They've spent more time in the air than a space-shuttle crew.
They've traveled more miles in the last two weeks than the Metroliner. If
they were getting frequent-flier miles, they'd have enough by now to take a
free trip to the moon.
What baseball has foisted on the New York Yankees this October is
pretty close to inhumane.
First, they had to make four New York-to-Oakland flights in seven days.
That's 10,200 miles, if you're scoring at home.
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Triviality
|
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After the 32 seasons of division play, eight franchises
still have never won a playoff series (nine if you don't count the extra
round created by the strike in 1981). Can you name them?
(Answer at bottom.)
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Then came a New York-to-Seattle commute two days later. That's another 2,400
miles. And they'll do it again in the other direction Sunday night. So that
makes 15,000 air miles in 13 days. We know pilots who would file a grievance
over a schedule like that.
Of course, they're the Yankees, so no one feels sorry for them. But their
insane coast-to-coast yo-yo act this October has pointed out some flaws in
the current playoff system. And they're worth a look:
Should TV pick the starting times?
It made just about no sense at all -- except to the TV people -- to force the
Yankees and A's to play a Saturday night game in New York if the possibility
existed that they'd both have to fly all night across the country for a
late-afternoon game the next day.
But they were forced to do it anyway. And the Giants and Mets could
have met the same fate over in the NL.
The commish, Bud Selig, admits that's "not a perfect situation" and
sympathizes to the point that "I hate to see two clubs have to travel all
night." But Selig also insists he has heard very little complaining, except
in the newspapers, and reminds us that "both teams had to do it."
Which is true. But the players union isn't happy that TV was allowed
to control the starting times of all games -- even if it meant the Yankees
had to be the kings of the red-eye.
"I'm very conscious of the amount of money the networks pay for
these games," says Gene Orza, associate general counsel at the union. "But
whatever it is, it's not enough to (give them that much power). They could
have paid an additional $50 million for that right, and it wouldn't have
been worth it."
And those all-nighters weren't the only problem. Starting times
didn't have to be determined until the day before games. So at one point
last week, the Giants had to fly from San Francisco to New York on a travel
day -- and had no idea what time they were playing the next day until the
plane landed.
But Selig says the pluses outweigh the minuses. Period.
"You want games to be on when people can see them," he says. "It's
all about putting games on the right channels at the right times so people
can watch them. It's a tough format. I admit that. But you want people to be
able to watch these games."
Is the 2-2-1 format working?
The way the best-of-five series used to work, the team with
home-field advantage got the final three games at home. But that created the
possibility that, if they lost the first two on the road, those teams with
alleged home-field advantage would actually play fewer home games than their
opponents.
So complaints about that arrangement forced baseball to change from the old
2-3 format to the new 2-2-1, where the team with home-field advantage gets
the first two games and the last game at home.
We were proponents of that format ourselves back then. And we still
think it's more fair. But when it creates travel nightmares like the one the
Yankees and A's had to endure, it might be worth reexamining.
Orza says his research shows that there were actually fewer "upsets"
under the old 2-3 format than there have been in the three years of the
2-2-1. In fact, teams with home-field advantage have won only five of 12
series under the new format, as opposed to seven of 12 under the old format.
If you then add in the 16 seasons that the League Championship
Series was also a best-of-five with a 2-3 format, you get similar results.
Teams with home-field advantage went 17-15 in those old LCS.
We probably haven't had enough years under this format to know
whether it creates a more legitimate home-field edge or not. But Orza says
that no matter what format is used, home-field advantage in baseball over
any extended series is overrated.
"We have a sport in which home-field advantage really doesn't mean
very much," he says. "And the good thing is, that makes for a very
interesting sport. In basketball, if the Lakers play at home against a
mediocre team, they'll win 19 out of 20 times. In football, if you play the
championship game at home, that counts a lot -- because it's only one game.
"But in baseball, that advantage is spread out over a five-game
series or a seven-game series. So take the Giants. They won 68 percent of
their home games. They won 52 percent of their road games. So now apply
those winning percentages to a best-of-seven series.
"That's 68 percent of four home games, 52 percent of three road games. And
it means that if they have home-field advantage they'll win 4.27 games. And
without it, they'll win 4.12 games.
"What that means is that, of every 100 series that San Francisco was
in, home-field advantage would be worth somewhere in the vicinity of four
more wins -- and no more. That's a 4-percent differential, and we're talking
about the team with the biggest home-road differential of all the teams this
year."
So Orza's point is that the supposed "advantage" a team gets under
this 2-2-1 format can easily be outweighed by the travel disadvantage
created by an Oakland-New York scenario.
