MLB League Championship Series Thread

[Cheech Tremendous]

Why would baseball's playoffs wear out fans, where as the NHL and NBA's playoffs last for about two months?

 

 

Not a good example. The NBA playoffs are the most tedious thing in sports. No drama whatsoever.

[Bruiser Chong]

I don't think the playoffs are too long. Even with the WC, you have one of the most succinct playoff formats in sports. When you consider the immense build the regular season creates, it's even more amazing to consider half of the playoff-bound team's are out within a week.

[EVIL~! alkeiper]

What's odd is what bothers me really is not that there's too much baseball, but there's too little. The great thing about regular season baseball is that I have 15 major league games to chose from.

 

Which is why I dislike the idea of shortening the season. There should be more regular season, less playoffs as a rule.

[Slayer]

Oh, they'll blame it on Cleveland should they make it. They always do.

Seriously, read the prologue of "Fair Ball" and tell me you don't want to slug Bob Costas.

Can you summarize that for those of us who lack access (and/or desire) to a copy?

[EVIL~! alkeiper]

Oh, they'll blame it on Cleveland should they make it. They always do.

Seriously, read the prologue of "Fair Ball" and tell me you don't want to slug Bob Costas.

Can you summarize that for those of us who lack access (and/or desire) to a copy?

Pretty simple, Bob Costas talking about broadcasting the Marlins/Indians game in the cold and snow. Costas looks at Bob Uecker and both concur that the games suck. And thus baseball needs fixing.

[CanadianChris]

Oh, they'll blame it on Cleveland should they make it. They always do.

Seriously, read the prologue of "Fair Ball" and tell me you don't want to slug Bob Costas.

Can you summarize that for those of us who lack access (and/or desire) to a copy?

Here's the excerpt in question:

 

Let's go back a couple years, and let me tell you about the experience of another fan on another night. . . .

 

The third game of the 1997 World Series was already three-and-a-half-hours old, the scoreboard clock in Cleveland was approaching midnight, and the thermometer was dropping toward freezing.

 

But as the Cleveland Indians took the field for the top half of the ninth inning, few if any of the 44,880 fans in attendance seemed to be complaining. Instead, a crackling sense of anticipation was moving through the stands at Jacobs Field, the neoclassical stadium that merged modern-day amenities with vintage ballpark aesthetics. The Indians and Florida Marlins had split the forgettable first two games of the Series, and had come back to Cleveland for Games 3, 4, and 5. And now, with the score still knotted at 7—7, the tension that is so much a part of postseason baseball was presenting itself.

 

Up in the NBC television booth, I felt hopeful. Though I had been critical of the wild-card system and new three-tiered playoff structure that had produced these two undercredentialed World Series opponents, I was rooting for both of these teams to prove themselves in some sense worthy.

 

The Indians had qualified for the Series despite posting the ninth-best regular-season record in the majors. They were probably the least impressive edition of the string of Cleveland contenders in the '90s.

 

The Marlins weren't so much mediocre as fabricated, a pure product of the times. Five years old, with an owner who had no background in baseball, they were an expansion team turned into a contender thanks to a $100 million off-season investment and the wiles of manager Jim Leyland, rescued from the financially overmatched Pittsburgh Pirates. The Marlins made the playoffs as a wild card just weeks after owner Wayne Huizenga announced that losses of $30 million would force him to put the team on the market. They played baseball in a charmless football stadium, and they'd sold their foul poles to an office-supply store, which painted them to resemble giant pencils. What more could you say? In an age when it seemed that every expansion team incorporated teal or black into its color scheme, the Marlins used both. They were—as I'd been saying for weeks—the real team of the '90s. And as it happened, they'd be dismantled before the confetti from their victory parade could be swept away.

 

The matchup was not the stuff that programming executives dream of. Television ratings were already in the tank, the worst ever for a World Series to that point. Don Ohlmeyer, the head of NBC's West Coast division and the former executive producer of NBC Sports, had done his part to put everyone in the proper Fall Classic mood by publicly saying on the eve of the first game that nothing would make him happier than to give the coverage to another network. "If the A&E channel called, I'd take the call," said Ohlmeyer.

 

It wasn't just Don. Baseball-bashing was in full force, much of it for good reason. The participants were undistinguished, the first two games nondescript. Now Game 3, a World Series game, was being played under conditions so ill-suited to baseball that if they presented themselves in April, the game would likely be postponed and rescheduled as part of an August doubleheader.

