Weve been saying this all post season, and why I wont watch the WS. Mediocre Records Take Stage for World Series by Phil Mushnik For all the silly stats this postseason has thrown at our ears, eyes and what’s left of our stir-fried minds, there are some good ones no MLB-business-partnered network will touch. For example, in “Bottom Line” Bud Selig’s final days at the wheel, this World Series — even without ending in November — is a fitting farewell. It stars the Royals, with the AL’s fourth-best regular-season record, against the Giants, tied with the Pirates for the NL’s fourth-best mark. And in what amounts to not much more credible or telltale than a coin flip, each had to win a one-game postseason “series” to stay eligible to win the World Series. So in Selig’s final hours on the throne, let us reflect: Winning slightly more than half your games is plenty good enough to win the World Series. It used to be played between teams that had to win close to or more than two-thirds of their games — about 100 games (and when it was a 154-game season, too). Now? 83-to-88 wins will do it. Of course, money, most of it supplied by TV and eagerly counted by Selig — who then as now eagerly boasted of his financial prowess on behalf of the good and welfare of The Game — is responsible for the eroded significance of the regular season, playoffs, and, sigh, the World Series. And with the cooperation of late-October night weather and the two teams — neither won as many as 90 regular-season games — Selig will wrap it up before November.
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 12:17:00 +0000