Best Wildcard Race Ever!

The Game · 08-06-2013, 08:31 AM

4 teams in it with 2 games to play. Cleveland won it by 1 game over both San Jose and my Chicago Fire. I have been battling Toronto since mid July for it. Cleveland got healthy and won it. Toronto finished 2 GB.

The Game · 08-06-2013, 08:38 AM

Cleveland beat Detriot 4 -1 and beat Las Vegas 4-3.

hefalumps · 08-06-2013, 08:56 AM

Pretty good, but how about this! With two games to play, two teams tied for the AL West, four teams (including the two AL West leaders) tied for the AL Wild Card, and two other teams only two games out. Not to mention the NL West and Wild Card race.

The Dodgers actually closed the gap to a 1/2 game on the Giants, so I had to manually schedule a rainout makeup (I use the "as played" schedules), which they lost - no playoff there.

In the AL West/Wild Card mess, the Angels, Mariners, and Twins all ended up with the same record - could have been messier. So I scheduled a one-game playoff between the Angels and Mariners for the AL West title, and the Angels won. Now since the Mariners lost, they were suddenly a half game behind the Twins for the wild card, so I assumed that gave the Twins the wild card by default. But OOTP insisted that the Mariners and Twins needed to have a one-game playoff (I couldn't advance to postseason - I kept deleting the game and OOTP would reschedule it the next day). The Twins won anyway, so it didn't matter.

I've had some close races, and I've had a three-way tie that required more manually scheduled playoff games than this scenario, but this was the most unique one I've encountered since I started playing OOTP.

LGO, if you're reading this thread, I'd be curious to hear how this would've been handled in real life, specifically the situation with the Mariners losing the AL West one-game playoff and falling a half game behind the Twins for the Wild Card as a result.

bwburke94 · 08-09-2013, 12:50 AM

@Hefalumps: Since this is post-1998, the Mariners/Twins one-game playoff would indeed take place. Major League Baseball changed the rules in 1998 to make such a playoff occur, because otherwise the Twins would be gifted a spot.

hefalumps · 08-09-2013, 08:12 AM

Thanks bwburke, I didn't know that MLB had made an official change to handle this kind of "gifting" situation. I'll have to google that up I'd be curious to read about it.

Grahoben · 08-09-2013, 09:53 AM

Those are both pretty good, but neither are as good to me as the 2011 wildcard race. Go Cardinals!

hefalumps · 08-09-2013, 10:17 AM

Yes 2011 in real life was straight out of a movie, especially with the timing of things. The wild card race and the World Series both. Not sure we'll ever have a postseason quite that special again. Unless the Orioles win, of course.

Le Grande Orange · 08-09-2013, 10:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bwburke94

@Hefalumps: Since this is post-1998, the Mariners/Twins one-game playoff would indeed take place. Major League Baseball changed the rules in 1998 to make such a playoff occur, because otherwise the Twins would be gifted a spot.

The info I have has this rule change taking place a few years later, around 2001, not 1998. But I can't confirm that, so it may have happened earlier. (The tie-breaking rules were completely rewritten last year to account for the second wild card qualifier in each league.)

The other thing that is often overlooked for the pre-1998 playoffs is how the Division Series matchups were determined, which was different from how it was done from 1998 onwards (and of course was changed again slightly last season).

08-06-2013, 08:31 AM	#1
The Game Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Inside The Game Posts: 30,937	Best Wildcard Race Ever! 4 teams in it with 2 games to play. Cleveland won it by 1 game over both San Jose and my Chicago Fire. I have been battling Toronto since mid July for it. Cleveland got healthy and won it. Toronto finished 2 GB. Attached Images __________________ Go today don't wait for tomorrow It isn't promised, all the time you get borrowed Don't live your life for other people Don't bottle your emotions till they crack and fill a couple just sorrows Take your mind and refocus go get a paper write your goals out Throw your middle fingers to all your haters "Stay Strong"

08-06-2013, 08:38 AM	#2
The Game Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Inside The Game Posts: 30,937	Cleveland beat Detriot 4 -1 and beat Las Vegas 4-3. __________________ Go today don't wait for tomorrow It isn't promised, all the time you get borrowed Don't live your life for other people Don't bottle your emotions till they crack and fill a couple just sorrows Take your mind and refocus go get a paper write your goals out Throw your middle fingers to all your haters "Stay Strong"

08-06-2013, 08:56 AM	#3
hefalumps All Star Starter Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 1,392	Pretty good, but how about this! With two games to play, two teams tied for the AL West, four teams (including the two AL West leaders) tied for the AL Wild Card, and two other teams only two games out. Not to mention the NL West and Wild Card race. The Dodgers actually closed the gap to a 1/2 game on the Giants, so I had to manually schedule a rainout makeup (I use the "as played" schedules), which they lost - no playoff there. In the AL West/Wild Card mess, the Angels, Mariners, and Twins all ended up with the same record - could have been messier. So I scheduled a one-game playoff between the Angels and Mariners for the AL West title, and the Angels won. Now since the Mariners lost, they were suddenly a half game behind the Twins for the wild card, so I assumed that gave the Twins the wild card by default. But OOTP insisted that the Mariners and Twins needed to have a one-game playoff (I couldn't advance to postseason - I kept deleting the game and OOTP would reschedule it the next day). The Twins won anyway, so it didn't matter. I've had some close races, and I've had a three-way tie that required more manually scheduled playoff games than this scenario, but this was the most unique one I've encountered since I started playing OOTP. LGO, if you're reading this thread, I'd be curious to hear how this would've been handled in real life, specifically the situation with the Mariners losing the AL West one-game playoff and falling a half game behind the Twins for the Wild Card as a result. Attached Images

08-09-2013, 12:50 AM	#4
bwburke94 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Belchertown, MA, USA Posts: 4,523	@Hefalumps: Since this is post-1998, the Mariners/Twins one-game playoff would indeed take place. Major League Baseball changed the rules in 1998 to make such a playoff occur, because otherwise the Twins would be gifted a spot.

08-09-2013, 08:12 AM	#5
hefalumps All Star Starter Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 1,392	Thanks bwburke, I didn't know that MLB had made an official change to handle this kind of "gifting" situation. I'll have to google that up I'd be curious to read about it.

08-09-2013, 09:53 AM	#6
Grahoben Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Jan 2013 Posts: 263	Those are both pretty good, but neither are as good to me as the 2011 wildcard race. Go Cardinals!

08-09-2013, 10:17 AM	#7
hefalumps All Star Starter Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 1,392	Yes 2011 in real life was straight out of a movie, especially with the timing of things. The wild card race and the World Series both. Not sure we'll ever have a postseason quite that special again. Unless the Orioles win, of course.