Anyone else notice the D-Backs’ run differential this season (-20)? And they managed to squeeze out two more wins than the M’s. Main difference is, I see the D-Backs turning that differential around next season, and then some.
Relegation will not work in baseball because of the farm system.
I think the original point about making MLB like European football was that MLB should follow the European way of settling league championships. In European leagues, the season is one long championship tournament in which every team plays every other team in the league twice, once home and once away, and the team with the most points at the end of the season is the champion – there are no playoffs.
This probably wouldn’t work in MLB, because to do that you’d have to collapse all the divisions and both leagues into one big league, and return to a perfectly balanced schedule; with separate leagues, you’d still have to have a World Series, to let the winners of the individual leagues play off against each other in some sort of championship playoff.
Small point, but I think the true “worst playoff schedule ever” may have been that Baseball Network thing ABC tried where all four games were at the same time. Not that this year doesn’t suck eggs.
the team with the most points at the end of the season is the champion – there are no playoffs….This probably wouldn’t work in MLB
There’s exactly zero chance of that in baseball. Despite the moans about ratings for the playoffs, they’re still very profitable for everybody involved. Not to mention interest would tend to diminish over the course of the season for all but the two or three teams near the top of the standings: right now, at any given time there are six division leaders and at least that many teams that think they have a shot at the wildcard which translates into a lot more $ for everyone. And that’s even before you discuss getting rid of the World Series. Which simply Isn’t. Going. To Happen.
Anyone else notice the D-Backs’ run differential this season (-20)? And they managed to squeeze out two more wins than the M’s. Main difference is, I see the D-Backs turning that differential around next season, and then some.
Yes, this has been commented on several times, both here and other places; likewise the fact that Colorado has the largest run differential (which isn’t entirely a result of playing half their games at Coors). But if Arizona goes deep in the playoffs, the myth of Bob Melvin, baseball genius, will begin to grow. (He’s been lucky, obviously, and I still am annoyed at his insistence on the same 5 starters for an entire year, but this year he’s “used 141 unique lineups in 156 games, most in the majors” which would be a refershing change from certain “gotta stick with what has continued to not work, especially if they’re veterans” management styles).
106: Yeah, I hear ya, Joser — seems like I’ve been to WAY too many of those BOS & NYY games at Safeco myself where I feel like I’m outnumbered!
I’ve been to Chase/Bank One before, too…not quite the Safe, but still a nice park. Interestingly, there’ve always been a lot of Cubs fans in AZ…probably because (1) they’ve have been doing ST out there for, like, forever; (2) a lot of folks from the Midwest have relocated there; & (3) WGN was available on a lot of cable systems around the country (partly why the Cubbies are so recognizable). It’s a shame that the D-Backs don’t draw more than do…but then again, Phoenix has always been kind of a strange sports town, anyway.
I was scratching my head a little at Lou pulling Zambrano as well. The TBS guys mentioned that he’d had heat exhaustion during a game earlier this year, and that Lou didn’t want to take any chances…however, by that point in the game, wasn’t the temp down to probably the low-80’s with about 10% humidity? Hardly think THAT’S gonna zap out a big kid like CZ!
But then, Sweet Lou DOES have a bit of history when it comes to head-scratchers — lest we forget, Game 2 of the 2000 ALCS, when John Halama gets lifted an inning earlier than he probably could and SHOULD have (he was under 100 pitches after 6, I believe — and tying the Yanks in knots with his off-speed junk). End result? Arthur Rhodes pitching to David Justice (a guy who hit like about .900 off of him, it seemed)…a seven-run 8th for the Skanks…and coming home with a split for Game 3 when he could have been up by two. >:(
BTW, I’m not too fond of the D-Backs new colors, either — too much like the Angels’!
108. Also, MLB used to sort of do things that way, where both leagues were each just one big division, and whoever had the best record in each league met in the World Series, with no playoffs unless teams were tied at year’s end.
The thing with playoffs (and part of the reason MLB split 2 divisions into 3 in each league and devised the Wildcard) is that it keeps more teams and fanbases involved in a postseason race, as playing for 3rd or 4th place down the stretch wouldn’t maintain too many attention spans these days.
