The Wild World of Wild Card
If you've been in Chicago, you've felt first hand the angst in the air concerning the White Sox. Take heart fans; we are going to the playoffs. It may be sacrilege for a team in first place to speak of "clinching" the wild card, but I did a little figurin'...if the White Sox win only 3 of there remaining 10 games, then all of following would have to happen for them not to make the playoffs
New York Yankees go 6-5 AND Boston Red Sox go 8-3 AND Cleveland Indians go 5-4
Not impossible, but when you also consider that the Yankees and Red Sox have three games remaining against each other, then it becomes very unlikely. In the event that the Sox somehow win 5 of the remaining ten games, then it is a cinch because Boston has to go 9-1 and the Yankees have to go 8-3 and they play each other three times anyways.
OK, back to reality. I'd like to remind everyone that we do still have the best record in the American League. In any event the Sox will win the division, but as I was mulling over the possibilities I thought of a very strange scenario. If Cleveland ties with both Boston and New York there will be headaches all around. First, Boston will play New York for the AL East Championship. Then the loser has to hop on a plane and play Cle. ASAP. They will have the disadvantage of throwing their number two starter against Cleveland's ace. The ramifications of that game are enourmous. If the AL East loser wins, they travel to Chicago to play the Sox first round. But if Cleveland wins, the Sox wont play the wild card from their own division and would be forced to host the AL West winner. In every scenario, there are 2 teams that made the playoffs, but wont have their number one started available (incidently, making the AL west winners the LA Angels lucky bystanders in the whole situation). Furthermore, if the AL East loser beats the Indians, then they will be starting the playoffs with both their number one and number two starters pitching on short rest.
Not impossible, but when you also consider that the Yankees and Red Sox have three games remaining against each other, then it becomes very unlikely. In the event that the Sox somehow win 5 of the remaining ten games, then it is a cinch because Boston has to go 9-1 and the Yankees have to go 8-3 and they play each other three times anyways.
OK, back to reality. I'd like to remind everyone that we do still have the best record in the American League. In any event the Sox will win the division, but as I was mulling over the possibilities I thought of a very strange scenario. If Cleveland ties with both Boston and New York there will be headaches all around. First, Boston will play New York for the AL East Championship. Then the loser has to hop on a plane and play Cle. ASAP. They will have the disadvantage of throwing their number two starter against Cleveland's ace. The ramifications of that game are enourmous. If the AL East loser wins, they travel to Chicago to play the Sox first round. But if Cleveland wins, the Sox wont play the wild card from their own division and would be forced to host the AL West winner. In every scenario, there are 2 teams that made the playoffs, but wont have their number one started available (incidently, making the AL west winners the LA Angels lucky bystanders in the whole situation). Furthermore, if the AL East loser beats the Indians, then they will be starting the playoffs with both their number one and number two starters pitching on short rest.
posted by Roy at 23:37
1 Comments:
Roy,
Thanks for doin all that figurin'. My head hurts.
I've been following a couple sox games on GameCast, and they're giving me heart attacks out here.
Although NY is full of Yankee fans, there is also a large contingent of Red Sox fans. What is good, is that whenever I wear my Pale Hose hat, most people respond with the giving up of props. Everyone wants to see the Sox make it.
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