Quote:
Originally Posted by monkeystyxx
I don't think I understand your argument?
The only 'punishment' for winning the Wildcard game currently is that you have to play one extra game, and you have to play the division winner with the best record in the xLDS.
The only thing that would change if you didn't have the wildcard game would be the lack of the 'extra game'. I'm not really sure that after a 162 game season, playing one more game is going to ruin a team's chances in the xLDS...
You'd still have the same seedings; team with best record plays the wildcard, the other two division winners play each other. You just wouldn't have another team trying to shoehorn themselves into the post season via a one-game lottery (or even worse, a one-game series that you're likely to win because you have one awesome starter and the rest suck, vs. the other team who have 3/4 very good but not amazing starters).
I'm not sure where your 'advantage' really comes from?
I get the idea of punishing a team for not winning the division (though when your team would've comfortably won any other division in the league, that's kinda hard to agree with, but... y'know... fair enough  ), but there's only so much you can do. |
In 2010 the Yanks were to go the next road because they rested their starters. Tampa won out, the Yanks intentionaly did not compete at the end.
A 1 game playoff forces a team to burn a starter so that Houston ace whose name I will not speak of won't pitch game 1. A balanced team I felt could be at a disadvantage in a 5 game series against a team with a good 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation. The 1 game playoff takes that away.