107: I would tend to agree with that, given the number of kids on that team who haven’t hit their prime yet.
oooh, Mount Vernon’s own Kyle Kendrick, who (as he pointed out himself) “was about 10 years old watching him pitch for the Mariners” when he first saw his teammate Jamie Moyer.
speaking of Moyer, I wonder how the umpire crews shift with the next rounds — I was thinking about Lou bursting a bloodvessel over CB Bucknor “smirking” at him a few years ago, after I saw the Boston Daily blog this morning:
“In 2003, Sports Illustrated conducted a fairly extensive players-survey and one of the questions they asked was, who is the worst umpire in baseball? Bucknor was the landslide winner. Bucknor has worked a lot of Red Sox games this year, and each time he has had the plate his strike zone has had a Choose Your Own Adventure feel. (ask the Phillie fan about the squeeze job C.B. put on Jamie Moyer a week ago)”
there’s a chance that either Moyer or Lou or both could draw him next series…
Yeah, as soon as Zambrano was pulled somebody asked me if he was hurt and if not, why was Lou changing hourses. I had just answered “Well, Lou has kind of a history of questionable pitching decisions” when the D’backs went yard. That said, we usually complain about coaches leaving pitchers in one inning too long, rather than pulling them too soon; but in this case Zambrano didn’t look tired or struggling or showing any of the other warning signs. (Lou was asked about this in the post-game press conference, of course. “I trust my bullpen,” Piniella said. “I’ve got confidence in them. Period. End of the story.”)
As to the D’Backs unis… why don’t they each have a big diamond on their backs? Seems obvious and appropriate. The little stripe down the legs of their pants could be a line of diamonds too. (Heck, they could go back to pin-stripes if they actually were tiny diamonds). I always wanted to see their uniforms be snakeskin prints, but that’s never going to happen. But yeah, the colors are neither flattering nor unique — the purple and teal they had the last time they were in the postseason were arguably worse, of course, but you’d think they could come up with something that looked better than what you’d get if you took the Angels and rolled them in dust.
preceeded, of course, by a heavy Lou sigh, and the Lou early-warning signal of addressing the fool who asked the question as ’sir’ (”I’m not accused of anything, sir. I’ve got a good bullpen here, OK?”)
hey! Larry Stone has next season’s preliminary schedule, with the interleague foes the NL East– *except* the Phillies ….
Has anyone else heard that Johnny Mac sound-bite on KJR about wanting more speedy players. He says that he like fast players and would like to look for some in the off-season. I really hope I heard that wrong and Dave or Derek tell me I’m completely mistaken. I wonder if he looked at the Angels and went, ‘Hey! That works!’
115: I’ve never been a big fan of Bucknor, either — he strikes me as being both too abrasive and too arrogant. Though I certainly don’t condone either violence or poor sportsmanship, if Lou had wiped that “smirk” off his face a few years back by smashing him in the teeth and costing him a trip to the dentist, that wouldn’t have been any skin off my front!
116: The coolest thing about those funky D-Backs unis might be that arm patch logo with the letters “d” and “b” forming a snake’s head. You’re right, they could’ve gotten more creative with that by maybe putting a larger version of that somewhere else on the jersey — even on the back. I just can’t help thinking, though, that that uni design was brought to you by the same design team who came up with that strange and evil-looking dragon’s head/”fire monster” logo that graces the Calgary Flames third jersey.
Oh boy…you mean we don’t get the Phils, yet we get to play the ever-so-exciting Nats?
and not even a Nats with Doyle scenario ….
this is one slow-moving game.
ooh, and a ‘borderline balk move’ by Morales picks off the runner.
I wonder if Derek has any comments on the video of the Rockies pitcher pouring liquid on his jersey.
Derek has already written it up @ the cheater’s guide blog.
ah. Kyle Lohse.
Should have let the kid keep pitching.
to Kaz Matsui no less.
Oh no…Mesa (a.k.a. Senor Petro Can) is up in the Phils’ bullpen.
Apparently, Manuel is fixing to throw up the white flag…
Derek has already written it up @ the cheater’s guide blog.
Must have been one amazing writeup – I just tried to access the cheater’s guide blog from my work, and our webfilter (or, as I like to call it, the eGrandmother) blocked it. Reason? “Pornography”.
This game is far from over, but the Phillies deserve to be spanked by homers for approving the plans for that ballbark.
I have visited Citizen Bank. It is a nice place, but the left and right field alleys are ridiculous. No outward curvature from the corners at all.
Betcha Kaz Matsui is glad he got the hell outta NY when he did — he gets to have a little PS fun this year!
Just how often can they play that dreadful Patriotic Chevy™ commercial? (Every single goddamn break, it seems.)
Oh, and omedetô Matsui!
It oughta be about 10-3 Rocks by the end of this inning…
Funny…Gary Thorne just remarked how the fans were “quick to jump on Mesa.”
Really, Gary? You don’t say!
“Mesa can’t find the inside of the plate”
ah. memmmmmmmmmmreeeeeeeeessssss………..