 

Still, as Cleveland's Eric Plunk threw the first pitch of the ninth to Bobby Bonilla, it was possible to forget all that. The game, while not artful, had been absorbing. Gary Sheffield was shaping up as the hero, having hit a home run in the first to put the Marlins ahead, then making a dazzling catch against the wall to end the seventh inning and preserve the 7—7 tie. The sheer tension of October baseball had at least temporarily transcended the game's problems, and the promise of a stirring finish was in the air.

 

And then it wasn't.

 

Just as baseball provides drama when you least expect it, it also can deny drama when you most expect it. And that's exactly what happened in the Inning That Wouldn't End. The top of the ninth lasted 34 minutes and featured seven Marlin runs, assembled through an unsightly collection of four singles, three walks, three errors, and a wild pitch. As the temperature continued to drop and a game that had started at the ridiculous hour of 8:24 p.m. Eastern Standard Time pushed past midnight, the stultifying inning plodded forward. Along the way, it got much later and much colder.

 

"Everybody is leaving," said the NBC stage manager in the booth. "I wish we could too."

 

I wasn't sure if the rattling noise I kept hearing was the chattering of my colleagues' teeth, or merely the sound of people across the country wearily clicking their TV sets off as the now-listless game moved into its fifth hour.

 

Somewhere past midnight, during the commercial break accompanying yet another pitching change, my partner Bob Uecker stared out into the night and said to no one in particular, "This game sucks!"

 

I had to hand it to Ueck: It was the perfect summation of what was happening here. And once the top of the ninth was over, it didn't end there. Robb Nen came in with the seven-run lead and proceeded to nibble corners as though the tying run were at second, which, ultimately, it almost was.

 

The Indians would score four, leave one, and come within one baserunner of bringing the tying run to the plate—at 12:35 a.m. By then, nearly every aspect of this game made a mockery of the term "Fall Classic." Which is not to say that some of it wasn't perversely entertaining. As pitching coach Larry Rothschild visited the mound after Nen's third walk of the inning, Uecker asked what he might be telling the right-hander. I ventured a guess: "He's saying, 'I think room service closes at one a.m.; would you please get us out of here so I can have that bowl of soup!?'"

 

I'll admit it: At that point, I was just looking forward to getting off the air, before we had to send a St. Bernard with provisions of brandy and blankets to Jim Leyland's 84-year-old mother, encamped in the visitors' seats and as stoically determined to stick it out as we were.

 

http://www.randomhouse.com/features/bobcostas/excerpt.html

[Slayer]

I'll admit sometimes I'm not very good at "reading between the lines", so all I see there is "The 1997 World Series sucked", which it did... a lot... and for several different reasons, so while I'm sure there are reasons to "slug Bob Costas", that excerpt there doesn't incite such sentiment

[Slayer]

Also, while I'm sure you've documented your opinions on the subject before, what is your feeling about the wild-card, especially considering all save one WS this decade has featured a WC team

[Mik]

Psssh.... he's a dick. 97 series ruled!

 

And seriously, it wasn't THAT bad. Extra innings in game 7? That doesn't happen often.

[Guest Gym Class Fallout]

I like Bob Costas, and I don't have a problem with anything he said. Everything he said about the Marlins is right, and I can agree that it must suck to sit through a bullshit inning like that in the freezing cold.

[EVIL~! alkeiper]

I'll admit sometimes I'm not very good at "reading between the lines", so all I see there is "The 1997 World Series sucked", which it did... a lot... and for several different reasons, so while I'm sure there are reasons to "slug Bob Costas", that excerpt there doesn't incite such sentiment

I think the idea that a so-called baseball fan didn't care for a good game in progress. The only problem was that it was cold and the Indians fell apart in the ninth. He used it to merit a book fixing some completely unrelated problems. That's probably not too clear. The simplest explanation is that I took exception to the tone of the writing.

 

Also, while I'm sure you've documented your opinions on the subject before, what is your feeling about the wild-card, especially considering all save one WS this decade has featured a WC team

I have no objections to a wild card team winning the World Series. The divisional format opened the door for a lesser team, and often the wild card team is still the second-best team in the league. Nor do I care much about what it does to the pennant races, which are fairly overrated anyway. (The Phillies/Mets wasn't exhilarating, I spent most of the last two weeks wringing my hands.)