"When you're facing the prospect of a nationwide series," he said,
"a team like Oakland would be better off sleeping in its own beds three
straight days than getting that fifth game at home. The more you introduce
travel into a five-game series, the more you diminish the advantage of home
field."
So the union would prefer going back to the old 2-3 format, or even
a 3-2 format in which the team with home-field advantage gets the first
three games at home. But Selig showed little interest in that prospect.
"We've been through all this," he said. "We'll talk about it in the
offseason. But I don't know that there's reason to change it."
Since the Division Series is stretched out over seven days anyway,
it would seem possible to introduce an extra travel day for coast-to-coast
series. But TV demands make that almost impossible, too. No surprise there.
Is it time to make the first round best-of-seven?
Selig claims he has gotten no official complaints about the
unfairness of playing a five-game series in the first round, even if the
Yankees and Braves both had plenty to say about it to the media.
But teams we've surveyed would be in favor of a best-of-seven in the
first round. And the union "would not oppose such a move," Orza says.
Even with all his impressive data about home-field advantage, Orza
agrees a best-of-seven is "more fair, because it's a 40-percent longer
sampling. And that creates a little more likelihood that the team with the
best record will win."
But the obstacles to going from five-game series to seven go way
beyond fairness. For one thing, the networks have never been interested. And
even though rumor has it that Fox is now open to the idea, there are other
complications.
Like the schedule.
Everyone is opposed extending the World Series to the eve of
Thanksgiving. So the only alternative is shortening the season. And no one
has figured out a way to do that to everyone's satisfaction.
"We'd either have to shorten the regular season," Selig says, "or
find a different way to do 162 (squeezing those games into less time). And
the clubs are not interested in that -- or fewer games, either. This has been
debated for years. But after a lot of debate, we decided to leave it at
best-of-five. I've read George (Steinbrenner's) comments. But at the moment,
I don't think that's practical."
In baseball, in short, the problems are easy to pinpoint. It's the
solutions that often seem just about impossible.
This postseason is the beginning of a new era in umpiring. For the
first time, postseason umpires are being selected entirely on merit. And
umpires who worked the first round will be brought back to work a second
time in the postseason, a practice that had never been allowed in the past.
Meanwhile, more changes are coming. The 25 newest umpires will be brought to
the Arizona Fall League for 10 days. They'll work four games -- two behind
the plate, two on the bases, and attend seminars on umpiring daily.
All crew chiefs then will be brought to the winter meetings for more talks.
And all umpires will attend a six-day January retreat in Arizona.
Finally, baseball hasn't announced it yet, but it has hired veteran umpires
Frank Pulli and Steve Palermo as supervisors. Ralph Nelson, who oversees
umpiring affairs for the commissioner's office, says that long-time ump
Larry Barnett also will become a supervisor.
There are more and more indications Bob Brenly will be the next
manager of the Diamondbacks. Word around baseball is that he's even been
calling potential coaches.
One front-office man whose club had interest in hiring Lou Piniella
now believes the chances have increased of Piniella remaining in Seattle.
But not everyone is so sure of that.
The Reds definitely will speak with Piniella. The Dodgers are said to have
him high on their list. The Phillies may have interest in him. And the New
York papers were full of talk that the Mets could be interested in a
Piniella-Alex Rodriguez package if Bobby Valentine doesn't return.
But one baseball man predicts Piniella will wind up managing the Blue Jays,
who spend spring training right near his home in Florida and will play nine
or 10 regular-season games a year in Tampa Bay under the new balanced
schedule. Stay tuned.
Then there is Dusty Baker, who might have taken more criticism in
the last week than he got in his previous eight seasons in San Francisco
combined.
Besides all the obvious second-guesses -- not bringing in Robb Nen in Game 2,
letting Mark Gardner bat with the bases loaded in Game 4 -- there were other
legitimate questions about the way Baker handled several crucial situations.
Why, for example, did he allow Felix Rodriguez to go right at the dangerous
Jay Payton in the 10th inning of Game 2 with first base open and Mike
Bordick on deck?
And why was Doug Mirabelli given a 3-and-0 take sign in the fifth inning of
Game 3, with two outs, two on and Gardner on deck? For that matter, why was
Gardner sent out to the on-deck circle in the first place in that inning,
which only seemed to invite the Mets to pitch around Mirabelli?
Baker has heard about all of that and more. But for all his unhappiness
about the way the Giants' season ended and the aftermath of that defeat, the
Giants are aggressively trying to bring him back.
Sources say they've already made him a long-term offer and talked with his
agent, Jeff Moorad, on four straight days this week.
