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OK. MLB's "Wildcard" system sucks....but it is what it is.

bjf1984

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Sep 8, 2014
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Now that the Buccos season is officially over.....(and rather than lament the system that has the team with the 2nd best record in the majors facing a one-and-done scenario JUST TO GET IN to an 8 team playoff).....time for a look ahead.

How should the Buccos look to construct their 2016 roster?

The estimates for arbitration salaries are out (and, generally, these estimates through MLBTR are rarely off by more than a couple hundred thousand $)

Figuring the Pirates will have (probably) somewhere in the neighborhood of $100-110M to allocate to the Major League payroll........how do they put the team together?

Here are the guys that are under team control for the 2016 Buccos (Player/Salary):

All "arbitration" guys - of course - are controllable IF the team chooses to offer arbitration.


Starting Pitchers:

Locke 3.5M (via arbitration)
Worley 2.7M (via arbitration)
Cole 0.5M
Liriano 13.7M
Morton 8M
Taillon RK
Kingham RK
Glasnow RK

Bullpen:

Hughes 2.2M (via arbitration)
Watson 4.6M (via arbitration)
Melancon 10M (via arbitration)
Caminero 0.5M
Sadler 0.5M
Holdzkom 0.5M
Scahill 0.5M
LaFromboise 0.5M

Catchers:

Cervelli 2.5M (via arbitration)
Stewart 1.6M (via arbitration)
Diaz 0.5M
Sanchez 0.5M

Infield:

Mercer 1.8M (via arbitration)
Harrison 5.2M
Morse 8.5M (probably about 3M of this is being paid by Dodgers)
Ishikawa 1.2M (via arbitration)
Florimon 0.5M
Alvarez 8.1M (via arbitration)
Walker 10.7M (via arbitration)
Kang 2.5M
Lambo 0.5M
Bell RK
Hanson RK

Outfield:

Snider 2.4M (via arbitration)
Broxton 0.5M
Marte 3.3M
McCutchen 13M
Polanco 0.5M
Decker 0.5M
Garcia RK


Departing Free Agents (well, I guess there may be a couple they might try to re-sign)

Bastardo / Happ / Soria / Blanton / Ramirez / Rodriguez / Burnett
 
Now that the Buccos season is officially over.....(and rather than lament the system that has the team with the 2nd best record in the majors facing a one-and-done scenario JUST TO GET IN to an 8 team playoff).....time for a look ahead.

How should the Buccos look to construct their 2016 roster?

The estimates for arbitration salaries are out (and, generally, these estimates through MLBTR are rarely off by more than a couple hundred thousand $)

Figuring the Pirates will have (probably) somewhere in the neighborhood of $100-110M to allocate to the Major League payroll........how do they put the team together?

Here are the guys that are under team control for the 2016 Buccos (Player/Salary):

All "arbitration" guys - of course - are controllable IF the team chooses to offer arbitration.


Starting Pitchers:

Locke 3.5M (via arbitration)
Worley 2.7M (via arbitration)
Cole 0.5M
Liriano 13.7M
Morton 8M
Taillon RK
Kingham RK
Glasnow RK

Bullpen:

Hughes 2.2M (via arbitration)
Watson 4.6M (via arbitration)
Melancon 10M (via arbitration)
Caminero 0.5M
Sadler 0.5M
Holdzkom 0.5M
Scahill 0.5M
LaFromboise 0.5M

Catchers:

Cervelli 2.5M (via arbitration)
Stewart 1.6M (via arbitration)
Diaz 0.5M
Sanchez 0.5M

Infield:

Mercer 1.8M (via arbitration)
Harrison 5.2M
Morse 8.5M (probably about 3M of this is being paid by Dodgers)
Ishikawa 1.2M (via arbitration)
Florimon 0.5M
Alvarez 8.1M (via arbitration)
Walker 10.7M (via arbitration)
Kang 2.5M
Lambo 0.5M
Bell RK
Hanson RK

Outfield:

Snider 2.4M (via arbitration)
Broxton 0.5M
Marte 3.3M
McCutchen 13M
Polanco 0.5M
Decker 0.5M
Garcia RK


Departing Free Agents (well, I guess there may be a couple they might try to re-sign)

Bastardo / Happ / Soria / Blanton / Ramirez / Rodriguez / Burnett

I'd like to see them sign Happ, Bastardo and Rodriguez. Happ, first priority. As I said in an earlier thread, I would have been more comfortable with him starting last night's game than Cole.
 
