unbalance of power in the american league

[rivers12]

yea, sox are definitely still up there, but I listen to local boston sports talk all the time and they talk about how the sox are spending far less on players now than they were even a few years ago. They made a few big deals lately with Beltre and resigning Beckett, but they didn't make any huge pickups at the deadlines or anything like they have in the past. Plus they let Bay go instead of signing a long term deal. 9 million for Beltre may seem like a lot, but it was like a one year deal so it's not like he's there making 80 mil over the next 9 seasons or something.

 

[meangry]

yea, sox are definitely still up there, but I listen to local boston sports talk all the time and they talk about how the sox are spending far less on players now than they were even a few years ago. They made a few big deals lately with Beltre and resigning Beckett, but they didn't make any huge pickups at the deadlines or anything like they have in the past. Plus they let Bay go instead of signing a long term deal. 9 million for Beltre may seem like a lot, but it was like a one year deal so it's not like he's there making 80 mil over the next 9 seasons or something.

They increased payroll by over forty million.

Try again.

 

[rivers12]

They increased payroll by over forty million.

Try again.

First of all, I'm not even sure how this debate has anything to do with the OP about how teams with better records are getting snubbed due to the current format.

 

[rivers12]

meangry, I am a little embarrassed that you live in wisconsin and know more about the red sox than I do seeing as how I live in mass (although I am a yankees fan). However, realizing you are from wisconsin also means you have nothing else to do but read stats until football rolls around and you can watch the Pack choke in the playoffs again 🙂


Oh wait............. I forgot Favre is gone so Minnesota gets to endure another year of terrible throws with the game on the line come january.

 

[meangry]

First of all, I'm not even sure how this debate has anything to do with the OP about how teams with better records are getting snubbed due to the current format.

meangry, I am a little embarrassed that you live in wisconsin and know more about the red sox than I do seeing as how I live in mass (although I am a yankees fan). However, realizing you are from wisconsin also means you have nothing else to do but read stats until football rolls around and you can watch the Pack choke in the playoffs again 🙂


Oh wait............. I forgot Favre is gone so Minnesota gets to endure another year of terrible throws with the game on the line come january.

Original.

 

[CommBoy]

I think the biggest argument against this is that you would lose viewership of entire regions during the playoffs if there was no team within 1000 or 2000 miles or so that was playing.

Being here in Seattle I know that I wont be watching my team play, but I can root for Texas to take down any eastern teams that they run into and will watch in order to do so. A playoff of the Rays, Yanks, Blue Jays and whomever else would not interest me in the least as I would want all of them to lose.

I do not think that baseball would ever want to give up on regions of TV audiences.

 

[rivers12]

I think the biggest argument against this is that you would lose viewership of entire regions during the playoffs if there was no team within 1000 or 2000 miles or so that was playing.

Being here in Seattle I know that I wont be watching my team play, but I can root for Texas to take down any eastern teams that they run into and will watch in order to do so. A playoff of the Rays, Yanks, Blue Jays and whomever else would not interest me in the least as I would want all of them to lose.

I do not think that baseball would ever want to give up on regions of TV audiences.

I believe viewership is the entire reasoning behind the division concept. I also believe viewership is the reason why many more teams make playoffs in any other sport.

I would not be entirely opposed to baseball expanding the playoffs so that more teams make it, like 6 teams from each league. The 4 teams with the worst records out of the 6 could play a 3 game series to see which two make it on to the round of 4 left.

So it would be like 3 vs 6 and 4 vs 5. The winners of those 3-game series move on to play against the 1 and 2 best records. Divisions could stay in place and everything, but the division winner with the worst record has to play in the wild card round, just like football basically.

 

[rivers12]

Another funny thing though is that in baseball, most people stop watching once their team is out. However, in sports like football, everyone tunes into the playoffs even if their team isn't in it. Kinda goes to show what sport dominates in terms of popularity when you are willing to watch two teams you don't care about go at it.

 

[ticklingfeet4fu]

I believe viewership is the entire reasoning behind the division concept. I also believe viewership is the reason why many more teams make playoffs in any other sport.

