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WPCNR Press Box. THE UPPER DECK GUY By John Baseball Bailey. October 15, 2002: The laughing stock of baseball is about to begin. The losers will be playing for the World Championship as the San Francisco Giants and the Anaheim Angels, the two teams who finished second in their respective divisions in baseball ambushed the Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals, and the New York Yankees and Minnesota Twins, respectively to make it to the World Series.
VIEW FROM THE UPPER DECK GUY.
Photo of Wrigley Field by WPCNR Sports
The Fall Classic is about to become the Fall Basic, and establishment, politically correct sports authorities are touting this as
good for the game.
I don’t think so.
The New York Times and the executives of baseball are already trotting out the virtues of the Wild Card, giving us those bromides today’s society uses to excuse poor performance, bad behavior, less than satisfactory standards. We are already hearing that the Wild Card is good for baseball because “It gives more teams a chance,” “It shows that low payroll teams can win,” “It’s good to see some new teams in there for a change.”
I say, “Bush!”
The results of the last two weeks show conclusively why baseball must contract to an even number of divisions, so only first place teams play to get in the series. For integrity’s sake.
Anything can happen in a short series.
And, what happened? You saw the Angels cannonade a Yankee pitching staff that either was given an overconfident scouting report on the Angels hitters, or could not execute when they had too. Why? Perhaps the Yankee management was overconfident. Though the Angels blasted Yankee pitching in the regular season, too. Not a good matchup.
However, this was also the same Angel team that kept pace with the Oakland A’s dramatically, but still fell short of the Oakland A’s pace in their own division, while winning just enough to hold off Seattle for the Wild Card.
Did the Bombers underestimate the Angels, or underscout them? But, the Angels should not have had a shot at the Bombers in the first place.
First Place Means Nothing in a Wild Card Setup.
The Bombers on the other hand made the major effort to oust the Boston Red Sox and win their own division. The Angels though keeping pace with the A’s, could not beat them head-to-head, to take the West Division of the American League. They should be out of there . But they are not, thanks to the notorious wild card.
Lest we take the Angel run as a great testimony to their worthiness, I suggest they were simply assuring themselves of the Wild Card over the Red Sox, and Seattle, not trying to overtake the A’s. They were trying to stay ahead of the Mariners.
And it did.
The same, “win just enough to get in” philosophy, applies to the San Francisco Giants. The Giants won just enough to overtake the Dodgers, who faltered miserably in the stretch, with the Giants not being able to handle the bigger challenge of overtaking the Diamondbacks, who though without Luis Gonzalez, and Greg Counsell (read, if they were the Yankees, Derek Jeter and Alfonso Soriano, comparable losses), held on to win first, because they thought it was meaningful.
The Wild Card gives teams an excuse not to leave it on the field.
Nature of Baseball and Softball: Form is Very Hard to Establish.
Now we have the prospect of watching a series between teams that finished second, whose management and players were not good enough to out-general-manage clubs that could be the best over a long haul, but are good enough and dangerous enough to give better teams trouble in one series.
The Giants and Angels could be accused of “backing in” to the Wild Card, because they knew all they had to do to reach postseason was to beat out the Dodgers and Mariners-Red Sox, respectively.
Getting the Wild Card is no big deal or great achievement. You just have to do well enough to finish second. The regular season performance becomes a joke.
Just as the Florida Marlins stole a trip to the series in 1997 by ousting the Atlanta Braves, as did the Mets in 1999, thanks to dumb managing of the Arizona Diamondbacks by Buck Showalter in Game 3, the maddening inconsistency of playing baseball illustrates why you simply cannot have a wild card system.
Last Hurrahs for Bravos and Bombers.
What the last two weeks also showed, was the fatal flaws in the Atlanta Braves, who put out the best pitching staff and best starting lineup in baseball year-in, year-out, but fail to get a good bench together to put up that strong pinch hitter up in the lates.
The end of the New York Yankees run: The Yankee pitching staff showed its flaws. It is old, and not as fast and effective as it used to be. The club forgot to play “D.”
All season, we saw a Yankee defense compromised by a slow moving outfield and a first baseman who cannot move to his left or right. We should also not forget that the Red Sox did not have Pedro Martinez the entire season.
This year’s Yankees looked vaguely like the 1964 Yankees on their last run before fading to oblivion for some time to come.
Congratulations to the Wild Cards.
The Giants and Angels sucked it up and played over their heads for 10 games and outperformed their opponents head-to-head, something they could not do during the regular season. Any team can do that, to borrow the NFL’s bromide, “on any given day.”
The results the last two weeks are very reminiscent of the Chicago White Sox (“The Hitless Wonders”of 1906), who beat the winningest major league team ever (116 wins), the Chicago Cubs in six games. It is tough to beat a team playing over their heads once you have already beaten them.
Bonds no Aaron or Ruth or Musial.
I resent the deification of Barry Bonds as another Babe Ruth. Bonds, a .292 lifetime hitter, Sammy Sosa, a .277 hitter and a host of .250 hitters are jacking homeruns off juiced-up baseballs and raw pitching.
Ruth hit .342 lifetime. Aaron hit .306 lifetime. Stan the Man hit .331 lifetime.
We should also not forget that Barry is a free agent attracted to San Francisco for the money, so much for the poor teams getting a chance.
The Angels and Giants are two of the richer franchises, though the Angels do have a lower payroll.
Can More Wild Cards Be Coming?
Bet on it.
America’s penchant for giving second chances just makes sense. This year, I’m sure New England Fans would have liked the Red Sox to have a Shot, and how about those sadsack Montreal Expos. Soon, the “competition” committee will have the first two clubs in each division make the postseason, I will bet, after the interest in this “Season of the Wild Card.”
Then how about the third place team with the best record in each league?
It will be an excellent solution to leveling payrolls. If all you have to do is finish at .500 to make the playoffs, why spend to improve? Why spend money on scouting to set up a good farm system?
Remember, the main interest now in the baseball season, is not who is going to finish first, but what teams are going to be the wild cards. A very similar situation exists in the National Football League.
Pretty soon, we may even see the handicapping schedule, an insidious device invented by the National Football League that allows lousy managed football teams like the New York Football Giants and the New York Jets to continue to have one good year, one bad year, and still give fans hope each year that they can win the super bowl.
When the Giants and Jets get the loser’s schedule, they finish over .500 and make the playoffs. When the next year the Giants play the winner’s schedule, they LOSE A LOT. But, that’s another column. Look for baseball to consider this.
The Roman Empire Syndrome
As baseball’s moguls and businessmen make baseball more like the other sports, pro basketball, pro football, and pro hockey, with everyone having a chance to win, they discourage the pursuit of excellence. The fact that the owner of the Minnesota Twins wanted to fold his team, which actually won its division this year, shows you just how much baseball owners care about the fans, great baseball, or doing what it takes to win.
The overwhelming majority of owners do the least amount possible, especially their commissioner, who since he took over the Milwaukee Brewers as provided that city with the flat beer of mediocrity, which is what we can expect to see in the next two weeks. Mediocrity on display: The greatest of the mediocre, to be sure.
I for one, will not watch one pitch of it.
Remember, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays beat the Yankees 4 out of 6 in the last two weeks of the season. Perhaps the Devil Rays were just making their stretch run, and maybe deserve a crack at the Giants or the Angels.
Believe me, some owner in the major leagues is going to read this last paragraph and take me seriously.
SO LONG FROM THE UPPER GUY.
Photo of Comiskey Park by WPCNR Sports
