04/20/24
October 02, 2010
3-Team Playoff Possible in NL: If the San Diego Padres win today and Sunday in San Francisco and the Atlanta Braves win one of two games against Philadelphia, it would force a three-team playoff. The Padres and Giants would play Monday for the NL West in San Diego and the loser would travel to Atlanta to play for the wild card.
One word: awesome!!!
posted by Bag Man at 06:58 PM on October 02, 2010
We've been teased with this before.
I think it was three years ago we went into the final three days of the season with the NL playoff picture so messed up that it looked like Colorado had a chance of playing 4 games in 4 nights in 4 different cities (if a lot of things broke right).
On September 27, 2007, the standings were like so:
(with 3 games remaining)
NL Wildcard:
Arizona - 89-70 (NL West leader)
San Diego - 88-71
NY Mets - 87-72 (tied for NL East lead)
Philadelphia - 87-72 (tied for NL East lead)
Colorado - 87-72
Arizona played Colorado.
NY Mets played Florida.
San Diego played Milwaukee.
Philadelphia played Washington.
You could have ended up with San Diego, NY Mets, Philadelphia, and one of Arizona or Colorado tied with the same record.
The fun would have been as follows:
NY Mets and Philadelphia play a one-game play-off for the NL East title.
Colorado/Arizona and San Diego play a one-game playoff for the NL West title.
The losers of those first two games play a one-game playoff for the NL Wild Card title.
The winner of the Wild Card playoff would then have to play the very next night in the first round of the playoffs.
Based on the coin tosses to determine home field advantage for all the playoff games, it looked like Colorado could have had the following schedule:
Game 162 - in Colorado
Playoff #1 - in San Diego (the coin flip for the NL West playoff game was different than the actual coin toss used for the NL Wild Card playoff game)
Playoff #2 - in Philadelphia
Opening round game - in New York
4 games, 4 nights, 4 cities.
Sadly, all we ended up with was the Colorado/San Diego one-game playoff for the wild-card.
posted by grum@work at 09:04 PM on October 02, 2010
Scenarios!
San Diego wins, Philadelphia wins:
Padres are NL West champs, Giants are NL wild card, Braves go home.
San Diego wins, Atlanta wins:
The wonderful 3-way tie happens!
San Francisco at San Diego on Monday for "NL West Champion" (meaning both teams have to fly from San Francisco to San Diego over night) and the loser plays in Atlanta on Tuesday for the wild card game.
San Francisco wins, Philadelphia wins:
San Francisco are the NL West champs, and San Diego goes to Atlanta on Tuesday to play for the wild card game."
San Francisco wins, Atlanta wins:
Boring!
San Francisco are the NL West champs and Atlanta are the NL wild card winners.
Craziest scenario:
San Diego/San Francisco plays in San Francisco on Sunday, San Diego on Monday, Atlanta on Tuesday, and Philadelphia on Wednesday.
That's 4 games in 4 days in 4 cities for either San Diego or San Francisco.
posted by grum@work at 09:22 PM on October 02, 2010
Also, looking at this, the only way San Francisco doesn't make the playoffs is if they proceed to lose 3 games in a row (starting Sunday). If that happens, they don't deserve to make the NL Division Series (as that would be a total of 5 games in a row that they lost to end the season).
posted by grum@work at 09:29 PM on October 02, 2010
(as that would be a total of 5 games in a row that they lost to end the season)
Including getting swept at home by the Padres to finish the regular season off (potentially).
posted by boredom_08 at 12:33 AM on October 03, 2010
Extra crazy side note:
If MLB was still using the two-division format, this is what the standings would be for the NL West going into the final day:
San Francisco - 91-70
Cincinnati - 90-71
Atlanta - 90-71
San Diego - 90-71
There would be the potential for a 4-way tie, where 3 teams would then be going home (as there wouldn't be a wild card) after at least 3 playoff games.
posted by grum@work at 01:14 AM on October 03, 2010
The Braves were in the NL West? That would be like the Cowboys being in the NFC East, or the Red Wings in the Western Conference...
posted by MeatSaber at 01:45 AM on October 03, 2010
The Braves were in the NL West? That would be like the Cowboys being in the NFC East, or the Red Wings in the Western Conference...
...or the Falcons in the NFC West. Come to think of it, I'm not currently aware of anyone in sports who also majored in geography in college.....
posted by NerfballPro at 08:23 AM on October 03, 2010
The NHL actually has it right. There really are 15 teams more East than Detroit.
posted by apoch at 10:17 AM on October 03, 2010
The NHL actually has it right. There really are 15 teams more East than Detroit.
I know, it's just weird...
Could someone clear something up for me? Going into today's games, the Rays needed either a win or a Yankees loss to clinch the division, according to ESPN. I was even watching SportsCenter earlier, and they went to the game live in the 12th, only to cut away because the Yankees lost before the inning ended. Yet, if the Rays had lost today, they would've been tied. How is that possible, without a playoff?
posted by MeatSaber at 12:35 AM on October 04, 2010
Rays would've won the tiebreaker (season series, I think?) and thus the division. A playoff game is only required when a post-season berth hangs in the balance. If both teams are going to the post-season-- i.e. if you're deciding who gets the division title versus who gets the wild card-- you go by tiebreakers.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 12:54 AM on October 04, 2010
Yes please.