I'd definitely look to sign Happ if some team doesn't try and break the bank on him. They need a better rotation and have to start hot out of the gate. Time to trade Alvarez at this point if he can't even start in this WC game. Maybe Bell will be ready at some point at least in a platoon. I'm kind of wondering if it's time to move on from Walker too and try to form a faster team with better defense. They need some guys who can get on base against these tough pitchers. Too many swing and miss, boom or bust types.
 
I like the one game Wild Card playoff. Nothing is more dramatic than a winner take all game and it actually adds significant value to winning your division.
The problem is some Divisions are much easier to win than others and 98 wins would have won every other Division in baseball.
 
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anything that helps knock the Yankees out early I am all for! But I do have to admit 2 things: 1) the Bucs division is unreal 2) I am happy for the Cubs. As a diehard Red Sox fan I know what pain they are feeling....
 
A quick first take:

Starting Pitchers:

Cole / Liriano / Morton are locks
Would be shocked if they don't sign Locke and have him in the rotation to start the year
Would LOVE to see Worley re-signed :) ....but based on how things played out at the end of the year, I doubt the Buccos will bring him back

Cole/Liriano/Morton/Locke use up about $26M
If they don't bring back Worley, they gotta' find at least one short-term Free Agent SP (I think everyone would love to see Happ re-signed, but his performance down the stretch may have priced him out of the Pirates range)....then promote Taillon/Kingham/and or Glasnow when they feel they are ready

Bullpen:

Melancon and Watson are for sure guys you re-sign.....even of you might consider a sign/trade possibility for Melancon (if that happens, the fans will be unhappy, but the financial reality wrt closer's salaries may make that necessary)
I think Hughes is valuable enough - at that price - to bring back
I expect Caminero to be back.....and then the last three in the pen will be determined this spring - with none of them being guys who are at more than league minimum salary

Total cost about $19M

Catchers:

Cervelli is a no-brainer.
Question is do you bring back Stewart at 1.6M, or go with Diaz as your #2 catcher?
Given past history, I expect them to bring back Stewart

Total cost $4M

Infield:

Mercer, Harrison, Kang are no-brainers
Walker and Alvarez are the questions.....and figure into how you fill the 1B spot.
I think both are worth re-signing.....and then you trade one away figuring that someone will be willing to take on the contract (10 or 8 Million) and provide at least some small return to the Buccos.
I fear though, that the Pirate brass may be concerned that they may not be able to "move" Walker with the $10M price tag....and may non-tender him. I'd like to see them sign Walker, move him to first base, and ship Pedro to whatever AL team may need a DH. But if they don't sign Walker they may have to actually KEEP Pedro...to play 1B until Bell is ready.

In either event, I expect they keep Morse (they have to pay his salary anyway) as a RH option in a 1B platoon.....and an emergency everyday option if necessary until Bell is ready.
Also need to sign a FA along the lines of a Rodriguez.....so that they have an option to fill in at 2B or 3B until Kang is ready to go.
Hanson could make the opening day roster (or opening day + a couple of weeks) as the de-facto utility guy, if they are not concerned about "Super 2" status

Total cost: About $15M + the costs of a new "utility" guy + costs of Pedro and/or Walker if you keep either of them. If they keep one of Pedro/Walker you're at about $25M

Outfield:

Obviously, Cutch, Marte, Polanco are no brainers

I'd like to see one of the young guys get a roster spot (Broxton?). I do expect at least one low-cost FA outfielder added.

Total cost of around $20M


Total for roster.....about $96M + (if you don't bring back Worley) the cost of a shorter-term FA Starting Pitcher

So they would be able to get in at that $100-110 mark
 
Now that the Buccos season is officially over.....(and rather than lament the system that has the team with the 2nd best record in the majors facing a one-and-done scenario JUST TO GET IN to an 8 team playoff).....time for a look ahead.

How should the Buccos look to construct their 2016 roster?

The estimates for arbitration salaries are out (and, generally, these estimates through MLBTR are rarely off by more than a couple hundred thousand $)

Figuring the Pirates will have (probably) somewhere in the neighborhood of $100-110M to allocate to the Major League payroll........how do they put the team together?

Here are the guys that are under team control for the 2016 Buccos (Player/Salary):

All "arbitration" guys - of course - are controllable IF the team chooses to offer arbitration.


