MLB 2008 Part 3, Take 2

[PigSooie]

Gary Sheffield is a fucking idiot.

 

This.

[Good Old Neon]

Isn't a generator the same thing as a battery? Just a different term.

 

If I'm not mistaken, a generator is a battery on, ahem, steroids.

[OOO]

If I'm not mistaken, a generator is a battery on, ahem, steroids.

 

[Lammycat]

BOS clinches playoff berth. Consequently, NYY out of playoffs.

[bjorn_skurj]

BOS clinches playoff berth. Consequently, NYY out of playoffs.

Congratulatory remarks.

[kimcatch22]

BOS clinches playoff berth. Consequently, NYY out of playoffs.

Especially to Sir Stew and the tickets he scored today!

[bjorn_skurj]

Is this a holiday in Cubs-land?

 

Merkle's Boner Day (NAPE)

[MattZ]

I may not survive this week.

[MrRain422]

Maybe Derek Jeter would like to watch the playoffs on TV with me.

[cryptique]

Hard to believe, I know, but Hank Steinbrenner sounds like even more of an asshole than his father...

 

Hank Steinbrenner rips divisional playoff system in Sporting News

 

_{BY MARK FEINSAND}

_{DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER}

 

_{Updated Tuesday, September 23rd 2008, 4:09 PM}

 

Many people have been impressed with the Dodgers' recent turnaround, one which will likely land Joe Torre's club in the postseason next week. Just don't count Hank Steinbrenner among them.

 

Steinbrenner, the Yankees' co-chairman, ripped Major League Baseball's divisional system in a column in this week's Sporting News, saying that the format allows teams to make the postseason even if their records don't warrant such an honor.

 

"The biggest problem is the divisional setup in major league baseball. I didn't like it in the 1970s, and I hate it now," Steinbrenner wrote. "Baseball went to a multidivision setup to create more races, rivalries and excitement. But it isn't fair. You see it this season, with plenty of people in the media pointing out that Joe Torre and the Dodgers are going to the playoffs while we're not.

 

"This is by no means a knock on Torre - let me make that clear-but look at the division they're in. If L.A. were in the AL East, it wouldn't be in the playoff discussion. The AL East is never weak."

 

Los Angeles entered Tuesday night's game with a 81-75 record, enough for a two-game lead over Arizona in the NL West. The Yankees entered the final week at 85-71, but that was only good for third place in the AL East.

 

"I'm happy for Joe, but you have to compare the divisions and the competition," Steinbrenner wrote. "What if the Yankees finish the season with more wins than the Dodgers but the Dodgers make the playoffs? Does that make the Dodgers a better team? No."

 

Steinbrenner also questioned the legitimacy of the Cardinals' 2006 title, noting that their 83 regular-season victories were two less than the Phillies' total, but because of the system, St. Louis reached the playoffs as NL Central champs while Philadelphia lost the wild card race to the Dodgers, who had 88 wins.

 

"People will say the Cardinals were the best team because they won the World Series," Steinbrenner wrote. "Well, no, they weren't. They just got hot at the right time. They didn't even belong in the playoffs. And neither does a team from the N.L. West this season."

 

Of course, the same could be said for the 2000 Yankees, who won the World Series that fall after registering just 87 wins to capture the AL East title. Four other teams in the AL had more victories that season, including a 90-win Indians team that missed the playoffs.

[MattZ]

Hank Steinbrenner sounds like even more of an asshole than his father

 

It's in his genes.

The thing that really bugs me (full disclosure: Mets Fan) is that everyone hated Steinbrenner in the mid80s and early 90s. Yankee fans too. For what he did to his managers and GMs, for what he did to Winfield, for signing free agent busts and trading away younger talent. For sticking his nose in everything. Everyone insisted that he ruined baseball in NY.

 

Now that he's old and senile, he has somehow morphed into this sympathetic father figure that "saved" baseball in NY. People want him in the Hall of Fame. And he gets carted out on a golf cart at the All Star Game as some sort of hero?

