I thought I heard that the current wildcard system was put into place, in part, to prevent the Yankees and Red Sox from just putting it in cruise control down the stretch once it was clear that those two had the Divisional title and WC spot locked up.  With the current system, no team can just sit back and be complacent with earning a WC birth.

 

Hah, maybe not the Yankees anymore, but yeah, there were two goals: make the division lead more valuable, and make more September games more meaningful to more teams.  It seems to have worked on both fronts.  And there now seems to be a fair amount of momentum towards keeping both wildcards but expanding the one-game playoff into at least a 3-game playoff.

^ that would be better, but then they should end the regular season earlier.

 

playing the ws in november is just silly.

 

I like the current system because it elevates the division title above the wild card to a point that I feel is more appropriate if you're going to celebrate divisional baseball.

its not like they decided on that this weekend.

 

It was for me. I wasn't paying attention to it until now. Everything is new if someone just walked out of a cave. :)

Never lose your innocence, friend.

OK, that's enough out of you.

bourn triples wahoo!

annnnnnnnnnnd KC finishes off the Rangers.  Your Cleveland Indians are 1.5 games up in the wild card!

Man, what a season for a team of scrappy parts.

^ pittsburgh and cincinnati can!

 

No they can't.  You missed the point.  In the old system, if you won the wild card you earned a spot in a 7 game series.  Now, the WC teams have to play a one game playoff to get to that series.  It gives that much more emphasis to winning the Division.  You could have the second best record in the entire league and still have to play your way in through a one game series if the team with the best record is in your Division.

^ no you missed the point. those two teams can coast because they are a lock for the nl wildcard playoff spot. they can be in cruise control and complacent and angle their best pitchers for it. so if your opinion was in fact true, that mlb installed this wildcard system so certain teams wouldnt go into cruise control, its a fail because teams can still do that, even wildcard teams.

 

not to mention, making a one game playoff is just a dumb move anyway. hopefully if they keep it they make it a series, even a short three game wildcard set is a better idea.

 

anyway, the tribe has six four game sweeps this season, the most in 52 years. impressive!

 

 

Yes, they don't have to worry about winning the Division and can coast..... right into a one-game playoff, which gives them the incentive to keep trying to play for the Division crown and not ease up.  Nobody wants their season to come down to one game.

 

Baseball's two biggest rivals—and its two best teams over the last 15 years—play in the same division yet have not had a meaningful pennant race between them since the advent of the eight-team playoff. Since Selig opened Pandora's box by allowing second-place teams into the postseason, co-division leaders across baseball have been content to split the prize, rest their stars and walk hand in hand into the post-season together. 

 

Insert second Wild Card: 

 

Both teams will now have to get off their rump and try to win the division.  Otherwise, they will be forced to play a "little sister of the poor" second-place team in a one-game playoff.  One-game playoffs are baseball's equivalent of a coin flip. One error, one bad pitcher, one rogue umpire, and it's lights out.

 

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/945122-mlb-will-a-second-wild-card-re-ignite-the-yankees-red-sox-rivalry

The Browns give us no reason to believe ever yet they sell out

 

But selling out a football game and baseball game is not really comparable.

 

And if we're going with "fans in the seats" as a measurement, then perhaps Cleveland isn't currently a sports town.

It is somewhat eye-rolling/frustrating to read how much cleveland.com is reporting the Browns' (la dee da) win compared to the Indians'. Thousands of comments on multiple articles. You'd think the Browns won the Superbowl. Hell, if that team won 6 games this year, they'd be dancing in the streets. 6 and 10 - WOO WOO!!

 

Meanwhile 2/3 of the Indians' articles and comments have been about attendance. Because that's clearly a bigger story than the Tribe being in the wildcard seat with 6 games to go.

You don't have to go to cleveland.com to read endless discussion about the attendance and little about the WC race.  Just hang right here on UO ;)

Hey, if you can't have fun complaining, then why are you a Cleveland sports fan? We're professional complainers around here. If the Browns won the Super Bowl, the Indians won the World Series or the Cavs won the NBA title, we'd find SOMETHING to complain in each of those instances! :)

each baseball game is worth ten percent of a football game, as well.  Even if people liked baseball as much as they like football (which they don't), each football game would still be ten times more important than a baseball game.  the marathon nature of the sport allows people to watch from a distance and come in and out as things get interesting or boring.

^By "worth" I'm guessing you mean importance to season success.  Which would make each individual Indians games this past weekend worth 10 times the entire Browns season this year.  Just sayin'.

 

FYI...