I would not be entirely opposed to baseball expanding the playoffs so that more teams make it, like 6 teams from each league. The 4 teams with the worst records out of the 6 could play a 3 game series to see which two make it on to the round of 4 left.

So it would be like 3 vs 6 and 4 vs 5. The winners of those 3-game series move on to play against the 1 and 2 best records. Divisions could stay in place and everything, but the division winner with the worst record has to play in the wild card round, just like football basically.

So you would give first round byes. Interesting. Baseball plays 162 games in 180 days then you give teams first round byes? So wo does the advantage go too? Of course the team that has had to play the first round because they are in shape to play. Let's say there are a couple of rainouts in that three game series, you might have teams sitting around for five or six days doing nothing.

Remember when the Tigers swept the A's in 2006 after they mowed through the Yankees in four? The Tigers sat around for an entire week while the Mets and Cardinals played a seven game set. The Tigers played like garbage because they were no longer in game shape.

You idea is nothing short of scary. Let it as it is. Thank God you are not the Commissioner of Baseball. I thought only Bud Selig was out to ruin baseball. You really are Bud Selig's twin brother.

 

[rivers12]

So you would give first round byes. Interesting. Baseball plays 162 games in 180 days then you give teams first round byes? So wo does the advantage go too? Of course the team that has had to play the first round because they are in shape to play. Let's say there are a couple of rainouts in that three game series, you might have teams sitting around for five or six days doing nothing.

Remember when the Tigers swept the A's in 2006 after they mowed through the Yankees in four? The Tigers sat around for an entire week while the Mets and Cardinals played a seven game set. The Tigers played like garbage because they were no longer in game shape.

You idea is nothing short of scary. Let it as it is. Thank God you are not the Commissioner of Baseball. I thought only Bud Selig was out to ruin baseball. You really are Bud Selig's twin brother.

You are nothing short of useless. 3 games played in 3 days is not going to kill another team's progress. They wait 3 days to play again, OMG, that would totally ruin them. What is it about you midwestern people and stupidity. Sorry you don't come from a state that has an average IQ above retarded.

 

[MrMacphisto]

Only in baseball is it possible that a team could possess the 3rd best record in the entire league and still manage to get snubbed from the playoffs. Due to only 1 wild card team being allowed in, it is actually possible that 3 teams in one division can have the 3 best records in the league, but because in baseball the two other division winners must gain entry, a team with a better record misses out. Looking at the American League East right now, they have the top 3 best records in the entirle AL (red sox and twins are tied). Assuming the Yanks and Rays finish 1 and 2 in that division, the Red Sox could finish just below them with the 3rd best record and not get in.

Is it time for a change in baseball and more teams get in? Personally, I always thought in all sports it makes more sense if instead of having divisions you just take the two leagues and make them each a single big division (example American League is a division and National League is the other Division), then take the 4 teams with the best records in each division and send them to the playoffs. That is really the only fair way that the best teams move on.

Nah... they just need to add 1 new team to the AL East (for Charlotte, NC) and 1 new team to the AL West (for Portland, OR), and then shift one team to the AL Central (Toronto).

That would balance things out more. 😉

 

[ticklingfeet4fu]

You are nothing short of useless. 3 games played in 3 days is not going to kill another team's progress. They wait 3 days to play again, OMG, that would totally ruin them. What is it about you midwestern people and stupidity. Sorry you don't come from a state that has an average IQ above retarded.

I am a New Yorker...I am not a Mid-Westerner. I lived in New York for 38 years. I have lived here for five. So who has te retarded IQ. Anyone wo is Bud Selig's twin broter and thinks like Bud Selig probably has more fingers than an IQ.

Like I said MORON...if you have rainouts or tey ave to travel from Boston to California, chances are pretty ood tey will not play tree games in tree days you idiot. As far as useless...that is what this thread is. 'I want to change things because my Red Sox arent making the playoffs.' Grow a set and get over it. $162,000,000 teams shouldn't be in 3rd place in their division. Stop complaining and get over it. Whiny little 6 year old.