As a Dodgers fan, I'm not exactly happy that the Padres won the division (plus I'll have to hear the gloating by my father who lives above San Diego). BUT, I hate the Giants so much that I'm happy you guys shut the door on them AND Barry Bonds.
As an unrelated yet even more important note, the ANGELS clinched the division two days ago. WHOO!
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How sad is it that the Padres, the most inconsistant team this side of the Dodgers, have clinched the playoffs as a .500 team while the Oakland A's and Cleveland Indians (or even the defending champion Boston Red Sox), two of baseball's hottest teams since the All-Star break, stand to take an October vacation?
Oh well. There's no crying in baseball, I guess.
And you thought selling Amway was his career lowlight?
Originally posted by It's FalseHow sad is it that the Padres, the most inconsistant team this side of the Dodgers, have clinched the playoffs as a .500 team while the Oakland A's and Cleveland Indians (or even the defending champion Boston Red Sox), two of baseball's hottest teams since the All-Star break, stand to take an October vacation?
Oh well. There's no crying in baseball, I guess.
Why are you even looking to the AL to make your point when there's an entire division (NL East) that has a better record than the Padres, yet only one team is going to the playoffs??
There's been a few instances that a team with a better record has missed out on the playoffs since they realigned & went to 3 divisions. Why not go back to 2 division, with the 2 division winners & the next 2 best records getting the wild cards? Seems more fair to me than the current system...
Originally posted by Von MaestroThere's been a few instances that a team with a better record has missed out on the playoffs since they realigned & went to 3 divisions. Why not go back to 2 division, with the 2 division winners & the next 2 best records getting the wild cards? Seems more fair to me than the current system...
Agreed, but there are problems with any wildcard system. If you want to allow 4 teams in the playoffs, what's the point of even having any divisions? Take your suggestion a logical next step, why not simply have one league with the top four get in?
The answer has to do with the unbalanced schedule, and the revenue they can generate with natural rivalries. NY and Boston play each other more than they do Cleveland and Chicago. Interleague play is also unbalanced.
Congrats to the Padres for reaching .500 to clinch. I hope they lose the next 4, then sweep their way to the pennant, to shut up a few folks. They played by the rules, and accomplished what every team sets out to do in spring training - win their division to move on to the playoffs.
To be fair to the Padres, they did win their season series with the Braves, Marlins, Nationals, and Cardinals so it wasn't as if they beat up on the bottom feeders just to get to .500. In fact, they're a combined 14-20 against the D'backs and the Dodgers so crappy teams in their own division gave them trouble.
Theoretically, the Pads could pull the upset on the Braves in round 1. If Peavy can start (and of course win) twice in a short series that leaves them needing to only squeak out one out of the other three which is certainly doable. Plus with Smoltz having a sore shoulder after 230 innings this season, the Braves are left to rely on Hudson, Jones and a shoddy bullpen.
EDIT: And I just realized that the Cards can't play Houston in the NLDS so they draw the next worst team - San Diego. I really don't think that they have a chance to beat the Cards unless Carpenter continues to throw atrociously.
And count me among those that like the 2 division/2 wild card format. For one thing, it's a lot harder to dominate a division with six or seven other teams than it is to dominate one with three to five other teams. This year aside, it seems like all you need to do in the AL Central is put together a decent team, and you can run away with the division title by July 4th. If the Braves were back in the West and had to contend with the Cards, Giants, and Cubs, I doubt we're talking about 14 straight division titles (not to say that the current NL East is weak, but it would definitely be tougher with two divisions.
Originally posted by It's FalseHow sad is it that the Padres, the most inconsistant team this side of the Dodgers, have clinched the playoffs as a .500 team while the Oakland A's and Cleveland Indians (or even the defending champion Boston Red Sox), two of baseball's hottest teams since the All-Star break, stand to take an October vacation?
Oh well. There's no crying in baseball, I guess.
Why are you even looking to the AL to make your point when there's an entire division (NL East) that has a better record than the Padres, yet only one team is going to the playoffs??
There's been a few instances that a team with a better record has missed out on the playoffs since they realigned & went to 3 divisions. Why not go back to 2 division, with the 2 division winners & the next 2 best records getting the wild cards? Seems more fair to me than the current system...
Don't think that any one of those teams wouldn't rather be .500 and winning their division instead of battling for a playoff spot. Every single one of them would switch places with the Padres in a heartbeat. I admit, this is not a great baseball team, but they did what they had to do to win their division. They won this division back in May when they went 22-6, and, as Big Steve pointed out, they won their season series against the Braves, Marlins, Nats and Cardinals. Will they go anywhere in the playoffs? Probably not, and, if I can turn into the lifelong Padres fan that I am for a minute, I don't care. All I ask is they make it to game 4 in the first round so i can use my playoff tickets.
Well, if Bonds has/had been taking GH, it wasn't going to show up on the test. Also, according to many in and out of baseball, amphetamines are as common in the clubhouse as athletic tape.
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