10/4 Cubs (Haren) @ Brewers (Lopez), 2:10, WGN TV

[mul21]

 

I'm kind of confused as to why you're so passionate about this. Winning your division doesn't necessarily mean you are a better team or had a better season than another team from a different division. The whole "win your division, no excuses" thing seems like something an old time, meatball player would rant about right after he finishes talking about how the pitchers in his day were much tougher and weren't babied. This season is a unique case, obviously, but I could see it making MLB re-think things.

 

Well, when you have an unbalanced schedule, it does make sense. The possibility of having 3 or more pretty good teams in a division duking it out while another division has 2 good teams and 3 terrible ones allowing the top 2 to rack up a bunch of wins while the other division plays a tougher schedule makes the way it's set up just fine. Remember, what the Cards, Pirates and Cubs did this year has never, ever been done before.

[jersey cubs fan]

Also when saying division winners deserve to be in the playoffs is considered meatball, we know we've reached peak over usage of the word.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

The "this specific playoff arrangement seems unfair, let's scrap the system" is one of the more tiresome of the yearly baseball stories.

[mul21]

The "this specific playoff arrangement seems unfair, let's scrap the system" is one of the more tiresome of the yearly baseball stories.

 

Has it really been a story before the ridiculous NL Central this year?

[Fro]

 

I'm kind of confused as to why you're so passionate about this. Winning your division doesn't necessarily mean you are a better team or had a better season than another team from a different division. The whole "win your division, no excuses" thing seems like something an old time, meatball player would rant about right after he finishes talking about how the pitchers in his day were much tougher and weren't babied. This season is a unique case, obviously, but I could see it making MLB re-think things.

 

Well, when you have an unbalanced schedule, it does make sense. The possibility of having 3 or more pretty good teams in a division duking it out while another division has 2 good teams and 3 terrible ones allowing the top 2 to rack up a bunch of wins while the other division plays a tougher schedule makes the way it's set up just fine. Remember, what the Cards, Pirates and Cubs did this year has never, ever been done before.

 

The schedules are already unbalanced in the division due to the set "rivalry" games against the other league each year.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

The "this specific playoff arrangement seems unfair, let's scrap the system" is one of the more tiresome of the yearly baseball stories.

 

Has it really been a story before the ridiculous NL Central this year?

 

Yes. Every single year since they started divisional playoffs, I'd assume, but certainly in the WC era.

 

Last year there was lots of kvetching over how unfair it was for the A's or Angels to be sent to a one-game playoff, before the A's death spiraled and made it moot.

[jersey cubs fan]

Finally, I defend this system because it was my idea 10-15 years ago and I love how perfectly it has been proven to work. Maximizes league wide interest includes extra teams but does not dilute playoffs. And win or go home baseball is insanely intense.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Finally, I defend this system because it was my idea 10-15 years ago and I love how perfectly it has been proven to work. Maximizes league wide interest includes extra teams but does not dilute playoffs. And win or go home baseball is insanely intense.

 

Seriously. This is my favorite playoff format of any sport. It's darn near perfect.

[bukie]

Sure, it doesn't always reward the best teams or put the best teams in the best positions to win, but no playoff does. If the best team winning is all you want, then just hand a trophy to the Cardinals and be done with it.

[Guest]

The "this specific playoff arrangement seems unfair, let's scrap the system" is one of the more tiresome of the yearly baseball stories.

 

Has it really been a story before the ridiculous NL Central this year?

 

it was part of how this system came to be

 

the new narrative was that the wild card was somehow at an advantage becuase they were playing high pressure baseball longer

[UMFan83]

Finally, I defend this system because it was my idea 10-15 years ago and I love how perfectly it has been proven to work. Maximizes league wide interest includes extra teams but does not dilute playoffs. And win or go home baseball is insanely intense.

 

Seriously. This is my favorite playoff format of any sport. It's darn near perfect.

 

My only real disagreement with the current structure is the LDS being 5 games. The only reason we hate the wild card as much as we do right now is because we won 97 games while there are an 88 and 90 win teams advancing to the LDS. If we won 85 games and snuck in we'd be so thankful for such a wonderful opportunity for a young improving team.

 

(Yes I know the Cubs wouldn't even be in the previous playoff format, my point is just as a 97 win team I feel like we are a good bit better than teams like the Rangers and Mets who get to go straight to the LDS)

[UMFan83]

Sure, it doesn't always reward the best teams or put the best teams in the best positions to win, but no playoff does. If the best team winning is all you want, then just hand a trophy to the Cardinals and be done with it.

