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It seems that the All Star rule now plays an important role in the World Series. The rule was first introduced in 2003 and 9 WS games has been played since. Out of the 9 games played under this rule only 3 teams have lost the All Star game and went on to win the World Series. These numbers where looked up rather quickly so hopefully I got them right.
Anyhow, do you agree with the new All Star Rule or do you prefer the original rule which alternated home fields each year.
FYI: Double check but I think the 2011 WS would still have started in St Louis even under the original alternating rule.
They should of either kept it the same way, or like the NBA: best regular season record gets homefield advantage. Of course, that's coming from a Rangers fan. But the Rangers kinda brought it upon themselves, or at least C.J. Wilson did. He's the one who lost the All-Star game for the A.L.
It seems that the All Star rule now plays an important role in the World Series. The rule was first introduced in 2003 and 9 WS games has been played since. Out of the 9 games played under this rule only 3 teams have lost the All Star game and went on to win the World Series. These numbers where looked up rather quickly so hopefully I got them right.
Anyhow, do you agree with the new All Star Rule or do you prefer the original rule which alternated home fields each year.
FYI: Double check but I think the 2011 WS would still have started in St Louis even under the original alternating rule.
The regular season record. It's ridiculous that the Cardinals got home field when atlanta gifted them a playoff birth, and Texas won their division.
The regular season record. It's ridiculous that the Cardinals got home field when atlanta gifted them a playoff birth, and Texas won their division.
Just using regular season record doesn't account for differences in strength of the divisions teams play in.
If the Cardinals
were in the AL West and the Rangers were in the NL Central, the Cardinals certainly wouldn't have needed
to have been gifted a playoff birth and Texas would have had a much tougher time winning the division.
That not to say, at all, the the This Time it Counts thing is anything resembling a good idea.
Just using regular season record doesn't account for differences in strength of the divisions teams play in.
If the Cardinals
were in the AL West and the Rangers were in the NL Central, the Cardinals certainly wouldn't have needed
to have been gifted a playoff birth and Texas would have had a much tougher time winning the division.
That not to say, at all, the the This Time it Counts thing is anything resembling a good idea.
Thats true but its alot better than having it decided on an exhibition game, or flipping a coin and really better than any other option. Those things certainly don't do that either.
If the Cardinals were in the AL West they wouldn't have made the playoffs. Texas would have beat them. If Texas was in the NL central the cardinals wouldn't have made the playoffs texas would have beat them too.
If the Rangers were in the NL they would have been in the playoffs easily though I do not see what this has to do with anything.
Well as a clearly biased Cardinals fan, I liked having home field advantage in the WS. And to be honest, I'm not sure that the Cardinals would have won without it. But that's baseball...
But to answer the question, no, I don't really like the rule as a baseball purist, and this response touches on the whole issue of inter-league play itself. I think that they should either go back to the old way, with the leagues alternating home field; or, if they wanted to spread out inter-league play so that more teams play each other, that would probably make more sense. As it is now, inter-league play is really a bit of a wildcard, with some teams being punished merely for having the wrong opponent on their schedules, while other teams (the Cardinals for instance) getting a free victory or two on their schedule. Who did the Cardinals play this year in IL play? Kansas City, Baltimore, Toronto, and Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay and Toronto proved to be hazardous opponents, but does St. Louis even make it to the playoffs if they don't play Kansas City and Baltimore? They need to at least do what the NFL does and make the higher ranked teams play each other. The solution could be two-fold:
1. If there's already a head-to-head match-up, the winner of the regular season head-to-head series gets the home field in the Series.
2. Without a head-to-head match-up, the next tie-breaker could be the inter-league records of the two teams. The team with the better inter-league records would have the advantage. Or maybe we could add up the total inter-league record of games between the two leagues, with the more successful league during the regular season getting home field. That way, every team makes every game count.
But baseball's all about driving ratings, and it always takes the short-sighted view of things. I do agree with the idea of adding a wild-card team, though. I think expanding the playoffs to include two or even four more markets would make the game more appealing.
Thats true but its alot better than having it decided on an exhibition game, or flipping a coin and really better than any other option. Those things certainly don't do that either.
If the Cardinals were in the AL West they wouldn't have made the playoffs. Texas would have beat them. If Texas was in the NL central the cardinals wouldn't have made the playoffs texas would have beat them too.
If the Rangers were in the NL they would have been in the playoffs easily though I do not see what this has to do with anything.
It's hard to say. Two different league with two different style of play. I think a more valid question might be, does St. Louis get into the post-season if they play in the NL East or NL West?
I do feel your pain though. I agree that the current format seems to reward mediocre teams when it shouldn't, especially in the biggest series of them all. Texas deserved home field more than the Cardinals did. No questions there.
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