Senior Circuit Play-In Game thread: Giants-Pirates

[Lars The Wanderer]

Again, both wildcard teams had the same number of wins and the same run differential. Saying they were clearly inferior to the Pirates is stupid.

 

[Plympton91]

 
Why should anybody care whether the fourth or fifth place team has an advantage? The World Series should be a competition between the best team in the American League and the best team in the National League. The new format makes that more likely.

Why have divisions or playoffs at all then. Just go back to having the best team in each league play a best of 9 for the championship. You don't have to answer that, because the answer is obvious -- money. Just like the gimmick game -- it's all about money and has nothing to with "increasing the chance that the best team makes the world series."

In fact, I'm not sure how it increases the likelihood that the best team gets to the world series. The best team still has to play 2 rounds of playoffs like they did before. There is perhaps a marginal increase if the wild card team is the 2nd or 3rd best team and gets eliminated in the gimmick, thus allowing the best team to play against inferior competition in one of the first two rounds. But, at the same time, it almost by definition increases the likelihood that the 5th best team makes it to the world series (going from no chance to a positive number) by a larger amount than it increases the likelihood that the best team makes it to the world series. So, even by your standard, it only passes if you weight things a certain way.

 

[Average Reds]

Why have divisions or playoffs at all then. Just go back to having the best team in each league play a best of 9 for the championship. You don't have to answer that, because the answer is obvious -- money. Just like the gimmick game -- it's all about money and has nothing to with "increasing the chance that the best team makes the world series."

In fact, I'm not sure how it increases the likelihood that the best team gets to the world series. The best team still has to play 2 rounds of playoffs like they did before. There is perhaps a marginal increase if the wild card team is the 2nd or 3rd best team and gets eliminated in the gimmick, thus allowing the best team to play against inferior competition in one of the first two rounds. But, at the same time, it almost by definition increases the likelihood that the 5th best team makes it to the world series (going from no chance to a positive number) by a larger amount than it increases the likelihood that the best team makes it to the world series. So, even by your standard, it only passes if you weight things a certain way.

 
Given that you know this, why do you keep tilting at this particular windmill?
 
You hate the new system and believe it to be unfair.  Point noted.

 

[kieckeredinthehead]

Why have divisions or playoffs at all then. Just go back to having the best team in each league play a best of 9 for the championship. You don't have to answer that, because the answer is obvious -- money. Just like the gimmick game -- it's all about money and has nothing to with "increasing the chance that the best team makes the world series."

In fact, I'm not sure how it increases the likelihood that the best team gets to the world series. The best team still has to play 2 rounds of playoffs like they did before. There is perhaps a marginal increase if the wild card team is the 2nd or 3rd best team and gets eliminated in the gimmick, thus allowing the best team to play against inferior competition in one of the first two rounds. But, at the same time, it almost by definition increases the likelihood that the 5th best team makes it to the world series (going from no chance to a positive number) by a larger amount than it increases the likelihood that the best team makes it to the world series. So, even by your standard, it only passes if you weight things a certain way.

 
Hell, why even have a championship? Why not just get rid of leagues altogether, have a balanced schedule and award the cup to the team with the best record at the end of the season? I'll tell you why - money! But then, maybe money in some cases is actually tied to fan interest. Narrowing down the playoffs to the two top teams means fewer fans are paying attention in August or September. That's two more months of meaningless baseball for most fans. Allowing the top 4-6 teams in each league into the playoffs, though, is unfair to the teams that are actually the best, and in the long run will probably lead to less compelling baseball in the later stages of the postseason. Any playoff strategy needs to balance the following: 
 
1. Allow as many teams into the playoffs as possible without diluting interest in individual playoff series
2. Ensure that competition in each series is compelling
3. Ensure that the outcome of the World Series is "fair"
 
I love the new format. A three or five game A's-Royals series would have been absolutely unwatchable. Both of those teams have major flaws that would've been continually exposed. But for one night, each flaw was laid bare and wildly interesting. Any longer would've just been bad baseball between two teams who ultimately don't really deserve to be there in the first place.
 
I hate the unbalanced schedule because it means that seeding is going to be unfair (or at least less clear). But I do believe that the new system is better at weeding out the mediocre teams, something that the old system repeatedly failed to do.

 

[Al Zarilla]

 
I found this which says that before the CS the Red Sox were favored against the Tigers and favorites of the remaining 4 to win the WS according to bet365, and this which says they were favored slightly against the Cardinals in the WS, AND had been favorites among all playoff teams. So I think the answer is no. Of course it seemed like every national pundit picked the Tigers and the Cardinals to win those series, so I don't blame Jake for remembering it this way.

Thanks for finding that. I thought with homefield throughout and the best record (tied with the Cards) vs. all, the Sox would have been favored in all series. Jake might have been listening to the scribes, as you say.
 
Nationals have been rough on the Giants, with a 13  and 6 record against them in the last 3 years. No post season though, where the Giants have stepped it up.