 

This is a good point. The NFL multiple times has had 10-6 teams miss the playoffs while an 8-8 team gets to host a playoff game. Heck even two 11-5 teams have missed the playoffs before, which boggles my mind.

 

The NBA and NHL are a lot better but they let over half the league in the playoffs and they still get complaints about who is seeded where.

[ARCubsFan]

The NBA and NHL's playoff systems are terrible. The regular season is utterly meaningless in both leagues because half the teams make the playoffs.

[Derwood]

The NBA and NHL's playoff systems are terrible. The regular season is utterly meaningless in both leagues because half the teams make the playoffs.

 

And yet, Stanley Cup playoff hockey is the best in any sport

[Guest]

The NBA and NHL's playoff systems are terrible. The regular season is utterly meaningless in both leagues because half the teams make the playoffs.

You're just bitter because the Blues lose in the first round every year.

[ctcf]

Man what an accomplishment to win 97 games. Ties the best regular season record since 1945 and that of the Hendry years. What a truly special year.

[CubColtPacer]

I can already hear the Pirates fans whining about the unfairness of having their season ended by facing Arrieta in a 1-game playoff.

 

I can't say their complaints will be unfounded though and I think either way this will probably be the beginning of the end of the 1-game format.

 

they have been for a while. cardinal fans have been too. and white sox fans.

 

and i don't think this will be the beginning of the end of anything, nor should it be. it's great the way it is.

 

They won't touch the divisions or get rid of the 1 game, but I could see an NBA style re-seeding becoming a thing. Still two wild cards and division winners get an automatic berth, with the possibility that division winners have to be in the play-in game instead of the wild card teams.

 

that would ruin the added importance to winning the division, which was part of the motivation behind the current setup.

 

The current setup was instituted partially to help the #1 seed. The other two division winners are in the exact same placement as they were most of the time before the switch, which is playing each other in the first round.

 

There are advantages to that tweak in the system besides just helping the teams with the best records. It also creates some more potential races down the stretch. You could have had a scenario two weeks ago where the Pirates, Cubs, Mets, and Dodgers were all racing to try to stay out of the 1 game playoff. That would have quite a bit more pop to it than just the Cubs/Pirates and Mets/Dodgers figuring out who gets home field in their inveitable series.

 

Having divisions makes sense economically, and a weak division keeps more teams interested in the playoff race longer while not actually allowing more teams in the playoffs, which is good for baseball. However, having division slots locked into particular spots on the bracket creates less intrigue and more teams locking up their spot down the stretch which is not good for the game. Then add in the occasional fluke year like this one where even St. Louis is at a disadvantage because of the setup, and they are the #1 seed!

[UMFan83]

So between 1996 (first full season of Wild Card) and 2014, the most wins a non-playoff team had in a season was 96 by the 1999 Reds, but they got to play a 1 game playoff and lost, so it was almost the same thing as the current format.

 

Other than that, 3 teams won 93 games and didn't make it, and the average number of wins for the best non playoff team each year is 89

[Gilby]

Hmm, if Kyle is happy with something and I'm not, and he's also saying my argument and others like it are tiresome, it might time for me to do some self-reflection. Nah, jk, I'm gonna double-down

 

Also when saying division winners deserve to be in the playoffs is considered meatball, we know we've reached peak over usage of the word.

 

I didn't say division winners don't deserve to be in the playoffs, but the fact that the Mets are in a better spot right now than the Pirates and Cubs because they were in the same division as a bunch of below .500 teams instead of the Cardinals seems silly, to me.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

The fact that a team can win 100 games and lose 4 out of 7 to a team that won 87 seems silly to me. Unfairness is inherent to the existence of playoffs.

[ctcf]

[ctcf]

So who starts the Wild Card thread and how soon can we get it posted?

[UMFan83]

I keep seeing NL wild Card vs Cardinals and it hits me that we are one freaking win from playing our most hated rivals in a playoff series for the first time ever. But I cannot get excited about it until we get through the WC.

[ARCubsFan]

So who starts the Wild Card thread and how soon can we get it posted?

We're riding the Butters wave

[Butterscup1679666578]

So who starts the Wild Card thread and how soon can we get it posted?

We're riding the Butters wave

 

this appears to still be up in the air and we are waiting on grandpa fred to confirm the plan of attack.