While watching the MLB playoffs, it’s become apparent commissioner Bud Selig and company did a terrible job making the first round schedule. In the division series, the team with the better record (club A) has started playing 2 road games at their opponent’s ballpark (club B). In the best three-out-of-five playoff. After those contests, there is a day off for travel to the other team’s city. Following the one-day break, the lower-seeded team (club B) plays at the higher-seeded team for the final 3 games.
Essentially, club A is penalized for winning more games than club B and could lose 2 games before playing at home. It’s idiotic. No other major pro sports league rewards the lower-seeded team in a playoff series. The higher seeds with the better regular season records start and end a series at home. Many people refer to this year’s division series schedule as a 2-3 format.
According to Fox Sports baseball writer Ken Rosenthal, this year is an anomaly. Through Twitter, Rosenthal explained, “For those asking: For this year only, lower seeded teams opening at home. Idea is remove one of two off-days in DS to compress schedule”.
MLB wanted to cut days because they could have at most 20 Division Series (4 best-of-five), 14 League Championship Series (2 best of seven), and 7 World Series games if every series goes the full distance. Unfortunately, the new American League and National League wild-card playoff games added an extra day of play. In addition, the wild-card winners received a day of rest between the wild-card and division series rounds. Their opponents, the division champions with the best record, had to travel to the winner’s ballpark.
Using this year as an example, The St. Louis Cardinals were at the Atlanta Braves for the N.L. Wild Card playoff. The Washington Nationals, Eastern Division champions and best overall record, would play games 1 and 2 at St. Louis or Atlanta. The Cardinals won so they hosted Washington. The Nationals took game 1 while the Cardinals were victorious in game 2. St. Louis has the same chance as Washington of winning 2 of the final 3 games to advance to the League Championship series.
As far as the American League Wild Card, The Baltimore Orioles visited the Texas Rangers. The New York Yankees, A.L. East winners and most wins in American League, were forced to watch TV to find out who they would be playing and most importantly, where they would travel. The Orioles beat Texas and obtained the right to host New York for games 1-2. The Yankees had to score five runs in the 9th inning to even get the first contest. The Orioles responded with a one-run victory in the second ballgame. Again, Baltimore as a wild-card only needs to win 2 of 3 in New York to advance.
These are the Wild-Card series (1 seed vs. 4 seed), there are two other matchups involving only “division winners” (2 seed vs. 3 seed). In the National League, the Cincinnati Reds won 97 games during the regular season as Central Division champs. Conversely, the San Francisco Giants had won 94 games as best in the West. Cincinnati had to fly out to northern California for the first two games against San Francisco. The Reds could have used it as an excuse and not try to win. Instead, they dominated the Giants in San Francisco winning 5-2 in game 1 and 9-0 in game 2. The Reds have three chances to beat the Giants once and beat the system.
Unfortunately, the American League’s 2nd seeded Oakland Athletics are in deep trouble. The Western winners lost the first 2 games of their series in Detroit to the Central champion Tigers. That isn’t the worst part for Oakland. The Athletics came from 13 games back on June 30th to take 1st place when they defeated the Texas Rangers on the last day of the season. Oakland used up all their effort to capture their division with 94 wins while Detroit stumbled to a 88-74 record. The Athletics won six more games than the Tigers and were forced to go to Detroit. They probably would’ve been better off losing the division to Texas so they could open at home as a Wild-Card team.
If that looked confusing to read and understand, it was! Detroit played in the worst division in MLB this year. The second place Chicago White Sox had 85 victories, three less than the Tigers. Third-place Kansas City picked up 72 wins. By comparison, Oakland’s division (A.L. West) finished with the A’s at 94, Texas at 93, and L.A. Angels at 89 (one more than Detroit). The New York Yankees’ division (A.L. East) concluded with the Yankees first at 95 wins, Baltimore at 93, and Tampa Bay at 90 (two more than Detroit).
