You have to keep things in perspective when it comes to these games. The ins and outs of this game will be over analyzed, but when push comes to shove it is one game. By no means can you get a barometer of two teams in one game. The only thing that can be said with any certainty is that Jake Arrieta is very good and no team was going to beat him last night. Unfortunately this is a situation all too familiar to Pirate fans as Madison Bumgarner did the exact same thing last year.
This pretty much sums up the cruelness of a Wild Card game.
The good thing is that the Pirates like the Cubs are set up for long term success. So this probably is just the beginning of what will become a fun three way rivalry between the Cards, Cubs and Buccos. All three have a great chance of being playoff teams next year.
To take my mind off the game my buddy and I came up with a cool game centered around cards that I'll share sometime in the next few days.
Thanks for reading!
I can relate and fortunately I can say I feel the same way about the way the Yankees season just ended.
ReplyDeleteIt is the abruptness of everything. You hang on to every game during the season....and its gone!
DeleteI agree with you 100%. Gone in a flash doesn't seem to be the best way to ensure the 'better' team advances. Anyone can have a bad night(or a really great one).
DeleteArrieta has been amazing so it would have taken some luck for us to beat him. The Cubs should have started Lester. That would have been much easier. We could have stole our way to a win.
DeleteMan, imagine how crazy the NL Central race would've been this year if the Astros were still in it (note, I haven't looked at win-loss records so I don't know if they'd be in the race).
ReplyDeleteThe Astros would have finished double digits games behind the Cubs! But yeah, it would have made things even more interesting and we would have had arguably the greatest division ever.
DeleteAs the first team to ever lose the wild card game in the most agonizing way possible I feel your pain man. We won 96 games to the Devils 86 that year too I hate this format so much, every single game of 162 is part of a SERIES and it all comes to one GAME. should be best 2 out of 3 at least and NLDS needs to be 7 games.
ReplyDeleteI think most people agree it should be 3 games but the hard part is making it work. If you play 3 you have the division winners sitting around forever. The whole idea of the wildcard is to reward division winners so it may be tough to extend....
DeleteOne thing we can all agree upon is - we hate the cardinalls
DeleteI don't like any team that has fans that appoint themselves "the best in baseball."
DeleteThe reward depends on perspective as well. The extra rest could benefit the division winner if they're a bit banged up at the end of the season. I can see how it could go the other way with too much rest.
DeleteI'm pretty sure baseball would be against anything that makes the division winners wait even longer. I know Theo Epstein talked about making the first two games a doubleheader, but that would open up a lot of other issues about the competitive balance of the game.
DeleteOne thing we can all agree upon is - we hate the cardinalls
DeleteHa! It can be send enough.
DeleteI like the three game idea. And yes, it can't be said enough, "We hate the Cardinals."
DeleteThe only problem is 3 games is a lot easier said then done. You have to compensate for rain delays and figure out the logistics if you change cities. All this effects the division winners.
DeleteI think it just reinforces the reputation of the postseason as a crap-shoot. Doesn't matter how good a team was in 162 games, the postseason will kill its heroes.
ReplyDeleteIf someone told you 5 years ago that the Pirates would make the playoffs three years straight, I bet you'd be happy with that.
It is cold comfort, for sure, but they are a great team and will be in contention again next season.
I'm very happy about the status of the club. The loss yesterday was more of a gut punch than anything. The Cubs/Cards/Pirates are so evenly matched that these games could play out just about anyway possible.
DeleteI think it was Billy Beane who said that given 162 games you can figure a lot out and beat the system. No beating the playoff system. Short series can cause mayhem.
The Pirates are a damn good team,Matt.No worries,they'll be back at It next year,business as usual.
ReplyDeletePlayoffs are a fickle thing. The Wild Card game is just a tough situation and we've been stuck in it 3 years in a row.
DeleteHate the one-game wild card. It's a cynical gimmick used to draw fans and viewers and doesn't have anything to do with "who is best." It also gives the winner an advantage as they've had to play for their playoff lives during the final weeks of the regular season, and into the early playoff season, while the division leaders are sitting around and resting their starters. That's why, I think, there has been so many wild card teams in the World Series lately. The Cubs and Astros now have an advantage.
ReplyDeleteI'm just not sure what the best answer would be to fix the issues of the Wild Card. I was happy when they added the second Wild Card as it gave extra benefit to winning the division. I'm sure Cubs fans would have been royally pissed to miss the playoffs in the old system when their record was better than the NL West and East winners.
DeleteI have a feeling we will be stuck with 1 game for the foreseeable future. Any thought of adding games would be to the detriment of the division winners. The system just doesn't account for odd years like this where the best teams were all in the Central.
Suggestion: Three-game wild card, with all three games played in a single day.
ReplyDeleteI like that! An endurance battle. Jake Arrieta would probably throw 20 innings of shutout ball.
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