 

 

Tonight’s episode of Mission October (7:30pmET on Fox Sports 1) takes an inside look at the Cleveland Indians as they fight for an AL Wild Card berth.  MLB Productions crews were embedded with the team throughout this past weekend as they swept the Astros to take a 1.5-game lead for the second AL Wild Card. 

 

Here is a preview of tonight’s episode, as the four members of the self-proclaimed “Goon Squad” (Mike Aviles, Jason Giambi, Yan Gomes and Ryan Raburn) talk about their penchant for heroics off the bench, with Nick Swisher making an appearance during the shoot. 

 

http://atmlb.com/1aivxRH

 

Mission October each week gives baseball fans an exclusive look behind the scenes with a specific team fighting to reach the Postseason and win the World Series, while also featuring the quickest turnaround of any show MLB Productions has ever created.  Camera crews will follow players, coaches and front office personnel over the course of a weekend series, and each show will be produced and edited as the weekend series unfolds, allowing for episodes to air on Monday evenings each week.  The teams featured in subsequent episodes will be determined each week as the Postseason races and series develop. 

 

For those who miss tonight’s premiere, it will re-air the following times:

·         Tonight, 11pmET on Fox Sports 2

·         Tuesday, 8:30pmET on Fox Sports 1

·         Wednesday, 12:30pmET on Fox Sports 1

 

Next week’s episode will feature the Cincinnati Reds, with MLB Productions embedded with the team this weekend as the race for the NL Central reaches its climax.

The Indians have been to the playoffs six times since the new division format was introduced in 1994, each time as AL Central Champions.  I think they're going to make their first postseason appearance as a Wild Card this year with the way the last games set up for all teams involved.  I guess at this point we need to hope that they can get that top spot and make sure that one-off game is played at The Jake.

 

FYI, I'm not opposed to having a playoff amongst Wild Card winners, I just don't like it being only one game.  In reality, I'd like to see MLB expand by two teams (Charlotte? Mexico City? Portland? Indianapolis?) and go to two 16 team leagues (four divisions of four teams each).  Give each division champion a playoff spot and have two wild card spots in each league.  Then have the two wild card teams play the two division winners in each league with the worst records in a best-of-three game series.  I think that would be better than the current odd setup that they have.

No they can't.  You missed the point.  In the old system, if you won the wild card you earned a spot in a 7 game series.

 

It was actually only a five game series for the divisional round.

 

In reality, the postseason series that MLB plays to determine which team is "superior" are far too short for a sport like baseball...it's completely incongruent with the nature of the game and the length of the regular season. 

I hate baseball expansion. I went to the Hall of Fame this summer and teams like Tampa, Miami, Arizona, Colorado have nothing there. Baseball is all about history and was built as our country built itself. That's what is so beautiful about it. I'm tired of giving these boring cities that are irrelevant a baseball team.  That being said, Portland n Mexico City would support very well

I hate baseball expansion. I went to the Hall of Fame this summer and teams like Tampa, Miami, Arizona, Colorado have nothing there. Baseball is all about history and was built as our country built itself. That's what is so beautiful about it. I'm tired of giving these boring cities that are irrelevant a baseball team.  That being said, Portland n Mexico City would support very well

 

All of those expansion teams have had success...heck two of them have won championships more recently than our Tribe.

 

That said, for a variety of reasons, MLB's expansion into Florida has been bumpy to say the least.  Maybe they need to move one of the franchises elsewhere and just leave one team for Florida that rotates home games between Miami, Tampa, and perhaps Orlando.  Another idea would be to move one of those teams to San Juan or Havana (pretending politics don't matter or won't matter soon).

 

Maybe there really aren't enough cities to logistically spread 32 MLB teams around North America.  I'm just kind of daydreaming here because I really don't like the current setup.

Indians? Moar like WINdians! amirite?

 

Battle of Ohio. Let's bring it. Reds-Indians WS. Let's bore the nation for our own epic enjoyment :D

^amem however I think the real baseball fans around the country would be in for a treat. Plenty of story lines. Good baseball. Tito. Votto. Ohio.  But we have to get there first

^amem however I think the real baseball fans around the country would be in for a treat. Plenty of story lines. Good baseball. Tito. Votto. Ohio.  But we have to get there first

 

Terry Francona's the manager who led the Red Sox to their first World Series victory since the Wilson Administration.  If he can lead the Indians to their first since Truman's, that's two miracles.  That qualifies one for sainthood, correct?

 

FYI, I'm not opposed to having a playoff amongst Wild Card winners, I just don't like it being only one game.  In reality, I'd like to see MLB expand by two teams (Charlotte? Mexico City? Portland? Indianapolis?) and go to two 16 team leagues (four divisions of four teams each).  Give each division champion a playoff spot and have two wild card spots in each league.  Then have the two wild card teams play the two division winners in each league with the worst records in a best-of-three game series.  I think that would be better than the current odd setup that they have.

