An article to start: http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/blog?name=olney_buster&id=5632321 The Rays, Yankees and Twins are fighting for home-field advantage in the AL playoffs, but as Kenton Wong of ESPN Stats & Information writes, history tells us that it really doesn't make that much of a difference. This from Kenton: "On Sept. 22, the Yankees and Twins were tied for the best record in baseball at 92-60. The Rays were just 1.5 games back at 90-61. The Twins had already clinched the AL Central and the Yankees and Rays had firm grips on the AL East and wild-card spots. "The three teams still had home-field advantage to play for, but it seems like no one really wanted it. Since Sept. 23, the Twins have gone 1-5, the Yankees have gone 2-5 and the Rays have gone 4-3. Hardly spectacular play from three of the best teams in baseball -- but maybe they are on to something. Since 1995 (in the wild card era), the team with home-field advantage in the division series has won just 31 of the 60 series. Since the division series adopted a 2-2-1 format in 1998, the team with home-field advantage has won 25 of 48 series. (It was a 2-3 format from 1995 to 1997). "It's a similar story when we get to the league championship series. Teams with home-field advantage in the LCS are actually under .500 since it began in 1969: 39-41. The win percentages for division series since '95 for the team with the 'advantage' are just .517, while in the championship series, the 'advantaged team' has a .488 win percentage." All three of those teams played Wednesday.
two races: yankees/tb for al east atlanta/san diego for nl wc (atl up 2) right now it looks like yankees at min texas at tb atlanta at sf cincinnati at philly
Is this possible? Padres beat San Fran and the Braves beat the Phils tomorrow. SF, SD, and ATL all finish 91-71. SD and SF have to play a one-game playoff for the division, BUT THEN...the loser would have to play a one-game playoff with Atlanta for the wild-card. That would be some crazy shit.
http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/gametracker/preview/MLB_20101003_SD@SF An Atlanta loss to Philadelphia and a Padres win later in the day would give San Diego the division crown on a tiebreaker - a 12-5 lead in the season series with San Francisco. The Giants (91-70) would then play as the NL's wild card team in the postseason. If the Padres and Braves remain tied after Sunday, San Diego would travel to Turner Field for a one-game playoff Monday. Should San Diego and Atlanta each win, it would cause a three-way logjam and the need for a pair of games. The Giants would travel to face the Padres to decide the NL West title Monday night then the loser would head to Atlanta to determine the wild card the following evening.
My playoff predictions: Yankees over Twins in 4 Rays over Rangers in 3 Yankees over Rays in 7 Braves over Giants in 4 Phillies over Reds in 5 Phillies over Braves in 5 Yankees over Phillies in 6
Yanks over Twins Rays over Rangers Giants over Braves Phillies over Reds Rays over Yanks Giants over Phillies Giants over Rays
Yanks over Twins in 4 Rays over Rangers in 5 Giants over Braves in 4 Phillies over Reds in 5 Yanks over Rays in 7 Giants over Phillies in 6 Yanks over Giants in 7
AL Division Series Prices Wed 10/6 Texas Rangers vs Tampa Bay Rays 10:35 AM 853 Texas Rangers +128 854 Tampa Bay Rays -139 Wed 10/6 New York Yankees vs Minnesota Twins 05:35 PM 855 New York Yankees -170 856 Minnesota Twins +156 NL Division Series Prices Wed 10/6 Cincinnati Reds vs Philadelphia Phillies 02:05 PM 851 Cincinnati Reds +245 852 Philadelphia Phillies -270 Thu 10/7 Atlanta Braves vs San Francisco Giants 06:35 PM 857 Atlanta Braves +146 858 San Francisco Giants -158
http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/news...04&content_id=15409506&vkey=news_min&c_id=min Morneau's season officially over.
Color me not at all surprised. Atlanta and Tampa Bay having trouble selling postseason seats, and tickets going for 30-40% of what they're going for in the other ballparks.
Yankees over Twins in 4 Rays over Rangers in 4 Giants over Braves in 4 Phillies over Reds in 3 Rays over Yankees in 7 Giants over Phillies in 7 Rays over Giants in 6 ----------- I hope (and think) it's a Yankees/Phillies re-match, but I picked Rays/Giants before the season so I'll stick with it.
Twins over Yankees in 5 Rays over Rangers in 5 Giants over Braves in 5 Phillies over Reds in 4 Rays over Twins in 6 Phillies over Giants in 6 Rays over Phillies in 6
you mean the Phillies making the WS? One's a rematch of 2008 and one is a rematch of 2009. Today's games: 1:30 Texas (Lee) at Tampa Bay (Price) 5 Cincinnati (Volquez) at Phillies (Halladay) 8:30 Yankees (Sabathia) at Minnesota (Liriano)