 

The problem I have is that I dislike increased rounds of the postseason. I stated before that the pleasure of the baseball season is it's availability. For five months of the year I can choose to travel and watch a game at any of a dozen major and minor league parks. The Majors add another month. Postseason baseball is ok, but it's a chore compared to the regular season. When you increase the teams involved, you add teams of a lesser quality and you decrease the quality of the storylines (as I noted earlier in the thread). Call me crazy, but I would ADD seven games to the regular season and knock off a round of playoffs.

 

One note, often those who complain about the wild card suggest adding another wild card and creating a "play-in" game. This would add the possibility of a fifth-best team in a league winning the championship, which is the opposite of what they want. It's illogical and unnecessary.

[EVIL~! alkeiper]

I like Bob Costas, and I don't have a problem with anything he said. Everything he said about the Marlins is right, and I can agree that it must suck to sit through a bullshit inning like that in the freezing cold.

For the record, I've sat through worse. And don't let Costas fool you, he got a catered press box. I sat through some cold, awful games this past April and Scranton. And I wouldn't have traded it because it's BASEBALL.

[Guest Gym Class Fallout]

When you increase the teams involved, you add teams of a lesser quality and you decrease the quality of the storylines (as I noted earlier in the thread). Call me crazy, but I would ADD seven games to the regular season and knock off a round of playoffs.

I'd take 168 games with two divisions per league and go straight to the LCS rounds. That seems acceptable.

[EVIL~! alkeiper]

Only Eric Byrnes can crash into a wall and fall down on a ball that clears the fence by 15 feet.

[CanadianChris]

43 and steady rain...let's play two!

[Slayer]

Oh yeah, there's a game tonight!

[strummer]

It's starting to sink in that the Colorado F'N Rockies are going to the World Series

[bob_barron]

I don't need to read anything to want to slug Costas. Fucking dwarf asshole.

 

He's 5'7.

[bob_barron]

And the 1997 World Series never happened.

[Guest Smues]

Hopefully game 5 isn't needed, but I don't understand why it's scheduled for Wednesday. They shouldn't need off days that aren't travel days.

[Guest Smues]

Rockies win and make it 3-0. Awesome. I was hoping the NLCS would be a 4-0 Rockies weep, and the ALCS would be a back and forth 7 game series, thus far I'm not disappointed.

[Bruiser Chong]

I can't believe the Rockies are going to the World Series. And before anyone mentions they still need to win one more--the D-backs aren't the 2004 Red Sox. What an amazing run for the Rockies.

[Slayer]

If the Rockies win tomorrow they would be the first team to sweep through the league playoffs since the Division Series inception

[Smartly Pretty]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KRrXI-4GYg

 

That's that SNL skit making fun of the Dane Cook promos if any one cares. Pretty funny.

[Guest Gym Class Fallout]

The Colorado Rockies, huh. It's just not fair, is it.

[cabbageboy]

At this point I wonder if the probable long layoff for the Rockies could be a detriment and cool them off, much like with Detroit last year. Of course the Rockies would have to completely forget how to throw the ball to 1st and 3rd for that to be the case, and since they are the best fielding team in the league I can't see it happening.

 

I know the Indians/Red Sox winner will be favored but it's hard at this point to imagine anyone beating the Rockies 4 times.

[Mik]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KRrXI-4GYg

 

That's that SNL skit making fun of the Dane Cook promos if any one cares. Pretty funny.

 

The main problem with this is that Bill Simmons predicted it in one his latest columns. He'll probably crow about this. I'm starting to join the side of the people who are growing tired of his spiel.

[Slayer]

You can't make fun of Dane Cook without doing the quick-turn-to-camera bit

[Star Ocean 3]

Which is why I dislike the idea of shortening the season. There should be more regular season, less playoffs as a rule.

 

Ugh. I already can't stand the never-ending season. You play for ten months out of the year, in 300 games lasting 5 hours each to make the playoffs, and then you're gone after a week. Everything about baseball needs to be more compact. The playoffs don't have to be longer, but I won't put up with meaningless teams playing longer than they have to.

[Dobbs 3K]

The Colorado Rockies, huh. It's just not fair, is it.

 

Not fair as in they've gone on an amazing, they must have made a deal with the devil, win streak?