 

The only issue there is it really devalues the division win for a two of the teams.  In essence you would be giving the top two division winners byes into the second round, and I just don't know if baseball is ready for that. 

 

Overall, I probably prefer the old one wild-card format to the current, but it seems pretty clear that the new format has achieved its goals of making the division title more meaningful and sought after again.  Everyone is playing like crazy to avoid the wild card "play-in" game. 

Indians are 1.5 games up in the wild card!

 

"The Indians are 1.5 games up in the wild card! The Indians are 1.5 games up in the wild card! Indians are 1.5 games up in the wild card! The Indians are 1.5 games up in the wild card!"

 

It just doesn't have the same rings as Russ Hodges calling Bobby Thompson's "Shot hear 'round the world" in 1951: "The Giants win the pennant!  The Giants win the pennant!The Giants win the pennant!The Giants win the pennant!

The only issue there is it really devalues the division win for a two of the teams.  In essence you would be giving the top two division winners byes into the second round, and I just don't know if baseball is ready for that. 

 

Overall, I probably prefer the old one wild-card format to the current, but it seems pretty clear that the new format has achieved its goals of making the division title more meaningful and sought after again.  Everyone is playing like crazy to avoid the wild card "play-in" game. 

 

If it devalues an "achievement" by teams that had, at best, the third and fourth best regular season records in their respective leagues, I think that's a good thing.  These teams should consider themselves fortunate--there was a time when that type of a regular season record would earn them nothing more than a great seat on the couch watching the postseason on television.  All expanded playoff schemes since 1994, including these best-of-one and -five game nonsense series, have devalued the importance of MLB's regular season. 

Chris Futhermucking Perez

Yeah Perez should be buying some beers tonight!

 

Jason Futhermucking Giambi!

I mean, no way that just happened, right?  UNREAL

What the F!!!!!!!!

Hell yeah!!!

Big G Baby! Buddies and I just went online and bought 8 tix for tomorrow.

Great win! And a great crowd tonight!

That was AWESOME!  I was listening to the game on the radio, Tom Hamilton lost his mind over that one!

i would love it if we dont have another 9th inning like last night against the sox for a long, lonnng time. that was just bananas!

 

cle17 definately agree with that as far as expansion. although i think moving a team or two to mex df or the crarribean might be better than adding new teams.

 

i would have the wildcard teams play each each other in a three game series, then play the best record division champ. i'd shorten the season too, it's too long. try to avoid november baseball, that just ain't right.

 

 

 

"Hey when you throw

That weak ass s*** to me know

That it will surely go

Downtown...."

 

-Jason Giambi

 

<}}}}}}}>(|B>D)

We still have a chance at the division ? Detroit is the only 1st place team that hasn't clinched their division.

 

Honestly I thought it was over after those two dingers that CP gave up....

I can't wait for the animated GIFs of his face watching those.

& I went to bed after the 8th inning. "We had it in the bag."

We still have a chance at the division ? Detroit is the only 1st place team that hasn't clinched their division.

 

Honestly I thought it was over after those two dingers that CP gave up....

I can't wait for the animated GIFs of his face watching those.

 

I think Detroits magic number is down to 1 so it's a long shot, but I guess still possible.

What the F!!!!!!!!

 

I hi-fived everyone at the Happy Dog!!!

^how was the happy dog for a game?  I go there all the time as i live down the street, but not to watch sports.  If tribe make the playoffs i will need a homebase bar

^how was the happy dog for a game?  I go there all the time as i live down the street, but not to watch sports.  If tribe make the playoffs i will need a homebase bar

 

I've been there before---good for a game as long as a band isn't playing!  Their sound there is amongst the worst in town.  Loud AND sounds like poo....

^how was the happy dog for a game?  I go there all the time as i live down the street, but not to watch sports.  If tribe make the playoffs i will need a homebase bar

 

It's usually really good imho. Though the game wasn't on every tv, as you know the bartenders are super cool, and they're usually receptive to channel requests.

They were gunna go 1-2-3, but I got high….

Was gunna seal that victory, but I got high…

Now I’m watching those home runs go fly, my my…

Cuz I got high, cuz I got high, cuz I got high…

They were gunna go 1-2-3, but I got high….

Was gunna seal that victory, but I got high…

Now I’m watching those home runs go fly, my my…

Cuz I got high, cuz I got high, cuz I got high…

 

Thank you, Jim Croce!

I honestly propose making Masterson the closer for the rest of the year.  Since he's not 100%, this will allow him to get back into form and provide the Indians a lights out closer.