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Monday, October 9
You know, it's not so terrible
By Jim Caple
Special to ESPN.com
I'm about to write words I never thought I would type, or at least words as unlikely as "Academy award winner Keanu Reeves."
I sort of like the wild card.
Yes, I'm such a baseball purist that I don't even like batting donuts (wasn't life much simpler and better when they swung two bats in the on-deck circle?). Yes, I initially was as appalled by the format as I would be at the sight of Tony Gwynn in a fastskin swimsuit. Yes, I anticipated the end of civilization as we know it (only cockroaches, agents and Fenway Park hot dogs would survive).
But you know what? The wild card has made the baseball season more interesting, keeping hope alive in cities that otherwise would be forced to spend September in purgatory by watching football. Even in Chicago.
True, we regrettably lost the great title races such as Atlanta and San Francisco fought in 1993. But the same argument was made when baseball began divisional play in 1969. The fact of the matter is that whatever we lost in pennant chases we more than make up for with several additional races each year for the wild card.
Had it not been for the wild card, we would not have had the cuticle-devouring race between the Mariners and Angels in 1995 or the one-game playoff between the Giants and Cubs at Wrigley Field in 1998. Had it not been for the wild card, you would not have had the 1995 Yankees-Mariners series, among the most exciting postseason series ever played (and especially sweet given that Buck Showalter's Yankees lost).
Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not a fanatic about the format. For one thing, the wild card team doesn't face enough of a disadvantage. Potentially playing one fewer home game than its opponent is about as much of a hardship as missing an episode of "Nash Bridges." In the recent issue of ESPN Magazine, Steve Hirdt suggests adding a wild-card team to each league, then making the two play one game to decide which advances to the rest of the postseason. The idea has merit, though I'm not sure allowing yet another non-titleist into the postseason is worth it. Perhaps making the wild card team play all its first-round games on the road would be a better solution.
A more pressing concern is the problem first seen in 1995 with the Angels, Mariners and Yankees, when those three teams nearly finished in a three-way tie (California and Seattle finished one game worse than the Yankees). But if they had finished with the same record, the Yankees would have automatically advanced as the wild card with the Angels and Mariners playing for the division title. That was a possibility again this season until both Seattle and Oakland won the final Sunday of the season.
The rule that such playoff games count as part of the regular-season record is an outdated carryover from pre-division, pre-wild card days. Sort of like organ music. And like organ music it needs to be changed. The next time it happens, baseball should have the two teams in the same division play for the division title. The winner advances to the postseason while the loser plays the third team for the wild-card berth.
Of course, that requires at least two additional days of games before the postseason can start, which presents yet another scheduling problem. And heaven help us if there is the need for a makeup game, which there almost certainly will be in future years with baseball going to unbalanced schedules and teams visiting even more cities only once a year.
The only solution is to play more doubleheaders during the season, allowing the season to end earlier and allow teams more off-days to rest or make up rainouts. Doubleheaders, however, have gone the way of double-features. As it is, the Twins are the only team to schedule a doubleheader for next season and the only team to schedule a doubleheader in the past four years.
Ernie Banks would roll over in his grave if it wasn't for the fact that he isn't dead.
In other words, this whole postseason situation is like peeling an onion or determining the Diamondbacks' alternate uniform possibilities. Every time you finish with one layer, there's another underneath. Especially when the players' union has a say in matters.
Which means there is only one real solution. Expand to Las Vegas and northern Virginia, divide each league into four four-team divisions and get rid of the wild card entirely. That way, you please everyone. You maintain interest in plenty of cities (except Montreal) and you preserve the integrity of division races. It's a win-win situation for everyone.
Now, all we have to do is find enough players.
Box score line of the week
Sigh Young award winner Roy Halladay went out with a doozy, allowing seven runs in just .2 innings last Thursday (.2 IP, 5 H, 7 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K), and still lowered his ERA to 10.64, the highest ever for any pitcher who threw as many as his 67 innings. But you expect that from a bad pitcher on a team that is spending October in front of the TV.
But what about Greg Maddux and Rick Ankiel, the Game 1 starters for Atlanta and St. Louis? Maddux allowed six runs in the first inning, the first time in 491 career starts he has ever allowed that many in the first inning. But Ankiel had an even more impressive line after he threw five wild pitches -- count 'em, five -- in the third inning. His line:
2.2 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 6 BB, 3 K, 5 WP
Ankiel wasn't the first pitcher to throw five wild pitches. It happened as recently as 1890 when Bert Cunningham of the Buffalo Bisons did so.
Win Ben Grieve's money
This week's category: Pathetic Postseason Teams That Don't Play In Chicago.
Which team won the most postseason games without winning the World Series?
Lies, damn lies and statistics
After going 0-for-4 in Game 1 against Oakland, David Justice is hitless in his past 25 postseason at-bats. ... Justice, by the way, has more postseason at-bats (275) than Oakland's entire roster combined (121). ... Minnesota's Cristian Guzman became just the fifth player in the past half-century to hit 20 triples in one season. The others were Lance Johnson (21 in 1996), Willie Wilson (21 in 1985), George Brett (20 in 1979) and Willie Mays (20 in 1957). ... How bad was Houston's pitching this year? Since the Rockies joined the National League in 1993, the Astros are the first team other than Colorado to have the highest ERA in the league. ... The Tacoma Rainiers won more gold medals (four) than Canada, Spain, Iran and 176 of the 199 nations competing in the Olympics. Tacoma and U.S. outfielder Mike Neill has more than 1,000 hits in the minors but only one at the major league level. Ryan Franklin, Anthony Sanders and Todd Williams were the other gold medalists who played for the Rainiers. ... The Reds joined the 1932 Yankees as the only teams not to get shut out during a season. The Tigers, meanwhile, were shut out 15 times. ... Chicago loves its Sox. When the Sox and Cubs played the same night in Chicago, the Southsiders drew 23,319 for a game against Pedro Martinez at Comiskey while the Cubs drew 26,055 for a game against Omar Daal. ... The White Sox don't have a single pitcher on the staff with postseason experience.
Answer: Cleveland won 10 games in 1997 but lost Game 7 of the World Series.
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