Wild Card
My brain was already starting to hurt trying to make sense of the NL Wild Card race, but now even our ballclub is involved in complicated end-of-season calculations. As stated in yesterday's post, we qualified for the playoffs - we didn't play all 16 of our games, finishing instead with a 10-5 record, but that was enough to secure fourth place and a playoff spot - good news.
However, things are a little more complex than they seem - the team in first place is automatically guaranteed to move up a division, so it doesn't matter if they win or lose their playoff game against us. If they beat us, then they go through to the playoff final against the winner of the second place vs. third place match. If they lose to us, then we go through to the playoff final against the winner of the second place vs. third place match. The problem is that one of those two teams is unable to be promoted, even if they win the playoffs, because their 'A' team (I mean, their 1st team...) is already in the division above (clubs are not allowed to have two teams in the same division). In the event of that happening, the second promotion spot available would not be decided according to the playoff games, but according to the records in the regular season (OK, so that kind of negates the idea of having playoff games in the first place, but that's how I understand the situation...).
As a result, it now turns out that we might have a better chance of getting through the playoffs if we make up (and win) our missing game, which would give us an 11-5 record and tie us with two other teams for second place.
Is that clear? It is? OK, then could you please now explain the NL Wild Card possibilities to me?
However, things are a little more complex than they seem - the team in first place is automatically guaranteed to move up a division, so it doesn't matter if they win or lose their playoff game against us. If they beat us, then they go through to the playoff final against the winner of the second place vs. third place match. If they lose to us, then we go through to the playoff final against the winner of the second place vs. third place match. The problem is that one of those two teams is unable to be promoted, even if they win the playoffs, because their 'A' team (I mean, their 1st team...) is already in the division above (clubs are not allowed to have two teams in the same division). In the event of that happening, the second promotion spot available would not be decided according to the playoff games, but according to the records in the regular season (OK, so that kind of negates the idea of having playoff games in the first place, but that's how I understand the situation...).
As a result, it now turns out that we might have a better chance of getting through the playoffs if we make up (and win) our missing game, which would give us an 11-5 record and tie us with two other teams for second place.
Is that clear? It is? OK, then could you please now explain the NL Wild Card possibilities to me?
posted by Iain at
14:25
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