Thank God MLB is eliminating these sort of wild card races next season!

Wow.... just, wow. I need video of all this.

Thanks; fortunately, tomorrow's a Thursday, and I'm coming back Sunday night, so hopefully it'll be better than that.

This is what happens when I have to pull a 16 hour shift and close the bar down. I think it is the weekend already.

I think the idea of Bud being stuck in an awkward state and having to make a snap decision is too delicious to ignore.

I think it's absolutely hilarious, that Bud made the absolute 100% logical decision in the all star game, and yet morons/people somehow find fault with him stating that an exhibition game is utterly meaningless and a tie isn't a bad thing(it's ####### hilarious to watch the same morons who complain about his all star decision---which was 100% the ####### right call---and to then complain about his argument for the 'this time it matters' he made a decision, which was 100% the right decision, but morons/hardcore fans who seem to think the all star game matters, raise a stink so he makes another decision---which is to be honest a decision that changes a meaningless difference and attaches it to a meaningless result, but still the morons complain about bud.. he just can't win when he's being 100% right. I mean the all star game matters took a stupid concept and transfered it to another stupid concept... but we aren't talking about a loss, we are talking about home field advantage for the world series being determined by the year, and transferring it to an equally arbitrary process like the all star game, just so the commissioner doesn't lose faith for making an 100% right call in calling a tie game.... but again the morons are now happy...oops wait, the morons blame bud selig for global warming and he didn't fix that with this utterly meaningless decision.

The AL is only slightly more set. If the Tigers win and Tex loses, the Tigers get either the Rays or Red Sox at home and the Yankees get the Rangers. If the Tigers lose, or Texas wins, Texas gets the wild card and the Tigers go to NY.

So, after 161 games:

Teams with three possible opponents:

Phillies, Brewers, Rangers, Tigers, Diamondbacks

Teams with 2 possible opponents:

Braves, Yankees, Rays, Red Sox,

Teams with 1 possible opponent:

Cards

isn't this the definition of "feature" and not function of the playoffs in baseball.... heck one of the advantages of adding playoff teams is the uncertainty of what you are going to face in the post season.

I think it is going to be Philadelphia/Texas. Would kind of like to see Milwaukee win the NL, though. My favorite WS matchup would be Milwaukee/Tampa Bay.

That's true. But I bet you that if he gets to exactly 3-for-4, and is at risk of falling back below Reyes with another unsuccessful AB, he'll come out.

Going in today Braun 559 at bats, Reyes 536.... Braun would have nothing to apologize for it he took time off.... it's ####### ridiculous to compare last game of the season and think it is equivalent to pussying out.. If you have 30 more at bats...guess what, you are fully allowed to ##### out.

the only ones to get faulted would be an ####### with 30 fewer at bats who pussied out.

I've been an O's fan all of my life, but I gotta root for the Rays in the playoffs. I love these guys.

Braun was b*tching about sitting Monday. Another thing to like about the lad.

ok, who the #### doesn't like Braun? I'm a Cardinal fan(note the screen name) and I happen to like pretty much all the Brewers, but I love both Braun and Fielder, and think people(cardinal fans) who don't are being petty, both of these guys are great players who enjoy the game, and who do it right, how can you not like them?

I'm a Reds fan, and I have no problem whatsoever with Ryan Braun. He's an exceptional player, and he plays the game with passion. He has my respect.

exactly, yes petty people are petty people, but c'mon how can you fault Braun? he plays the game right, unlike Pujols/Fielder he doesn't study his homeruns(I could have put about 2 dozen other players on that list, the point being that Braun isn't a Pujols/Fielder, two guys who average the longest homerun trots in baseball) and I'm not bagging on Pujols or Fielder, just pointing out that Braun isn't in their league when it comes to homerun trots


Braun is a player that every hardcore fan of the opposite team fears... that doesn't mean we don't like him, in fact it's somewhat the opposite, he's a good quiet(and I'm not kidding with that word) player who goes out and does his job. It's hard to imagine someone having a problem with him.

Oh, okay. I like Carpenter just fine, but I'm totally on board with him getting pulled after giving up about 15 runs in the first inning tonight to stay behind Halladay, Kershaw, and Lee in the innings race.

wow!!!, how is Carpenter in the innings race? I know the numbers don't show it, but yes he has been the team ace, and tonights game is absolute proof of that.

I think it's absolutely hilarious, that Bud made the absolute 100% logical decision in the all star game, and yet morons/people somehow find fault with him stating that an exhibition game is utterly meaningless and a tie isn't a bad thing(it's ####### hilarious to watch the same morons who complain about his all star decision---which was 100% the ####### right call---and to then complain about his argument for the 'this time it matters' he made a decision, which was 100% the right decision, but morons/hardcore fans who seem to think the all star game matters, raise a stink so he makes another decision---

Jeez... didn't your time just wind up an incredible month by making the postseason? Enjoy, brother. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBcc1BM5BBE

Only a month ago Frank Deford was proclaiming on NPR about expanding the postseason:

Like the dimwits who run college football, the fundamentalists will cry that this diminishes the regular season. OK. So what? (...) Do you want to diminish the regular season, or diminish the whole sport?

I'd love to sit down and have a long talk with Frank Deford this morning about whether what happened on the final night of the MLB regular season could have possibly happened in any other professional sport, and why anybody who appreciates the circumstances which led up to last night must reflexively be considered an ubernerd.

whether what happened on the final night of the MLB regular season could have possibly happened in any other professional sport

Why couldn't it, though? Two pairs of teams are tied for the last playoff slot in each league/conference, playing at the same time, each needs to win and have the other lose, two of the games go into overtime. That can happen everywhere. The only difference for MLB is the possibility of the extra tiebreaker game, which wouldn't work logistically for the other big North American sports.

I'd love to sit down and have a long talk with Frank Deford this morning about whether what happened on the final night of the MLB regular season could have possibly happened in any other professional sport, and why anybody who appreciates the circumstances which led up to last night must reflexively be considered an ubernerd.

Deford's a numbskull, yes, but to say it couldn't possibly have happened in any other sport? Why not? Quite frequently, the last NFL playoff spot comes down to the final Sunday of the year (as recently as last year, the Packers, Giants, and Buccaneers all were tied for the sixth NFC spot). Ditto for the NHL.

EDIT: Coke to Karl

I still hate the "Wild Card" and wish MLB had either a pre-Wild Card playoff system or simply regular season champions and relegation. Last night WAS tremendous fun, but also illustrated that some pretty crummy teams were struggling to beat even crummier teams or teams with little or even negative incentive to go all out.

Closest I remember watching, April 11, 2010, Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers playing the final game of the regular season, winner gets the last playoff spot, Flyers win in a shootout.

This thread almost made up for missing the games. I'm gonna root for Tampa and Milwaukee, with Detroit as my backup.