Most of the arguments they've brought up against the Braves are valid. I don't need someone to tell me how good my team is; I've seen how good they can be when they're playing well.
MLB Network like most everyone else were almost crying about the Nats season all year. When we had that great streak they didn't give us the coverage it deserved either. At times it sounded as if they were mourning the Nats lost season. Though they do have some good MLB coverage overall and Smoltz works for them too. I also agree with them about a number our flaws as a team. But more of that has to do with players lost to injury than usually noted. I'd like our team a lot better minus all the season ending injuries (Huddy, Beachy, key bullpen arms, Pena, Pastornicky, etc).
ESPN on the other hand is just terrible, again I cannot stand 'em.
Last edited by Braves1976; 09-25-2013 at 12:30 AM.
hahaha
jpx7 (09-25-2013)
No, I'm saying I actually like the changes. I'm just rebutting Heyward's argument that it's unfair for teams to play a one game playoff. Well, using similar logic, would it not be unfair for the last wildcard team to not get into the playoffs at all. All that hard work in a 162 game season and you don't even get a playoff game?
I personally like the idea of the division winners having a huge advantage over the wildcard teams. I don't know how you could have a wildcard game be anymore than one game. It would be unfair to the division winners if they have to sit on the sideline for 5 days.
thank you weso1!
I didn't like the first wild card (but you need four teams in the playoffs if you are going to have three divisions) and I really hate the second wild card. I agree with weso that it isn't fair for the division winners to sit around for a week while the wild card business is conducted, but I think the obvious solution is to dump the second wild card.
Garcia has pitched well since coming up, but he I don't know how he'll stand up if he's on the playoff roster when the competition gets dialed up a few notches. It appears Wood is headed for the bullpen to be a 3rd LHP.
Last edited by 50PoundHead; 09-25-2013 at 08:44 AM.
It was ruled an error and changed to a hit according to MLB.com last night. Then later on they had it as an error again in the boxscore. So maybe they messed up updating the MLB.com page at some point. Whatever the case, that's how it read when I made that post. Further, I am glad they corrected the original ruling regardless. But I still don't think much of the official scorers in Atlanta. They have ruled anything close an error for Simmons all year long. Thankfully in the end Gattis got credit for his hit.
Last edited by Braves1976; 09-25-2013 at 09:07 AM.
It just goes to show how messed up the playoff system is in MLB. The team with the best record in the National League isn't favored. You spend a whole year with the focus being on the teams with the most rotation depth, then when the playoffs hit, the schedule favors those who have the best 1-2 starters. Makes no sense. I get the scheduling and everything, but it's just backwards to me.
I used to like the unbalanced schedule, but I've soured on it.
Other stuff that has bearing on the postseason that I don't care for, in descending order:
All-Star Game determining hfa
interleague play
5-game divisional series
play-in game
The WC in its orginal form was a great idea because there were times when the best 2 teams just happend to play in the same division. Remember when the Braves and Giants both won 100+ games, but the Giants went home at the end of the season? That was a failure in the current playoff system, in my opinion.
There is simply no way an 88 win Cards team had any business playing a 94 win Braves team in a one game scenario to reach the NLDS. It was a joke to make anything in baseball come down to a single game, and the punchline was the infield fly call that sunk the Braves chance at a comeback in that game.
The best 4 teams in the NL that year were clearly the Nats, Braves, Reds and Giants, and all 4 would have made the playoffs...which is the whole point of playoffs. If 2 teams are tied for the WC spot then make them play a play-in game regardless of their head to head records. I think this 1 game playoff is terrible, but I'm sure it makes the industry tons of money, so it's not going anywhere.
This year will perfectly illustrate the absurdity of a one-game playoff. The Pirates and Reds will have just played each other the last three days of the season and six times in nine days. Why do they need to play again?
system is flawed but any fix cannot, IMO, make the playoffs any longer than they already are. It literally takes a month now from the end of the season to the 7th game of the World Series. If it gets any longer they'll have to play in November, way too late for my taste, not to mention too cold in most venues.