 

Spare me. He didn't save jack sh!t. Stick Michael and Buck Showalter and other baseball people built that team and Steinbrenner paid for it. His luck turned because of smart baseball people. All he did was write the checks and keep his mouth shut. When he stopped meddling, this team started winning.

[OOO]

George Costanza got a job telling Steinbrenner what an awful job he was doing with the Yankees and how everyone in the city hated what he was doing.

[bobbob1313]

He's got a point though. The best team only wins the WS like half of the time.

 

I'm not saying it's a bad system, but he's not wrong.

[Lammycat]

He's got a point though. The best team only wins the WS like half of the time.

 

I'm not saying it's a bad system, but he's not wrong.

"Best team" by what standards? The better overall record of the two teams? Pythagorean theory? Team that had the tougher regular season schedule? Best era/ba/OBP/whatever?

 

There are way too many factors to blanketly state that the best team wins the WS only about half the time. We all know there is some luck involved in getting to the WS, but there's luck involved in the game being played in May or July or whatever, too. To say the "better" team didn't win a game/series in July against an opponent would be irrational, so how is it rational in a 7-game series in the playoffs/WS?

 

The team that takes the trophy is the better team.

[cryptique]

He's got a point though. The best team only wins the WS like half of the time.

Who cares? If it just came down to the "best team" by record, why do we even have a postseason? Just crown the Angels the champions right now and bring on the fall TV lineup.

 

I'm not saying it's a bad system, but he's not wrong.

He's wrong. He's comparing apples and oranges. Sure, the Dodgers don't have as many wins as the Yankees, but they play in the National League. You can argue all you want about whether the NL is better or worse than the AL, but the crucial point is that it's different.

 

The Yankees understand the current system, and have taken advantage of it, better than anyone -- until this year, they had made the postseason in every year since the latest reconfiguration, so the system's been treating them awfully damn well. Bellyaching about it now just makes Steinbrenner look like the colossal douche that he clearly is.

[Lammycat]

The Yankees understand the current system, and have taken advantage of it, better than anyone -- until this year, they had made the postseason in every year since the latest reconfiguration, so the system's been treating them awfully damn well.

Not only that, but the NYYs helped make the AL East the competitive division it is, in essence making those around them play better.

 

I do understand the gripe about the current system as it makes for unbalanced schedules, but to be carping about it now because his team sucks is a little funny. There are plenty of folks who do not like the current system.

[bobbob1313]

sorry.

 

In my opinion, etc etc etc.

 

The Angels aren't the best team in baseball. The Yankees are a better team than the Dodgers. The AL is the better league. And Steinnbrenner's not wrong. He's an asshole for saying it, but he's not wrong. The Dodgers aren't as good a team as the Yankees. They just play in a shitty division. He shouldn't complain because you have to work in the system given, but he's not wrong.

 

I've said it before, and it is true in baseball as in every sport, the World Champion isn't necessarily the best team. They are the champion of the league. That's all that matters.

[cryptique]

There's a very real possibility that both the Angels and the Rays will finish with a better record than the Cubs.

 

Does that mean that the Cubs aren't as good as the Angels or Rays?

 

No, it means the Cubs play in a different league.

 

And guess what? In the old days, when there weren't any divisions, there were sometimes two or more teams in one league that had better records than the best team in the other league. One of those "better" teams sat out the postseason.

 

That's the way it works, and the way it's always worked. Someone always thinks they got screwed. Steinbrenner is acting like this is something new since 1994, or 1969. He's full of shit.

 

And he's wrong.

[Twisted Acres]

It's in his genes.

The thing that really bugs me (full disclosure: Mets Fan) is that everyone hated Steinbrenner in the mid80s and early 90s. Yankee fans too. For what he did to his managers and GMs, for what he did to Winfield, for signing free agent busts and trading away younger talent. For sticking his nose in everything. Everyone insisted that he ruined baseball in NY.

 

Now that he's old and senile, he has somehow morphed into this sympathetic father figure that "saved" baseball in NY. People want him in the Hall of Fame. And he gets carted out on a golf cart at the All Star Game as some sort of hero?