Another fascinating figure in San Francisco this winter will be
Barry Bonds. Like Sammy Sosa and Jeff Bagwell, Bonds is a year away from
free agency. Unlike Sosa and Bagwell, his team may not feel a sense of
urgency to do a lot of talking about an extension this winter.
For one thing, the Giants have never been opposed to allowing their players
to go into the last years of their contracts unsigned and then talking money
(a la Ellis Burks, who almost certainly will be back).
For another thing, with a lockout -- at least for most of the offseason --
almost inevitable next year, virtually no players figure to sign a contract
for months next winter. And some clubs may see that as creating serious
leverage in their talks with players who will become free agents in 2001.
It seems as if the Phillies stopped pursuing big-name free agents
around the time that Lance Parrish flamed out. But one Phillies source says:
"You might be surprised by some of the free agents we pursue this time
around."
There are indications the Phillies will at least get in on the bidding for
most of the prominent free-agent pitchers -- even Mike Mussina and Mike
Hampton -- unless they're told to get lost.
Whether the notoriously thrifty Phillies would dig into their wallets to pay
retail on those guys is another story. But with Scott Rolen two years from
free agency, the Phillies need to make an aggressive attempt to improve
dramatically next season -- or they'll be forced to trade Rolen to keep from
letting him walk as a free agent.
One NL executive predicts the Braves could emerge as major players
for A-Rod: "This sounds funny, but after what happened to them in the
playoffs, they need to reestablish themselves. And who better to do it with?
They've been built around pitching, but the lifespan of that pitching staff
is probably only a couple of more years. So I expect them to go in a
different direction. That team is put together to win. And I expect them to
do what it takes to keep winning."
You might remember baseball filing a major lawsuit against ESPN
because it wanted to show three Sunday night games on ESPN2, which allegedly
didn't have enough households.
Now MLB turns around and sells its entire postseason package to Fox, which
will be forced to place at least part of the first round on cable networks
that could have significantly fewer viewers than ESPN2. Very few hotels, for
example, carry any of Fox's cable networks.
But there's a possibility Fox could sell off some of those games to Turner
Broadcasting, to be carried on either TBS or TNT. At any rate, Selig says he
is "concerned" about the situation, and MLB is actively talking with Fox
about ways to address it.
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List of the week
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After the most prolific home-run season in history, it figured we
would then see the fewest home runs ever hit in the Division Series. Sure
enough, there were only 20 in the first round this year -- by far the
smallest total ever. Totals by season, courtesy of the Sultan of Swat Stats,
SABR'S David Vincent:
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|
Year
|
Homers
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1995
|
50
|
|
1996
|
34
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1997
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34
|
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1998
|
27
|
|
1999
|
35
|
|
2000
|
20
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Useless information dept.
To find the last time a Yankees pitcher other than Roger Clemens
lost a postseason game before Denny Neagle did it in Game 1 of the Seattle
series, you have to go all the way back to Game 3 of the 1998 ALCS, when
Andy Pettitte lost to Cleveland. After that game, Yankees pitchers not named
Clemens won 16 postseason games in a row. Unreal.
The Yankees narrowly avoided making postseason franchise history
last weekend, when David Justice homered for their final run of the Oakland
series -- their first home run of the series. Had Justice not made that trot,
it would have been the first time in 50 postseason series that a Yankees
team had gone homerless through an entire series.
In fact, this was only the second time they'd even been held to just one
homer. The other was 1976, when shortstop Jim Mason, of all people, hit
their only homer in a four-game sweep by the Big Red Machine.
More Yankees trivia: Before they were shut out by Freddy Garcia and
his bullpen crew Tuesday, the Yankees had been shut out only once in their
previous 109 postseason games, dating back to Don Drysdale's zero-fest in
Game 3 of the 1963 World Series. The only other shutout was against Greg
Maddux in Game 2 of the '96 Series. You might recall they never lost another
game in that one.
The Yankees lost three of their first six games in this postseason.
They lost three of 25 games in the previous two postseasons.
Strange things happen in October. This is baseball's 95th
postseason. And in the first 94, only three times had a team scored six runs
or more in the first inning of a postseason game. Then it happened twice in
a week.
The Cardinals scored six in the first against Atlanta in Game 1. Then the
Yankees scored six in the first against Oakland in Game 5. The only other
teams to do it: '58 Brewers (seven against the Yankees in Game 2 of the
World Series), '89 Cubs (six against the Giants in Game 2 of the NLCS) and
'96 Braves (six against the Cardinals in Game 7 of the NLCS).