Starting Pitchers:

Locke 3.5M (via arbitration)
Worley 2.7M (via arbitration)
Cole 0.5M
Liriano 13.7M
Morton 8M
Taillon RK
Kingham RK
Glasnow RK

Bullpen:

Hughes 2.2M (via arbitration)
Watson 4.6M (via arbitration)
Melancon 10M (via arbitration)
Caminero 0.5M
Sadler 0.5M
Holdzkom 0.5M
Scahill 0.5M
LaFromboise 0.5M

Catchers:

Cervelli 2.5M (via arbitration)
Stewart 1.6M (via arbitration)
Diaz 0.5M
Sanchez 0.5M

Infield:

Mercer 1.8M (via arbitration)
Harrison 5.2M
Morse 8.5M (probably about 3M of this is being paid by Dodgers)
Ishikawa 1.2M (via arbitration)
Florimon 0.5M
Alvarez 8.1M (via arbitration)
Walker 10.7M (via arbitration)
Kang 2.5M
Lambo 0.5M
Bell RK
Hanson RK

Outfield:

Snider 2.4M (via arbitration)
Broxton 0.5M
Marte 3.3M
McCutchen 13M
Polanco 0.5M
Decker 0.5M
Garcia RK


Departing Free Agents (well, I guess there may be a couple they might try to re-sign)

Bastardo / Happ / Soria / Blanton / Ramirez / Rodriguez / Burnett

The Wild Card playoff system is a joke but Bucs only have themselves (more specifically their record vs. Brewers) to blame.

I would have loved the odds of the Pirates vs. any team in a 5 or 7 game series, so not sure they need to change all that much.
 
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How can any Bucco fan support the return of the three pitching stooges; Locke, Worley & Morton ?
If any of them are in the rotation, the season will be a letdown. I keep hearing & reading pundit comments that the Pirates probably don't want to pay the price for Happ. IMHO, This would be another big mistake. They need to replace AJ but don't want to pay the going rate. The Cards gat Wainwright back, which makes them even stronger and the Cubs are willing to pay a high price for another starting pitcher, which would advance them.
 
Mets fans want Harvey traded, offer them some offense in the OF since I doubt they resign Cespedes. Polanco and a minor league prospect or two. Maybe even Marte or Cutch if they throw in a prospect.
 
How can any Bucco fan support the return of the three pitching stooges; Locke, Worley & Morton ?
If any of them are in the rotation, the season will be a letdown. I keep hearing & reading pundit comments that the Pirates probably don't want to pay the price for Happ. IMHO, This would be another big mistake. They need to replace AJ but don't want to pay the going rate. The Cards gat Wainwright back, which makes them even stronger and the Cubs are willing to pay a high price for another starting pitcher, which would advance them.

Hey...I'd surely like to see the Buccos put together a rotation without Locke (and even Morton for that matter)

But......if ya' don't bring back Locke and Morton......who ya' gonna' have in your rotation? Remember - even WITH both those guys you are still a man short (unless they also bring back Worley)

There are a couple of very real considerations here:

1 - Within the payroll limitations, you just don't have a lot of wiggle room. Maybe $10M......at the MOST - if you deal away Melancon, Pedro AND Walker, you may squeeze out $25M (but that opens a couple of other holes that would also need to be filled)

So....who ya' gonna get at those values? It would have to be a Volquez/Happ/Burnett type of rebound/reclamation project....and those are never sure things.

2 - The Buccos can't really afford to do any long-term SP deals.....since they have three young guys they like coming due within the next year or so. If they are going to be competitive long-term THEY HAVE TO get these types of values out of their system (6+ years of quality SP for a reasonable, controllable price......ala the Gerrit Cole situation).

Very few FA SP are going to want to go into a situation where they know they are likely to get "bumped" out of the rotation over the summer. At least not the guys who have a lot of options.



It's not that easy....these are gonna' be some tough multi-faceted decisions for Huntingdon and crew.
 
The problem is some Divisions are much easier to win than others and 98 wins would have won every other Division in baseball.

What would you say if your favorite NFL team finished 13-3 but happened to be in a division where 1 team won the division at 14-2 and another team finished 13-3 and your favorite team had to go on the road for the wildcard game while every other division winner in the conference had a worse record (with one of those teams getting a bye)?
 