Actually, Barbara Streisand might be a better pitcher in this situation…
Ah…ya gotta love good ole’ Senor Petro Can!
holy crap, scott you might just call it. nice.
Why did Spillborghs waste our time by swinging at any of those pitches?
And then Mesa throws a strike — halfway to that 10 predicted by scott19.
think Moyer is having flashbacks to July 15, 1999?
Jump on him? They’re throwing bottles. Which actually, by ugly Phillie fan standards, is denotes mild disapproval.
Somebody just threw a bottle out on the field, too…
Phillies fans are always such GOOD sports!
141: Probably.
oh, was this the Kaz Matsui the Mets tried to get from Japan?
Hopefully the bottle was directed at Mesa (or Manuel) – might actually improve their chances.
This game was well within reach until Mesa came on. Now the comeback will have to be heroic.
Strangely, Kaz-Mat is only a SINGLE away from the cycle — which is usually the easiest to get.
Then again, if Mesa sticks around, he just might get another at bat yet this inning!
oh, was this the Kaz Matsui the Mets tried to get from Japan?
Yeah, but they were shipped the wrong one. Apparently, the Rockies finally figured it out and got the right one shipped over in time for the playoffs.
Just watch the Rockies win this game, then blow the next three. OTOH, has any team ever been on this sort of tear? What, 16-1 over their last 17?
Damn…that’s it…I’m starting my 1-900 psychic line!
Oh boy…you mean we don’t get the Phils, yet we get to play the ever-so-exciting Nats?
We get the Nats even in years we aren’t playing the NL East (or at least we did when they were called the Expos). See 2005, for example.
Man, Matsui is having a heck of a game. This team looks like the “every day a different hero” 2001 M’s. Except the Rox are doing it in the postseason.
145 – the Kaz Matsui that the Mets got from Japan, gave up on and traded to the Rockies.
But the Mets were so much happier with the veterany Valentin followed by the veterany Castillo.
scott –
Will that be 1-900-RX-4spot?
oh, was this the Kaz Matsui the Mets tried to get from Japan?
Yeah, but they were shipped the wrong one. Apparently, the Rockies finally figured it out and got the right one shipped over in time for the playoffs.
Heh, you know what they say (and before I get jumped on, those are from here).
More seriously, I’d kind of lost track of Matsui after he got branded a failure in NY, but he seems to be doing a decent job of getting his career back. I mean, he’s no Jeff Kent or even Justin Pedroia — he only has 4 HRs (now 5) for the year even with 49 games in Coors — but his numbers aren’t bad for a 2B. Was it just a case of lowered expectations, or a little more time to adjust to a new league, or being out from under the media hammer in NY?
Interestingly, according to B-R his number 2 comparable is Jose Lopez.
Nobody has ever hit for the cycle in the postseason? And if Matsui gets a single here…
Wow…can’t believe that NO ONE has ever hit for the cycle in the history of PS baseball.
Yeah, I found it pretty unbelievable too, but that’s what they said on the radio. Of course, it’s possible they’re wrong (I haven’t researched it, but here’s a list).
Ok, the Rockies have voted a full playoff share to Mike Coolbaugh’s family. They are now officially the team I want to see win the WS (in 7 games over the Indians, in a perfect world).
I remember listening to an interleague game against the Phils back in ‘03 on my way home from work where we were trailing by a couple going into the top of the ninth. Sure enough, just as I’m pulling into my driveway, Uncle Dave announces that Mesa would be coming in for the Phils to try to “nail it down.” Sensing that our chances at a come-from-behind win had already increased by at least 50%, I ran in the house and immediately turned on the TV. Sure enough, within a few minutes, Cammie hits a three-run homer to put us ahead — and the funniest thing was seeing the camera on Larry Bowa, with Bowa just shaking his head!
Though Senor Petro Can’s late-inning antics can grow REAL old real fast to the fans of whatever team whose roster has the misfortune of having him on it at the moment, they seem almost laughable to the rest of us — since, as Garth Brooks once put it, “you already know what’s coming, don’t ya?”
156: Heard Thorne mention that, too…pretty darn cool, I thought.
BTW, the guy reading the Oktoberfest ad has about the worst faux-German accent I’ve ever heard — it’s the only one I’ve ever heard that sounds more Scottish than German!
The Phils are trying to make it interesting now.
Man, was it really right down the middle? The pitch tracker on ESPN.com shows it as being pretty close to that.
