Tagged As: baseball, MLB, MLB Playoffs, Playoffs, Sports

The baseball playoffs have begun after the Detroit Tigers self destructed and let the Minnesota Twins win the AL Central. If anything, the very fact that the Tigers bombed so badly proves that there is a reason not to discount even the seemingly most ridiculous statistic, like the magic number in this case. The development also proves something else, that any team that has managed to make it to the MLB postseason has a very real shot if winning it all.

There is a reason the 162-game schedule fits so nicely with the game of baseball. It is because the sport is based on such tiny percentages that it takes that many games to determine which team is actually good and which team is just on a good run. However, the playoffs are quite short in comparison to that regular season, so a good run conquers all in October.

The best recent example of this has to the Boston Red Sox in 2004. The Red Sox were down 3 games to 0 in the ALCS with the New York Yankees and managed to begin an eight-game winning streak that ended with the motley crew holding the Commissioner’s Trophy. Boston sports faithful will claim that the Red Sox had this coming after years of losing to the Yankees, but the reality is that every season is different and this was a team that hit its stride at the right time.

People forget that this was a team that was plagued by injuries, seemed unfocused during much of the season, and could not field. The team made a few midseason trades and managed to turn things around, winning 22 of their final 25 games to blow away the Oakland A’s and Texas Rangers for the Wild Card spot.

After reaching the playoffs and teetering on the brink of elimination in the ALCS they silenced the New York Yankees and unceremoniously swept the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series.

In fact, a great example of just how much runs matter in the game of baseball we can look at the past few World Series winners. If you listen to the experts, look at how National League players struggle after switching leagues, look at the composite interleague play records, and look at the past results of the last seven MLB All Star games, then you would think the American League team would have won every World Series in the 21st century.

Yet, the Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series in 2008, the St. Louis Cardinals won in 2006, and the Florida Marlins won in 2003. In fact, the National League has won four World Series since 2000.

So, the lesson is not to so quickly discount the Minnesota Twins for their lack of pitching or ignore the Rockies for their lack of home run power or laugh off the Angels because they always seem to blow it in the playoffs after breezing through the MLB season in the AL West.

Every team is dangerous and could end up eliminating the two best teams in baseball, the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers, before the league championship series. The great thing is that this makes all MLB playoff tickets worth purchasing until the team is eliminated. The bad thing is that it makes the World Series a crapshoot for the television networks and the MLB front office as they are as concerned with the profit margin as much as they are with the spirit of the game.