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Hank Steinbrenner Whining Again!

Migrant Redbird

By Migrant Redbird
in MLB

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Migrant Redbird All-Star

Migrant Redbird

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Hank Steinbrenner has some issues with playoff system

“… If you want to talk about things that infuriate me about the game today, revenue sharing doesn’t top the list. The biggest problem is the divisional setup in major league baseball. I didn’t like it in the 1970s, and I hate it now. Baseball went to a multidivision setup to create more races, rivalries and excitement. But it isn’t fair. You see it this season, with plenty of people in the media pointing out that Joe Torre and the Dodgers are going to the playoffs while we’re not. This is by no means a knock on Torre — let me make that clear—but look at the division they’re in. If L.A. were in the A.L. East, it wouldn’t be in the playoff discussion. The A.L. East is never weak.”

“Go back to the 2006 season. St. Louis winning the World Series — that was ridiculous. The Cardinals won their division with 83 wins — two fewer than the Phillies, who missed the postseason. People will say the Cardinals were the best team because they won the World Series. Well, no, they weren’t. They just got hot at the right time. They didn’t even belong in the playoffs. And neither does a team from the N.L. West this season.”

“The divisional setup is not right by any definition of logic. But the sports media rarely deals with logic —s o you never read about this.”

Well, if the "better team" always won, there would be no reason for having a post season at all, would there, Hank?

Divisional playoffs and wild cards keep a lot more teams in the post season hunt into late September, making most late season games "meaningful" in one aspect or another and sustaining the attendance and broadcast ratings which enable most owners like Hank to make a profit on their billion dollar investments. (OK, not all MLB teams have reached the billion dollar value yet, but the Yankees have.)

Teams which finish first in their divisions go, regardless of record. It's always been that way from the beginning. If you want to avoid the appearance of weak divisions, put a stop to interdivisional and interleague play. The Cubs and Cardinals would square off thirty-some times per season and the Yankees would have nearly 40 games with the [usually] hapless Rays. Ratings would be way off, but at least the "right" teams would make it into the post season.

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Mackus Hangout Grand Counsel

Mackus

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Curious what ol Hank has to say about the Yankees' 2000 championship.

You know, the one where NYY won the ALE with 87 wins (fewest of any postseason team that year), while the Indians had 90 wins and stayed home.

I wish one of the reporters who follow the Yankees would ask him this.
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DrungoHazewood Hangout Grand Counsel

DrungoHazewood

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The guy is really a joke.

I just wish he was more in charge of the baseball operations and not just the public figurehead.

He is a joke, but in this case he's absolutely right. The way the regular season, playoffs, and schedule are set up you're going to have situations almost every year where:

- The best team doesn't win. That's about a 80% certainty. More some years.

- The top eight teams don't make the playoffs, it'll be more like 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 11, 15.

- Regular season championships don't mean anything, and the regular season is reduced to seeding the playoffs.

- The concept of a pennant means little when an 83-win team is the league champ and a 105-win team gets to hang a little banner saying they won the division.

Divisional play was an ok idea with a balanced schedule. The World Series made sense when there were two competing leagues.

But what we have now is a mishmash of uneven schedules, uneven divisions, and uneven leagues working under the assumption that they're all even.

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Mackus Hangout Grand Counsel

Mackus

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He is a joke, but in this case he's absolutely right. The way the regular season, playoffs, and schedule are set up you're going to have situations almost every year where:

- The best team doesn't win. That's about a 80% certainty. More some years.

- The top eight teams don't make the playoffs, it'll be more like 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 11, 15.

- Regular season championships don't mean anything, and the regular season is reduced to seeding the playoffs.

- The concept of a pennant means little when an 83-win team is the league champ and a 105-win team gets to hang a little banner saying they won the division.

Divisional play was an ok idea with a balanced schedule. The World Series made sense when there were two competing leagues.

But what we have now is a mishmash of uneven schedules, uneven divisions, and uneven leagues working under the assumption that they're all even.

I like that you have to both win in the long run to make the playoffs and win in the short run to win the WS. If you wanted to have the best team win every year, then don't have any playoffs. That would suck, IMO.

I'd be all for the balanced schedule (with the exception of interleague) but keep the divisions set up the way they are.

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Maverick2143 Major Leaguer Cup of Coffee

Maverick2143

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I guess it is sorta unfair, kinda like it is unfair to have the team with the highest payroll in baseball spend 70 million more the 2nd highest. Especially since that 70 million dollar gap is more than 33% of teams spend on their entire payrolls. Including the team that knocked the Yankees off their throne, which by the way the Yankees outspent by 166 million. Another fun fact is that is that everyone in the AL East not named the Yankees had a combined payroll of $343,098,840 the Yankees only spent 61% of that. So the Yankees only spend 39% less than all of the other teams in the division combined. It's just so very unfair.

Hank running the ship in NY can mean nothing but good things for everyone else.

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davearm All-Star

davearm

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He is a joke, but in this case he's absolutely right. The way the regular season, playoffs, and schedule are set up you're going to have situations almost every year where:

- The best team doesn't win. That's about a 80% certainty. More some years.

- The top eight teams don't make the playoffs, it'll be more like 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 11, 15.

- Regular season championships don't mean anything, and the regular season is reduced to seeding the playoffs.

- The concept of a pennant means little when an 83-win team is the league champ and a 105-win team gets to hang a little banner saying they won the division.

Divisional play was an ok idea with a balanced schedule. The World Series made sense when there were two competing leagues.

But what we have now is a mishmash of uneven schedules, uneven divisions, and uneven leagues working under the assumption that they're all even.

It's OK if the best team doesn't win.

It's also OK if we expect that the best team probably won't win.

Doesn't diminish anything IMO. In fact that's the essence of why the postseason is exciting in the first place.

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ledzepp8 Hangout Grand Counsel

ledzepp8

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It pains me to say that he does have a point (I just wish it wasn't him making it), but coming from him it just sounds like sour grapes. The Yankees have always been the strongest team financially, they have won 26 WS, they have the highest payroll in baseball by a VERY LARGE margin, they had been to the playoffs 13 straight years, and he just comes off sounding like a little ***** because he couldn't buy another post season birth while the team with the minuscule payroll kicked their asses all season. Get a life Hank, or better yet keep doing stupid things because while I would love the O's to become good again, it's not quite as hard when the Yankees of the 200+ million dollar payroll fail to make the playoffs.

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