What would you say if your favorite NFL team finished 13-3 but happened to be in a division where 1 team won the division at 14-2 and another team finished 13-3 and your favorite team had to go on the road for the wildcard game while every other division winner in the conference had a worse record (with one of those teams getting a bye)?
The big difference, though, is:

In Football ALL the playoffs are one-and-done

In baseball, given the nature of the game (particularly the importance of the Starting Pitcher, and the fact that teams are SUPPOSED to have a handful of them that have to contribute to the team's success) a one-and-done is a COMPLETELY different measuring stick as opposed to even a 5 or 7 game set.......which is why baseball postseasons have ALWAYS been 5 or 7 game sets :)

This incantation of the inane "Expansion of the Post-Season" was STUPID the day Selig announced it.....and it remains STUPID today.....no matter who benefits/is hurt by it.
The idea - the PR spin - that they ADDED an additional team to the post-season was preposterous from Day 1.
What they did is force 2 clubs to have a "play-in" game to get the 1 Wild Card spot......which just meant that the ONE team that took the Wild Card was now just at an even bigger disadvantage (since they had to use up their "Ace" pitcher just to get into the playoffs)

Yes, this system hurt the Buccos for three years in a row now....which kinda' sucks for Buccos and their fans.
But, regardless of that.....it was a STUPID idea then. STUPID idea now.

However many teams you are going to have in the "Post-Season".....let that be determined by the One-Hundred-and-Sixty-Two game regular season.
How hard is that?
 
What would you say if your favorite NFL team finished 13-3 but happened to be in a division where 1 team won the division at 14-2 and another team finished 13-3 and your favorite team had to go on the road for the wildcard game while every other division winner in the conference had a worse record (with one of those teams getting a bye)?
It's difficult to compare baseball and football because the season lengths are so dramatically different. All I know is the Mets won the NL East with 90 wins and that would have put them in 4th place in the NL Central.
 
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The problem is some Divisions are much easier to win than others and 98 wins would have won every other Division in baseball.

That problem has existed within MLB since 1969.

Short of throwing everyone into the same "division" and having everyone play everyone else the same amount of times (e.g., what was done in 1968 and before), there is no solution to the "unequal divisions problem."

Life isn't always fair.
 
That problem has existed within MLB since 1969.

Short of throwing everyone into the same "division" and having everyone play everyone else the same amount of times (e.g., what was done in 1968 and before), there is no solution to the "unequal divisions problem."

Life isn't always fair.
As per usual, NittWitt misses the point by "that much". :)

th
 
As per usual, NittWitt misses the point by "that much". :)

th

Like it or not, "your" Pirates went 8-11 against "my" Cincinnati Reds in 2015.

A losing record against what was perhaps the worst team in Major League Baseball!!!

Turn that 8-11 record around and make it 11-8 --- and then Pittsburgh has 101 wins and the best record in baseball and this thread doesn't even exist.

But, yeah blame the system. Instead of blaming "your" team's inability to get the job done against the worst team in Major League Baseball.

Oh well, it is just history repeating itself --- Johnny Cueto and "my" Reds kept the Pirates from winning the NL Central in 2013 as well.
 
Like it or not, "your" Pirates went 8-11 against "my" Cincinnati Reds in 2015.

A losing record against what was perhaps the worst team in Major League Baseball!!!

Turn that 8-11 record around and make it 11-8 --- and then Pittsburgh has 101 wins and the best record in baseball and this thread doesn't even exist.

But, yeah blame the system. Instead of blaming "your" team's inability to get the job done against the worst team in Major League Baseball.
LOL Maxwell Smart would be impressed!!

So, your next comment will be just as relevant........oh, joy!



BTW.....I didn't know you were Bob Castellini.
I know you've done a crappy job of putting a ball club together, but I NEVER would have figured You (Bob) for being the full-on dope that you are here on the board.

(Oh....maybe not. Maybe you're just one of those idiot fans who thinks it is "your" team. The kind of guy who wears his jersey - with someone else's name on it - to the game. You one of "those" guys? )
 
LOL Maxwell Smart would be impressed!!

So, your next comment will be just as relevant........oh, joy!



BTW.....I didn't know you were Bob Castellini.
I know you've done a crappy job of putting a ball club together, but I NEVER would have figured You (Bob) for being the full-on dope that you are here on the board.

