God, do I hate baseball's "wild card"...

[Arkham House]

Look--I am *not* a so-called "traditionalist". I was quite happy with expansion, the two-division format adopted in 1969, the LCS...the new ballparks...even the new all-purpose stadiums of the 70s, and Astroturf...maybe the experiments failed, but they were worth trying. I love the Latino influx, and the coming Japanese-Asian influx. *And even the DH*...it's been interesting, and a case can be made that it's increased strategy as much as it's eliminated it. But the "wild card" idea has been a DISASTER--and pardon my caps, but I wanted this to be very clear. We're seeing the fruits of Selig's "brainstorm" now--which mediocre .500 team in the NL is going to make the "post-season"? Baseball, with its long season, is about pennant races--and they haven't existed since 1993, and probably never will again. It *isn't* football or basketball...and artificially inflating the number of play-off teams is utterly unneccesary...the system we had from 1969-93 was very stable, and baseball thrived in those years as never before...

[MrCoffee]

1. Quality rant, in spite of the DH bit. Well done.

[Oeditpus Rex]

2. Of everything you noted, the wild card bothers me the least

Even though it's the most blatantly about money. Gotta do something to pay all those brazillionaires, though.

But, if MLB had to expand into Triple-A cities to the extent that it found it necessary to create three divisions per league (which I also question, since each league did just fine for many years with eight and even 10 clubs, and with much of the former in the days before airplane travel), I would've preferred a balanced schedule (with NO fucking interleague shit) and a playoff system that put the two division-winning clubs with the worse records in a three-game series, with the winner to play the club with the best division record. That way, the World Series wouldn't go until Halloween.

But, more games = more money. And there we are.

[Arkham House]

8. Hear, hear

That's an excellent idea--give the division leader with the best record a bye, let the other winners fight it out...you get your extra round pf playoffs, and no "wild card"...but it makes too much sense, so it'll never happen...

[reyd reid reed]

3. The wild card doesn't really bother me that much

The DH, on the other hand...but let's not go there.

it's stupid

I can see your point, though. Baseball existed for a long, long time without the wild card and it would continue to exist if it were eliminated tomorrow.

[Shakespeare]

4. I love the way NL fans can always be counted upon to bitch about the DH.

:rofl:

Can't wait for the world series.

[MrCoffee]

5. It's not just NL fans, it's BASEBALL fans...but whatever.

[Shakespeare]

6. Really? I can honestly say I've never heard an AL fan complain about it.

Whatever right back atcha--I just think there are bigger things to get all worked up about (I do agree with the wild card rant).

[MrCoffee]

9. i feel too crappy to have this fight again. it was a damn fine rant.

[Shakespeare]

11. I don't wanna fight, either.

But it IS kind of funny to sit back and count the beats before the DH argument pops up. ;-)

What's great about baseball, is that it clearly works just fine to have that difference between the two leagues. :toast:

[reyd reid reed]

7. Oh, I know, I know...

Still...it just doesn't seem right for the pitcher to be excused from playing offense and for a batter to be allowed to not play defense. Makes it a 10-man team instead of 9.

It's just....not right.

But that's just my opinion and my opinion and a buck'll getcha a cup of coffee at 7-11.

Maybe.

:shrug:

[Shakespeare]

10. I'd prefer both leagues adopted it, and here's why I think it's OK.

Pitchers today--and if somebody has stats to refute me, please do post them (because my knowledge is certainly not perfect, and I'd be interested in knowing if my impression is wrong)--are in a much more physically demanding position than they were 20 or 30 or more years ago. It's my understanding that the 100 mph pitches are a fairly recent development in baseball, and being expected to throw high-speed pitch after high-speed pitch really takes a toll on the body in ways it didn't in the past. I have no problem with sparing the pitcher the risk of further injury by also having him bat.

That said, I *love* interleague play, because one of our pitchers--Dan Haren--swings a pretty decent bat, and can almost always be counted on to disobey orders not to take hard swings when he's at the plate. Love that guy.

[Oeditpus Rex]

15. Through the '70s, pitchers worked harder

Rotations were four men, not five, and the closer was just becoming a specialty role in the '70s — and that was still a stretch from the bullpens of today, with separate pitchers for the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, depending on whether you're ahead or behind. It was common to have a dozen guys in the league with more than 250 innings in a season and a couple with more than 300.

As for speed, they didn't point a radar gun at everything back then, but Bob Feller was clocked at 96.8 mph in the '30s and Walter Johnson and Amos Rusie were supposedly faster than Feller. Later, Koufax and Gibson both had legendary heat.

And they batted. All of 'em. And some did it rather well. Don Drysdale and Warren Spahn, to name two, could've easily been position players with their hitting talents. Drysdale had seven homers and 21 RBI one season, and was used more than once as a pinch-hitter.

[trogdor]

12. The NL wildcard usually was not the weakest of the four.

Usually, it was the San Diego Padres, playing .500 ball and winning their division, who were stinking up the place. Three divisions are too many.

[GalleryGod]

13. It is embarrassing when those Wild Cards keep winning the World Series

As a fan who sees 25-35 games each year, I can't wait each Fall to ROOT for the wildcard team to win ! O8)

[Arkham House]

17. As a Red Sox fan, I should't hate the wild card...

...but I do. Having them win as one greatly reduced my pleasure in the 2004 Miracle...

[mainegreen]

14. Fight, fight, fight, fight!

There's gotta be a good one coming!
:popcorn:

[bertha katzenengel]

16. Even though my team was the first wild card team to win the WS,

and even though I thought that, even as a wild card, they deserved every victory and the championship . . . .

even with all that, I agree with you. I miss pennant races.

If they'd ditch the mofo DH, I might be a tiny bit less upset about six divisions. Maybe.

[Broken_Hero]

18. I think the wildcard

is fine...its just a sad state of affairs for the NL this year. The Wildcard race for the AL is going to be brutal, when most of the contenders have better record than the NL wild card counterparts.....:) I also like the idea of a more play off baseball...8 teams total trying to get to the world series....:) If my team won because of a wild card birth, I wouldn't down play it, its a miracle that they did win, because the wild card teams are suppose to be the gutter rats...and the Angels/Marlins/Bosox proved that being a wildcard, doesn't mean you have a no talent squad...

BTW, I'm an AL fan, Mariners baby...and I fully support, and adore the DH, and I think the NL should adopt it....:) Now....




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