on and it bears mentioning that the team the cubs supposedly laid down for is the one that didnt make the playoffs ironic

The Mets 799 runs and gave up 715. That's 90 wins. The Brewers scored 750 and gave up 689. That's 88 wins. But Milwaukee went 28-17 in one run games while the Mets went 16-19.

There are MANY, many things that go into a baseball season. But when you are talking a game in the standings and two games in numerical terms that bit of luck is most likely the explanation.

The Brewers "luck" had a name.

Congrats Harveys. Congrats Brewers fan everywhere. its nice to finally get off the snide, even if it is a wild card bid.

Even if his arm falls off tomorrow, I hope Sabathia's performance puts an end to all the fat jokes or comparisons to AJ Burnett. What a phenomenal performance after coming over from the Indians.

Wish I was his agent -- or even related to his agent.

At any rate, condolences to the Mets fans here. Nobody deserves this sort of ending 2 seasons in a row.

I can't share that sentiment. I think the Phillies fan has always despised Met Fan. Both sides are guilty. See Lassus's post about rooting against the Phils the rest of the way. It's a healthy rivalry though.....at least it means both teams are contenders. After the mid 2000's years of just being in the wrong division, it's nice to have it not matter what division you're in (realize would've been 2nd in central - but still WC worthy)

As for the Cubs laying down to the Mets....they didn't lay down...they just didn't play their A squad in games that mattered. They continued to do so against the team the Mets were battling against...so I guess it all worked out in the end. Had the Phils been the odd man out, it would've been a buncha 8888 however.

The idea of facing CC twice in a 5 game set scares me. The idea of facing Suppan, Bush, Parra in the other 3 excites me.

As for the Cubs laying down to the Mets....they didn't lay down...they just didn't play their A squad in games that mattered. They continued to do so against the team the Mets were battling against...so I guess it all worked out in the end.

Duh. It's exactly what they should've been doing, and I have yet to hear any supporter of either the Brewers or Mets complain about it. Which makes sense, since there's, well, nothing to complain about.

Hell, has anyone mentioned that it was kind of a unique situation for the Cubs to find themselves in? They're in the position of clinching home field with a week to go in the season, yet every single remaining game they played would be against teams with everything to play for. That scheduling quirk is the only reason a couple misguided souls griped about Piniella doing what every non-addled manager of a top-seeded team does after clinching. The Cubs should've been denied the fruits of their labors (i.e., getting to rest their players having put the rest of the league away early) just because their schedule meant they were still playing the wildcard competitors?

Had the Phils been the odd man out, it would've been a buncha 8888 however.

Had the Phils been the odd man out, it would've meant they'd collapsed at home against Atlanta and Washington, in which case they'd have deserved what they got.

Parra won't be starting. It's CC, Suppan, Bush and McClung if Sheets is done.

Manny will be good in short stints.

Phils .... collapsed

I believe the Mets have trademarked this connection. Please don't use "Phils" and "collapse(d)" in the same sentence without express written consent of the Wilpons.

I will always remember the 1950 Phillies. Robin Roberts and Curt Simmons were the top two starters but Simmons got called into the Service in September. So when Roberts had to go on the last day to beat the Dodgers (after the Phillies lost 5 in a row) Ed Konstanty pitched the opening game of the series.

I read this, and I had to look up Konstanty to see why this was such a bad idea. I glanced at his statline and said "He won the MVP that year, had 16 wins, ERA+ of 152, why in the world was this a bad idea?" Then I looked again, and saw that he didn't start a single game that year. Unbelievable. Great start, too, given the circumstances.

Congrats to the Brewers and their fans, and condolences to anyone having to do their laundry tomorrow.