 

Spare me. He didn't save jack sh!t. Stick Michael and Buck Showalter and other baseball people built that team and Steinbrenner paid for it. His luck turned because of smart baseball people. All he did was write the checks and keep his mouth shut. When he stopped meddling, this team started winning.

 

Forgive my relative lack of knowledge in this department, but without searching for the facts, wasn't Steinbrenner suspended (for that whole Howie Spira thing) and Stick Michael and/or Buck Showalter running the team when they made the draft picks (Jeter, Posada, Rivera, Pettite, B. Williams) that led to the 4 World Championships that Steinbrenner gets all this glory for?

[Moe_Syzlak]

I have an idea! Why doesn't MLB employ a system that combines the opinions of sportswriters, the League's managers, computer rankings, records and strength of schedule to determine the two best teams at the end of the regular season. Those two teams then compete in the WS. Who could possibly have a problem with that!?!

[bobbob1313]

There's a very real possibility that both the Angels and the Rays will finish with a better record than the Cubs.

 

Does that mean that the Cubs aren't as good as the Angels or Rays?

 

No, it means the Cubs play in a different league.

 

And guess what? In the old days, when there weren't any divisions, there were sometimes two or more teams in one league that had better records than the best team in the other league. One of those "better" teams sat out the postseason.

 

That's the way it works, and the way it's always worked. Someone always thinks they got screwed. Steinbrenner is acting like this is something new since 1994, or 1969. He's full of shit.

 

And he's wrong.

 

I don't see anything wrong with what he's saying, except that he's running a major league team and saying it. It's total sour grapes, but that doesn't change the fact that what he's saying is factually correct.

 

And record has nothing to do with it. You can't compare teams by record across leagues. You can compare them by the players on the team, their runs scored and runs allowed relative to their league, their defense, and stuff like that.

 

I don't see why this is so upsetting to you. Why can't there be better teams that get left out of the playoffs? Just because Hank Steinbrenner is a jerk and is whining about it when he has no place to doesn't mean he's wrong, thats all I'm saying. He's wrong in saying they belong in the playoffs, because they don't, given our current system. But the Yankees are probably better than a few of the teams that will actually make the playoffs.

[jenbobblehead]

I don't see anything wrong with what he's saying, except that he's running a major league team and saying it. It's total sour grapes, but that doesn't change the fact that what he's saying is factually correct.

 

And record has nothing to do with it. You can't compare teams by record across leagues. You can compare them by the players on the team, their runs scored and runs allowed relative to their league, their defense, and stuff like that.

 

I don't see why this is so upsetting to you. Why can't there be better teams that get left out of the playoffs? Just because Hank Steinbrenner is a jerk and is whining about it when he has no place to doesn't mean he's wrong, thats all I'm saying. He's wrong in saying they belong in the playoffs, because they don't, given our current system. But the Yankees are probably better than a few of the teams that will actually make the playoffs.

 

and to that i say "so?" They didn't make the playoffs. I don't know what the point is. If the Orioles got to play the NL West then they'd be kings now. There's no point in griping about it because it doesn't matter and because it doesn't matter, he's not right. George and Hank should move the team to Fresno and then they can play in a lesser league and restore their glory if that's what their beef is.

 

If the two "best" teams made the playoffs every year then we'd hear a lot more complaining about the Red Sox and Yankees taking up too much airtime. The world series is a time when only ONE of those teams can be playing. You'd think there would be rejoicing in that.

 

 

Why anyone even listens to that blowhard (steinbrenner, not bobbob) is beyond me. The whole freaking family is just batshit crazy and mean.

[bobbob1313]

He's wrong for saying it, but he's not wrong. That's all I'm saying.

[Moe_Syzlak]

He's wrong for saying it, but he's not wrong. That's all I'm saying.

He's not right either though. There is no perfect system.

[bobbob1313]

What is factually incorrect about it? Better teams miss the playoffs all of the time, and it is happening right now.

 

There's no point in saying it, though.