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Just got done watching the Rangers beat the Yankees by a score of 10-3, which gave me a warm comfortable feeling. As we say around the APBA table, a three-run homer beats the heck out of strategy. Now the Rangers lead 3-1 in the series. Of course, so did the Cubs a few years back.

Speaking of the Cubs, they've hired interim manager Mike Quade on a two-year contract, which seems to leave Ryne Sandberg out in the cold. Personally, I think this is a mistake, but it's not my billion dollars that's being played with, so...

I must admit that I'm enamored of the idea that Sandberg might end up with the Cardinals as Tony LaRussa's bench coach, because I think he'd get the top job there two years from now when Tony finally retires. I doubt it will happen, but it keeps me amused. :)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

patoadam

Speaking of baseball, I have a question for you.

I read that if the Yankees and Rays had been tied at the end of the regular season, the Rays would have been declared winners of their division because they had more wins than the Yankees in games between the two teams. But if the Giants had been tied with the Padres, they would have had a one-game playoff. Is there a logical reason for this, or is it something that differs between leagues, like the designated hitter?

From:

jennlk

The Giants & Padres split their head-to-head games. The Rays beat the Yankees more times than they lost to them. Head-to-head games are the first tie-breaker, and then the division goes to the one-game playoff.

From:

jennlk

heh. and that was wrong. The Padres won the head-to-head with the Giants this season. What complicated things immensely is that Atlanta came in second in their division with (almost) the same record as the Padres & Giants. If Atlanta, SF, and SD had all finished the season with the same record, the Padres & Giants would have had a one-game playoff to determine the division champ. And then the loser of that game would have played Atlanta for the Wild Card.

From:

billroper

There's only a one game playoff if it will determine which team gets into the playoffs. If two teams are tied for the division lead, but they have a better record than any of the other teams that are not division leaders, then one tied team wins the division and the other team is the wild card. There are a number of tiebreakers, starting with head-to-head record and ending (I believe) with a coin flip.

But if another non-division winner has the same or better record than the teams tied for the division lead, then there's a playoff to see who will be the wild card team.