“Now all eyes are on Alex Rodriguez…”
No, you douchebag. YOUR eyes. THE MEDIA’s eyes. YANKEE FAN eyes. Nobody else cares how he performs in the postseason. Nobody.
I finally decided it was a cross between Mike Meyers & Inga from Young Frankenstein (”it’s mootual!”)
hmm. what happened to the KJR feed?
I think there are plenty of A-Rod haters in Seattle who care.
161: Hmmm…didn’t know A-Hole actually even “perfomed” in the PS!
162: Yeah — and he seems to have knocked KJR off the air as well…lol!
I’ve never understood all the A-Rod hate, especially in the context of Junior being a demigod in the eyes of those same fans.
They both left offers from Seattle on the table to go somewhere else, didn’t they?
True, but I think Alex and Boras aggravated the situation with the fans even further through all their high-handed “winning organization” rhetoric — as if the M’s were a team full of AA scrubs when they left.
Man, considering the grief about Lopez, Asrubal Cabrera’s trade looks pretty bad right now…
is that Dusty Baker on the radio with Jon Miller?
A-Rod was a jerk about it. Junior at least said he wanted to be closer to his hometown. And IIRC Junior put a few more years in here too.
It’s amazing to me that people don’t remember how Griffey sulked his was out of town when comparing Griffey to A-Rod. Say what you want about what A-Rod said when the season was over; while it was going on he played like a professional. As soon as the media turned on A-Rod — it seemed clear to me at the time they’d been itching to do so — the fans followed the lead.
The A-Rod hate is because of the size of the contract. Just about everything else has been rationalization.
Coming in late: I get to hear a lot of NL West games when I’m in CA, so I’d sort of kept track of Kaz Matsui, feeling he’d gotten a tough break in NYC. The Rockies put him in the minor leagues for like, a season? Just to work on finding his swing again, which they felt had gotten all screwy with the heavy breathing down the neck in NYC. And apparently it worked. Watch someone else ‘take Lopez off our hands’ and do exactly the same thing.
Speaking of Lopez, I’ve just come into the NY/Indians game. Apparently A-rod failed to lay down a bunt?
I agree that A-Rod played out his contract here, and I appreciated that (and I don’t understand why anyone in Seattle would ever be an Randy Johnson fan after he left). It annoyed me when A-Rod left because he kept saying it wasn’t about the money, when it obviously was, but I didn’t have strong feelings about him until he ended up with the Yankees. I lost all respect for him when he stopped playing SS so Jeter could continue. Other than Wang (whom I have a soft spot for) and Clemens (whom I loathe), I don’t hate A-Rod any more than other Yankees.
I don’t understand the desire for the Griffey return either, except he’s been in the NL, so he was largely invisible to Seattle after he left. I guess everyone remembers the big smile on his face and the athleticism he had when he was young. He sure doesn’t seem like the answer to today’s Mariner problems.
There’s no rational explanation for the behavior of jilted boyfriends, particularly when the object of their affection leaves them for someone richer and better-looking (and, they suspect, better in bed). That’s how a lot of fans in Seattle feel about ARod, there’s no use trying to understand it, and this whole thing has been talked over and over ad naseum. So let’s just watch the Indians smack down the Fankees and move on, m’kay?
As long as the Yankees stay out of the ALCS I can sleep better.
As long as A-Hole continues to be the post-season albatross that weighs down the Skanks, that’s alright by me.
Man…some of these names in mid/long relief for the Yanks halfway makes me expect to see Rick White come waddling out of the ‘pen next.
Ohlendorf has virtually no big league experience and had pretty crappy minor league numbers this year too. Heck, he’s 25, so no potential phenom I wouldn’t think. Not sure why he’s even on their post season roster. But since I hate the Yanks as much as the next guy: Cool!
I guess they thought Ohlendorf was a better option than Ron Villone.
Nice Catch!
Yeah, Ohlendorf? Gee, wasn’t his uncle a wrestler in the WWF back in the 80’s?
Or, to borrow a line from John Sterling…SKANKEES LOSE!!! THHHHHHHHHHHE SKANKEES LOSE!!!
maybe having some of that gritty veteranness is a good thnig, when playing the Yanks
KJR is not having a good day. They started the Yankee/Cleveland game on the sister station, and had nothing but dead air on KJR for hours. Now both channels are playing the Yankee/Cleveland game.
Regarding the back end of the Torre/Cashman bullpen – I just don’t think they had much to choose from.
What I find more puzzling is the playing of Matsui over Giambi at DH – especially if Matsui is aching. Has Torre subscribed to the notion that Giambi “clogs the bases”?
And why are the Yanks planning on starting Clemens? What happened to the rookies Hughes and Kennedy?