(Oh....maybe not. Maybe you're just one of those idiot fans who thinks it is "your" team. The kind of guy who wears his jersey - with someone else's name on it - to the game. You one of "those" guys? )

Make fun of the "crappy job" that "I" have done, but it is a fact that "my" Reds have won the Central Division twice in the last 6 years. E.g., "my" team's last division title was not in the Bush 41 administration.

What's especially weird: the Cardinals were in the Central Division in both those years.
 
Make fun of the "crappy job" that "I" have done, but it is a fact that "my" Reds have won the Central Division twice in the last 6 years. E.g., "my" team's last division title was not in the Bush 41 administration.

What's especially weird: the Cardinals were in the Central Division in both those years.
You never disappoint NittWitt (well.....at least you never surprise LOL)
 
The big difference, though, is:

In Football ALL the playoffs are one-and-done

In baseball, given the nature of the game (particularly the importance of the Starting Pitcher, and the fact that teams are SUPPOSED to have a handful of them that have to contribute to the team's success) a one-and-done is a COMPLETELY different measuring stick as opposed to even a 5 or 7 game set.......which is why baseball postseasons have ALWAYS been 5 or 7 game sets :)

This incantation of the inane "Expansion of the Post-Season" was STUPID the day Selig announced it.....and it remains STUPID today.....no matter who benefits/is hurt by it.
The idea - the PR spin - that they ADDED an additional team to the post-season was preposterous from Day 1.
What they did is force 2 clubs to have a "play-in" game to get the 1 Wild Card spot......which just meant that the ONE team that took the Wild Card was now just at an even bigger disadvantage (since they had to use up their "Ace" pitcher just to get into the playoffs)

Yes, this system hurt the Buccos for three years in a row now....which kinda' sucks for Buccos and their fans.
But, regardless of that.....it was a STUPID idea then. STUPID idea now.

However many teams you are going to have in the "Post-Season".....let that be determined by the One-Hundred-and-Sixty-Two game regular season.
How hard is that?


Then blame geography...or the leagues' makeup. If they wanted to dump divisions altogether and had a balanced schedule and then put in the top 4 teams based on that season, I'd be for that. But in the current situation, the 2nd WC has done exactly what it's supposed to do -- it's given fans of the Twins (me), Astros, Angels, etc continued reason to hope that something's possible in the postseason. If we were under the old system, I would have been done watching regular season baseball the week after the All-Star Break because the Twins were double-digits behind the Royals. But they were still a game out in the WC.

The other thing I like about the 1-game WC setup is that it gives teams who won their division an extra 'advantage'. The previous 1 WC model gave no advantage to the '1' seed because the lesser team could still set their rotation properly. Now, the Cardinals and Royals get the luxury (since they won their division) of not having to face the other teams' best pitcher more than 1 start (both Keuchel and Arrieta are slated for Game 3). That's a pretty nice advantage for having won your division and not falling into the WC game that wasn't there 3 years ago.
 
Then blame geography...or the leagues' makeup. If they wanted to dump divisions altogether and had a balanced schedule and then put in the top 4 teams based on that season, I'd be for that. But in the current situation, the 2nd WC has done exactly what it's supposed to do -- it's given fans of the Twins (me), Astros, Angels, etc continued reason to hope that something's possible in the postseason. If we were under the old system, I would have been done watching regular season baseball the week after the All-Star Break because the Twins were double-digits behind the Royals. But they were still a game out in the WC.

The other thing I like about the 1-game WC setup is that it gives teams who won their division an extra 'advantage'. The previous 1 WC model gave no advantage to the '1' seed because the lesser team could still set their rotation properly. Now, the Cardinals and Royals get the luxury (since they won their division) of not having to face the other teams' best pitcher more than 1 start (both Keuchel and Arrieta are slated for Game 3). That's a pretty nice advantage for having won your division and not falling into the WC game that wasn't there 3 years ago.
I'm not "blaming" anything.

I'm saying it was - IMHO - a STUPID idea put forward by a meathead Commissar.

Felt that on the day it was announced, feel that way today. It is simply - IMHO - STUPID.


It would be equivalent to the NFL, when they expanded the playoffs after going to 4 divisions, instead saying OK....we are going to add another wild card - and then have the 2 wild card teams select captains to play a game of CONNECT FOUR to determine which of them actually goes into the post-season. It would accomplish the same thing that baseball did.....it would keep more teams "in the hunt" as the season wound down. But at what price? Bastardizing the game?
[OK.....maybe not QUITE that bad.....but close!! :) ]
 
Division strength changes and team strength changes. Yes the Pirates division was brutal this year but it hasn't always been that way and won't always be that way. Some divisions are harder to win than others but it's not always the same division that's hard to win.
 