Extensive research by the Elias Sports Bureau has determined that
that Mariners-White Sox series was the first postseason series ever to end
on a bunt (either a squeeze, sacrifice or bunt single by the winning team).
There have been other postseason games that ended on a bunt, though. The
most recent: Game 2 of the 1996 Division Series between the Yankees and
Rangers. Charlie Hayes laid down a sacrifice in the 12th inning with no out
and runners on first and second. Dean Palmer then threw it away, allowing
Derek Jeter to score the winning run.
Bobby Jones' one-hitter against the Giants last weekend was one of
the most spotless games in postseason history. Jones allowed just three
baserunners -- all in one inning. The only postseason games ever to feature
fewer baserunners than that: Don Larsen's perfect game in 1956, Claude
Passeau's one-hitter (in which he also issued one walk) in the 1945 World
Series and Kevin Millwood's one-hitter against Houston in the '99 Division
Series (no walks, one error).
Jones also joins a very short list of pitchers who saved the best
games of their careers for October. One, obviously, was Larsen. The only two
other pitchers in history to throw a complete-game one-hitter in the
postseason without ever throwing one in the regular season, according to the
Elias Sports Bureau's Ken Hirdt: Passeau and Jim Lonborg ('67 World Series).
Edgardo Alfonzo went into Game 3 of the NLCS only three short of the
longest postseason RBI streak in history. Lou Gehrig drove in a run in eight
straight games stretched over the 1928 and 1932 World Series, according to
Elias' Kevin Hines. The longest streak during a single postseason: six
games, by Bernie Williams in 1996 (Division Series and ALCS).
Veteran baseball scribe Jack Lang checked in with some trivia on
Mets history-maker Benny Agbayani. He drove in the winning run in the Mets'
first win of the year, then scored the winning run in their last win of the
year -- both in extra innings, on two different continents. (Agbayani hit an
11th-inning, game-winning grand slam in Japan on March 30, then scored on a
13th-inning single by Mike Bordick in the regular-season finale on Oct. 1.)
And that, friends, is a first.
Rick Ankiel didn't quite take over the all-time postseason lead in
wild pitches. He's still at seven -- one behind Jack Morris. But as ESPN
research genius Jeff Bennett points out, there's a slight disparity in
innings pitched between Ankiel and the other guys on the leader board.
Morris' eight postseason WP's came in 92 1/3 innings. The only other pitcher
with seven -- Steve Carlton -- threw 99 1/3 postseason innings. And of the
four pitchers with six -- David Cone, Jim Palmer, Orel Hershiser and John
Smoltz -- none worked fewer than 110 innings. Ankiel's seven came in 3 1/3
innings.
Ankiel's first-inning KO Thursday came in the Cardinals' 127th
postseason game in franchise history. Only twice in the previous 126 had one
of their starting pitchers made a quicker exit than Ankiel.
One was Ray Sadecki, who was gonged after one-third of an inning in Game 4 of the
1964 World Series. The other was Howie Pollet, who also was gone after a
third of an inning in Game 5 of the 1946 World Series. The only other
first-inning exit: Donovan Osborne lasted 2/3 of an inning in the Cardinals'
15-0 Game 7 loss to the Braves in the '96 NLCS.
Once, people were labeling Ankiel as the Cardinals' brightest
pitching discovery since Bob Gibson. For their reference, Gibson's shortest
postseason outing was eight innings.
Eli Marrero drove in the Cardinals' first run Thursday. Date of his
last RBI before that one: June 18.
A funny thing happened to Jim Fregosi in Toronto: He got fired
despite the fact that he managed two years and had no losing seasons. You
might think that's slightly unusual, but Davey Johnson holds a patent on
that feat. He's been fired by three different teams for which he'd never
managed a full sub-.500 season.
He was fired in Baltimore after two straight winning seasons ('96 and '97).
He did have a losing record after taking over the Reds in midseason in 1993,
but then got axed after two straight winning seasons in '94 and '95. And
after six straight winning seasons with the Mets, he was 20-22 on Memorial
Day in 1990 and got fired. (To keep his record intact, he was also fired
this year in L.A., after a winning season.)
Other recent managers who got fired after at least two winning
seasons in a row: Mike Hargrove (six straight in Cleveland), Terry Collins
(two straight in Houston) and Buck Showalter (three straight in New York).
All of those three had at least one losing season before that, however.
Trivia answer: Astros, Cubs, Diamondbacks, Rockies, Devil Rays,
White Sox, Rangers, Angels and Expos (who did beat the Phillies in the
split-season round in '81).
Jayson Stark is a senior writer at ESPN.com. | |
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