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In Major League Baseball, if a team wins its division with a record of, say, 86-76, and said team faces the Wild Card team in the first round of the playoffs, if the Wild Card team has a better record, say 92-72, the division winner still gets home field advantage, correct?
Yes
Yes.
Ok, that's what I thought. Thanks :).
Wait, winning the division gets you automatic home field advantage over a wild card winner? That's kinda lame...
Yeah. Because two teams from the same division can't face off in the divisional round of the playoffs. Which is why it was Red Sox - Angels and Rays - White Sox.
If teams from the same division could play each other in the LDS the Angels would have gotten the White Sox, and the Red Sox and Tampa would have played each other. But because of that rule that's not how it worked out.
The Sox not playing the Rays had nothing to do with this rule. The Angels had the best record in the AL, not Tampa, so they got the WC team, Boston.
The better example was in the NL, where the Cubs had the best record, and would normally have gotten the WC as its div series opponent. But since the Wild Card was Milwaukee... in the same division as the Cubs, then the Cubs instead got the other division winner with the worst record... the Dodgers.
Wait, I'm confused...
Say Team A (104 wins- Division winner) faces Team B (105 wins- Wild Card winner) in the Division Series- Team A will get home field advantage?
yes wild card NEVER gets the home field. and justly so... if they won the division they would get in. if it was still 2 leagues they wouldnt have gotten in so they are lucky as it is
That sucks though.Quote:
Originally Posted by TheNamelessPoet
Say there's a division winner with 75 wins and a wild card with 104 wins... the division winner deserves home field advantage?
yes
Quote:
Originally Posted by metsguy234
agreed...Quote:
Originally Posted by ohms_law
You have to be better than the teams in your division... thats the rules...
If its a HR winning contest and I hit 25 a year for 10 years and you hit 50 for 5 years... who do you want on your team??? (asuming you have no other real power threats)
Its not a great argumant but it makes sense in my head... (then again world peace does to :p)
Okay, let's put it this wayQuote:
Originally Posted by ohms_law
Division A consists of
Detroit
Baltimore
Washington
Seattle
San Diego
Detroit wins with 74 wins
Division B consists of
Anaheim
Boston
Chicago (NL)
Philadelphia
Anaheim wins with 100 wins, but Chicago with 97 wins gets the wild card. Chicago's not a better team then Detroit?
Chicago wouldn't play Detroit most likely. They would play the winner of a team that won the third division considering the wild card requires four teams. Unless they meet in the LCS...
But your right Chicago is a better team but division titles mean more then the wild card. It's just the rules. You play better then the other teams in your division, that's how it goes.
If something as outrageous as your example occurs though I'm sure people will start talking about changing it...but I doubt any team will ever win a division with a 74 win season...
It's not about whose the better team, its about whose the best in their division. At least with the way the rules are now.
A team win 97 wins should have no problem destroying a team with 74 wins homefield or not anyways.