It was bad enough Detroit qualified for the playoffs over Tampa Bay and/or the L.A. Angels but to give them 2 home games before Oakland gets one is dumb. Major League Baseball didn’t mean to hurt Oakland or help Detroit but they didn’t think a situation like this could happen. MLB saw the casual fan interest increase after Tampa Bay and St. Louis came from behind to take the single Wild-Card spots in each league on the last day of the 2011 regular season. The Cardinals helped the Wild-Card playoff more by winning the 2011 World Series. Baseball’s decision makers saw what one team did last year but didn’t take into account the effect of all playoff teams for this year.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Weird call sends N.L. Wild Card into circus of weasels
It wasn’t Friday the 13th but it felt that way a couple nights ago in Atlanta, Georgia. A spooky play turned into a nightmare for the Atlanta Braves baseball team and their fans. Atlanta was trailing 6-3 to the St. Louis Cardinals in the bottom of the 8th inning. It was a one-game National League Wild Card Playoff to determine who would face the Washington Nationals in the National League Division Series.
The Braves had a runner at 1st base and a runner at 2nd base with 1 out and Andrelton Simmons batting. Simmons hit a high fly ball into short left field. Cardinals shortstop Pete Kozma hurried back from his spot on the infield dirt and onto the outfield grass. He raised both of his hands skyward as if to catch the ball.
However, he moved out of the way for left fielder Matt Holliday at the last second and the ball dropped between them. In theory, it was a single to left field to put runners on 1st base, 2nd base, and 3rd base. It should’ve been bases loaded with 1 man out for Atlanta.
Inexplicably, the left field umpire Sam Holbrook called it an “infield fly” instead. When the infield fly rule is invoked, the batter is automatically out no matter if the fly ball is caught or not. The base runners can run to the next base but are not required to do so. Also, the umpire must determine, as stated specifically in rule 2.00, if the infielder could use “ordinary effort” to make the catch. The rule is also only applied with 1 or 2 outs in an inning and runners at 1st and 2nd or 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.
There were three mistakes which stood out in Holbrook’s ruling. First, the infielder Kozma trying to catch the fly ball was at least 50 feet on the outfield grass. Second, Kozma was still moving underneath the ball when it was coming down making it more difficult to catch than if he was standing still. Third, the infield fly rule signal was given as the ball was starting to come down. Again, according to rule 2.00, the call should be made “immediately”.
The Braves should’ve had the bases loaded with 1 out. At that point, the next batter would represent the go-ahead or leading run if he reached base. Instead, they had runners only at 1st and 2nd with 2 out. Then, the batter could only tie the game if he hit a home run. Atlanta lost an out and a base runner in a game they were trailing by only 3 runs.
The call was terrible but the fan reaction was worse. Fans started throwing trash on the field in frustration. The trash included thousands of beer and wine bottles. Yes, your team got screwed on a bad ruling, GROW UP! It’s not the end of the world. The Braves still had 1 out left in the 8th and the whole 9th inning to score more runs. It was childish behavior from a bunch of adults acting like babies. The umpires had to stop the game for nearly 20 minutes to clean up the mess.
Also, there was stupidity at the end of the game. After the Cardinals won the game, they raced off the field to get away from more flying debris from the stands. Usually, teams celebrate near the pitcher’s mound after winning a playoff game or series before going into their locker room. There was no hesitation from the Cards and they couldn’t or they would get hurt. It was unbelievable that Braves fans would embarrass themselves again. Did they not learn the first time? Don’t they know people, fairly or unfairly, are going to rip Atlanta?
It also denied a proper farewell for Braves 3rd baseman Chipper Jones. Jones played all 19 years of his career with Atlanta. With free agency, it's rare to see one likely Hall-of-Fame player stay with one team for his career. Chipper deserved to have a moment to salute Braves fans and vice-versa. Unfortunately, he could not come out on the field after the game ended.
In addition, the umpires involved and Major League Baseball tried to pretend as if the call was correct when 99 percent of baseball fans without a rooting interest in the game disagreed. The Braves filed a protest in the bottom of the 8th inning. Within 30 minutes of the game ending, the protest was denied. If the protest was approved, the game would restart from the point of the botched call. St. Louis would still 6-3 in the 8th but Atlanta would've had a fair shot. The original game with the ball call continued instead.