I like the one game Wild Card playoff. Nothing is more dramatic than a winner take all game and it actually adds significant value to winning your division.
THIS. I was pulling for the Bucs last night, but if they want to escape Wild Card hell, then figure out how to win the Division. And each team has every opportunity to do so because you play everyone in the Division 19 times. That's the beauty of the wild card. Win you're freakin' division and you don't have to roll the dice.
 
It's difficult to compare baseball and football because the season lengths are so dramatically different. All I know is the Mets won the NL East with 90 wins and that would have put them in 4th place in the NL Central.
That math doesn't work. You play more games in your own division which makes comparing records sketchy. The Mets were 7 - 0 against the Reds and the Pirates were what, 7 - 11 against the Reds or something like that. The Pirates got stuck with the wild card for a simple reason. They couldn't win their own division. Wild card hell is the penalty for that and it's much better than the days when the wild card was treated like a division winner. That was way worse in my view.
 
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It's difficult to compare baseball and football because the season lengths are so dramatically different. All I know is the Mets won the NL East with 90 wins and that would have put them in 4th place in the NL Central.

Yes, but they won their division. They beat up on their closest competitor (Nats), whereas if the Pirates did so against the Cards, we wouldn't be talking about this now.

Look, if we stuck with the 1 game WC format, the Pirates would have been automatically in. But the purpose for a 2nd WC is to allow another team, potentially really good, to get a shot too. That could very well be your or my favorite team someday when were thankful that our team was able to get in with, let's say, 88 wins.

As a Mets fan, I am not going to apologize for the lackluster NL east this year when in '99-'00 95-97 wins couldn't even get them past the Braves for the division. Or in 1985 before the WC ERA when 98 wins didn't even get them in.

Bottom line is you have 162 games to win your division. If it's going to be "one of those years" when the divisional competition is going to be fierce, well, you still have plenty of opportunities to win the division. Otherwise, you have to take what you get and move on.
 
Yes, but they won their division. They beat up on their closest competitor (Nats), whereas if the Pirates did so against the Cards, we wouldn't be talking about this now.

Look, if we stuck with the 1 game WC format, the Pirates would have been automatically in. But the purpose for a 2nd WC is to allow another team, potentially really good, to get a shot too. That could very well be your or my favorite team someday.

As a Mets fan, I am not going to apologize for the lackluster NL east this year when in '99-'00 95-97 wins couldn't even get them past the Braves for the division. Or in 1985 before the WC ERA when 98 wins didn't even get them in.

Bottom line is you have 162 games to win your division. If it's going to be "one of those years" when the divisional competition is going to be fierce, well, you still have plenty of opportunities to win the division. Otherwise, you have to take what you get and move on.
Dead on! The Pirates and the Cubs should figure out how to overtake the Cards next year. That's the way this is set up and that should be there goal considering that winning the wild card is a crap shoot. Win the Division and you get lots of benefits to go with that.
 
Y
Like it or not, "your" Pirates went 8-11 against "my" Cincinnati Reds in 2015.

A losing record against what was perhaps the worst team in Major League Baseball!!!

Turn that 8-11 record around and make it 11-8 --- and then Pittsburgh has 101 wins and the best record in baseball and this thread doesn't even exist.

But, yeah blame the system. Instead of blaming "your" team's inability to get the job done against the worst team in Major League Baseball.

Oh well, it is just history repeating itself --- Johnny Cueto and "my" Reds kept the Pirates from winning the NL Central in 2013 as well.

Ya.... but they also ridiculously smoked the Dodgers and Mets all year. So stuff happens you can't explain. Doesn't mean the system isn't stupid when the Pirates just beat the Cubs in a 162 game playoff only to have to play "one more". Adding the extra "one" was dumb three years ago and it's dumb now.
 
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Y


Ya.... but they also ridiculously smoked the Dodgers and Mets all year. So stuff happens you can't explain. Doesn't mean the system isn't stupid when the Pirates just beat the Cubs in a 162 game playoff only to have to play "one more". Adding the extra "one" was dumb three years ago and it's dumb now.
WIN THE FREAKIN' DIVISION!
 