Strange, but advantage Cleveland.
Matsui has never had a hit off of CC. Granted, it was only in 11 ab’s last I saw, but that was surprising to me nevertheless.
So far, I’m loving the Yankees’ pitching. Keep it up, guys.
Interesting Note: A-rod and Edgar share career postseason lines quite similar to one another (.280/.375/.485 to .266/.365/.508).
Another one for the groundskeepers!
I see Bob continues to show all that sparkle in the dugout that caused such complaints on asbs-m
The good news is, we traded Asdrubal Cabrera for Eduardo Perez for half a season.
Great move, Bavasi.
I recall that the Indians got Sizemore (and Brandon Phillips although he didn’t develop until after Clevelend) from the Expos (Minaya) for half a season of Bartolo Colon.
The Indians’ GM has an eye for idiot GMs and their young talent.
Though the half-the-farm-for-half-a-season-of-Colon was, indeed, a horrible trade, I’m wondering just how much of that was Omar Minaya talking and how much of it was Jeffrey Loria.
Since Loria seemed absolutely bound and determined at the time to run the ‘Xpos first into the the ground, then out of town, I get the feeling that Minaya’s hands were tied — and that, most likely, he had to first ask Loria’s permission to even go take a piss.
“…A-Hole… Skanks…”
Can’t we be better than that?
Guess I probably could be a little less crude, if I didn’t loathe “Teh Best Team Money Can Buy” so much.
193 – Fair enough, scott. I don’t mean to be that guy. For the record, I wasn’t being that guy about the crudeness, I just have a bad reaction to insult-nicknames. They make me twitch, any of them – A-Fraud, Bustre, whatever. But none of my business, really. So, ignore me.
Actually, I heard somewhere on the radio (I’m guessing during one of the playoff games) that this “current Yankee dynasty may be nearing the end” — what with Torre supposedly retiring after this year, Cashman’s future up in the air, A-Rod maybe opting out of his contract, Clemens not getting any younger, etc, etc.
So, I guess I can pay tribute where it’s due. You’ve had a nice run, New York. Since 1995, you’ve won six pennants (three outright, three questionably), four World Series, made the playoffs every year, consistently spent enough cash to bankroll an entire five-team division, and managed to not only to start your own TV network, but also to hog up at least half of the remaining network airtime when it comes to nationally-televised games. So, being a fan of one those teams which your oh-so-classy fans consider “minor league”, I guess I shouldn’t be bitter.
But if you’re done with your latest stinking “dynasty”, kindly get the hell out of the way for a while and let some other teams prove themselves.
194: John — not flaming you at all with #195…merely spouting my discontent with the “Damn Yankees” and their boring and overblown “dynasty,” so to speak.
190-191: The deal was Sizemore, Phillips, and Cliff Lee for Colon (and if memory serves, Sizemore was easily considered the lesser part of the package… it was a former Expos scout, then with Cleveland, who pushed for Grady).
In fairness, the future of the Expos was seriously in doubt, and Montreal had a shot of making the playoffs that year. Kudos to Shapiro, obviously, but that aint your usual fleecing.
191 and 197
The Montreal situation was abysmal. However, that trade would not have been made by any self-respecting GM.
I don’t think Loria was running the franchise at the time of that trade. I think Minaya was hired by MLB. (Of course, the trade was very favorable to the Mets – his real employer.)
198: Yup, Minaya was working for MLB.
There was a real chance that the Expos would just be euthanized after the season. There was no ownership, and no definitive plan to move the club. Why protect the future when the future itself was in doubt?
198: North – You may be right about Minaya being hired by Selig to run the Expos while the team was in receivership. I don’t remember off-hand what year Loria officially let go of the team, but I know he was responsible for most of that mess in the first place.
I also remember how that situation ended up favoring the Mets. That issue of credibility might be one reason why some owners have had doubts about hiring Minaya when he’s been available for various GM jobs that have opened up.
As for Loria, the fact that he’s allowed to continue to run teams into the ground (and, in effect, scam season-ticket holders out of their money by doing so) is a perfect example of just how much work MLB still needs to do to clean up their act. It may be ancient history, but Shoeless Joe Jackson continues to banned from the HOF to this day for something far less egregious than what Loria has done.
199: Wasn’t certain who hired who or when…it seemed like that whole mess was so tenuous back then.
Thanks for the clarification.
200: Oh, don’t get me wrong. It’s not like the Nationals couldn’t use Sizemore now! But ultimately you’re right. Loria’s the one who deserves responsibility for the ‘pos demise.