Lastly, St. Louis’ players and coaches showed poor sportsmanship in their clubhouse. The Cardinals chanted “INFIELD FLY!” in repetition. They should thank the baseball gods and also LF umpire Sam Holbrook for being a complete idiot. The first ever wildcard in MLB’s new five-team, two wild-card format was indeed wild, and out of control.
The Braves had a runner at 1st base and a runner at 2nd base with 1 out and Andrelton Simmons batting. Simmons hit a high fly ball into short left field. Cardinals shortstop Pete Kozma hurried back from his spot on the infield dirt and onto the outfield grass. He raised both of his hands skyward as if to catch the ball.
However, he moved out of the way for left fielder Matt Holliday at the last second and the ball dropped between them. In theory, it was a single to left field to put runners on 1st base, 2nd base, and 3rd base. It should’ve been bases loaded with 1 man out for Atlanta.
Inexplicably, the left field umpire Sam Holbrook called it an “infield fly” instead. When the infield fly rule is invoked, the batter is automatically out no matter if the fly ball is caught or not. The base runners can run to the next base but are not required to do so. Also, the umpire must determine, as stated specifically in rule 2.00, if the infielder could use “ordinary effort” to make the catch. The rule is also only applied with 1 or 2 outs in an inning and runners at 1st and 2nd or 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.
There were three mistakes which stood out in Holbrook’s ruling. First, the infielder Kozma trying to catch the fly ball was at least 50 feet on the outfield grass. Second, Kozma was still moving underneath the ball when it was coming down making it more difficult to catch than if he was standing still. Third, the infield fly rule signal was given as the ball was starting to come down. Again, according to rule 2.00, the call should be made “immediately”.
The Braves should’ve had the bases loaded with 1 out. At that point, the next batter would represent the go-ahead or leading run if he reached base. Instead, they had runners only at 1st and 2nd with 2 out. Then, the batter could only tie the game if he hit a home run. Atlanta lost an out and a base runner in a game they were trailing by only 3 runs.
The call was terrible but the fan reaction was worse. Fans started throwing trash on the field in frustration. The trash included thousands of beer and wine bottles. Yes, your team got screwed on a bad ruling, GROW UP! It’s not the end of the world. The Braves still had 1 out left in the 8th and the whole 9th inning to score more runs. It was childish behavior from a bunch of adults acting like babies. The umpires had to stop the game for nearly 20 minutes to clean up the mess.
Also, there was stupidity at the end of the game. After the Cardinals won the game, they raced off the field to get away from more flying debris from the stands. Usually, teams celebrate near the pitcher’s mound after winning a playoff game or series before going into their locker room. There was no hesitation from the Cards and they couldn’t or they would get hurt. It was unbelievable that Braves fans would embarrass themselves again. Did they not learn the first time? Don’t they know people, fairly or unfairly, are going to rip Atlanta?
It also denied a proper farewell for Braves 3rd baseman Chipper Jones. Jones played all 19 years of his career with Atlanta. With free agency, it's rare to see one likely Hall-of-Fame player stay with one team for his career. Chipper deserved to have a moment to salute Braves fans and vice-versa. Unfortunately, he could not come out on the field after the game ended.
In addition, the umpires involved and Major League Baseball tried to pretend as if the call was correct when 99 percent of baseball fans without a rooting interest in the game disagreed. The Braves filed a protest in the bottom of the 8th inning. Within 30 minutes of the game ending, the protest was denied. If the protest was approved, the game would restart from the point of the botched call. St. Louis would still 6-3 in the 8th but Atlanta would've had a fair shot. The original game with the ball call continued instead.
Lastly, St. Louis’ players and coaches showed poor sportsmanship in their clubhouse. The Cardinals chanted “INFIELD FLY!” in repetition. They should thank the baseball gods and also LF umpire Sam Holbrook for being a complete idiot. The first ever wildcard in MLB’s new five-team, two wild-card format was indeed wild, and out of control.
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