Those who have complained about my 'win your division' simple solution (not here, elsewhere) are part of the Participation Award generation who feel like everything has to be fair in sports. As we know from being in the Big Ten, fair rarely happens.
 
Those who have complained about my 'win your division' simple solution (not here, elsewhere) are part of the Participation Award generation who feel like everything has to be fair in sports. As we know from being in the Big Ten, fair rarely happens.
OK.....

Lets just do it right.

Lets have the Top 12 teams in each league all make the "post-season"........then we'll have a round-robin CONNECT FOUR tournament to determine which 4 teams go on to the "next round".

That would make sense.

:)

Knowing who came up with the WC2 nonsense should have been enough to let folks know what a stupid idea it was. :)
 
OK.....

Lets just do it right.

Lets have the Top 12 teams in each league all make the "post-season"........then we'll have a round-robin CONNECT FOUR tournament to determine which 4 teams go on to the "next round".

That would make sense.

:)

Knowing who came up with the WC2 nonsense should have been enough to let folks know what a stupid idea it was. :)
Well, if you take some of these arguments against the current system to the extreme, you would go back to pre-1969 when the teams all played each other, there were no divisions and the teams with the top record in each league went to the World Series. No playoffs, just the World Series. But I can conceive arguments where even that's not quite fair. I like the current system. Let's stick with it.
 
This incantation of the inane "Expansion of the Post-Season" was STUPID the day Selig announced it.....and it remains STUPID today.....no matter who benefits/is hurt by it.
The idea - the PR spin - that they ADDED an additional team to the post-season was preposterous from Day 1.
What they did is force 2 clubs to have a "play-in" game to get the 1 Wild Card spot......which just meant that the ONE team that took the Wild Card was now just at an even bigger disadvantage (since they had to use up their "Ace" pitcher just to get into the playoffs)

Ironically, you just explained why I love the current 2 WC setup and why I think it was a fantastic addition. You are absolutely correct that it is a huge disadvantage to the WC teams -- which is a much better thing than the old setup where being a WC team was no different from winning your division.

I have no problem with making it a crapshoot as to which Wild Card team gets a shot to advance. If you don't win your division, you shouldn't get any breaks. Next time, take your situation into your own hands and win enough games to win the division.
 
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Well, if you take some of these arguments against the current system to the extreme, you would go back to pre-1969 when the teams all played each other, there were no divisions and the teams with the top record in each league went to the World Series. No playoffs, just the World Series. But I can conceive arguments where even that's not quite fair. I like the current system. Let's stick with it.

To each their own........but to me, the thing that makes this nonsense an unqualified "STUPID" has nothing to do with what anyone's record is - or anything like that.

It would be the same if the Pirates and Cubs were the "WC Teams" with records of 87 wins and 85 wins.
If feel the exact same way about the utter stupidity of this carnival game when looking at the Yankees/Astros deal.

It is pure idiocy - and pure BS on the part of MLB - to act is if both of those WC teams are in the post season.

A one game play in.....while everyone else sits around and waits....ain't "being in the playoffs"

In all sports....if there is ANY sport where a one-game play in AIN'T being in the "playoffs"....it is BASEBALL.

It is idiotic......and only in our current "fantasy football/fantasy baseball/5 second attention span" sports culture would folks feel otherwise.

ITS JUST FLAT OUT STUPID. And it has nothing to do with what the involved teams' records are, or "how many" teams are involved.

ESPECIALLY in baseball.....the idiocy of NOT determining who the playoff teams are (whether you have 2 of them, 4, 6, 8, or 16) based on a 162 game season......but rather on a 1 game _________(I don't know what to call it...."play in game"....."crapshoot"...."cheap way for MLB to bring in another couple million in revenue"....?)?

It is just flat out stupid.


All IMHO.....of course :)
 
Ironically, you just explained why I love the current 2 WC setup and why I think it was a fantastic addition. You are absolutely correct that it is a huge disadvantage to the WC teams -- which is a much better thing than the old setup where being a WC team was no different from winning your division.

I have no problem with making it a crapshoot as to which Wild Card team gets a shot to advance. If you don't win your division, you shouldn't get any breaks. Next time, take your situation into your own hands and win enough games to win the division.
Yep.

That's why in the NFL the "playoff" team with the better regular season record starts each game up 7-0.

I LOVED it when the NFL did that....to be more fair
 
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