When Even the Division Leader Sucks
Posted July 23, 2008 at 12:44 pm by Mike Seely
The Arizona Diamondbacks finally clawed their way back to .500 last night with a victory over the Chicago Cubs. At the hundred game mark, the Diamondbacks are 50-50, while the Cubs are 58-42. What do these two teams have in common? They're both in first-place, with scant one-game leads over their division rivals. The difference? The Cubs have the best record in the National League, while the D-Backs are the very definition of average. What's more, the two teams chasing the Cubs in the NL Central, the Brewers and Cardinals, have the second and third best records in the National League, respectively. Yet because whoever wins the lackluster NL West is guaranteed a playoff spot, there's going to be an odd team out amongst the Cubs, Brewers, and Cardinals, which is a travesty.
It's not just baseball; every other year or so it seems that there's some division in some sport where a playoff-guaranteed division leader makes the playoffs despite having a record that's nowhere near worthy of such a distinction (see: the NBA's Atlantic Division, save for this past year). So how about a modest proposal: If, in any sport, there's a division winner who does not finish at least a game above .500, that division winner loses its automatic playoff berth. If said division winner's record is still good enough to squeak in the playoffs, so be it. But mediocrity should not be rewarded with a guaranteed prize, especially at the expense of a far more deserving squad.
Topics: El Beisbol
Comments
That's why baseball implemented the wild-card system back in 1995. It's not the best solution in the world but it's the rules everyone plays under.
Posted July 23, 2008 at 1:05 pm by Don WardI'm more concerned about Baltimore, Tampa Bay and Toronto being forced to play in the same division as Boston and New York.
I wouldn't consider it a travesty that St. Louis would miss the playoffs if they're only 12 games over .500. What was brutal was in the days before three divisions per league when the Giants won 103 games and didn't even make the playoffs. I'd rather see a .500 team sneak into the playoffs than that.
Also, if MLB wanted to be fair about it they'd shuffle an NL team to the AL so that the NL Central didn't have six teams and the AL West four. I'd say move the Astros to the NL West and the Diamondbacks to the AL West.
Posted July 23, 2008 at 1:20 pm by Colonel SandersIt sounds fun enough, though if fairness were the goal and you wanted to take everything to its logical conclusion, you'd have to take into account unbalanced schedules, quality disparities between leagues, etc. That'd be a lot thornier, though.
What I'd like to see is the threat of league demotion for bad teams, like they have for soccer (and probably other sports) elsewhere.
Posted July 23, 2008 at 1:25 pm by Damon