Poll: How should World Series home field advantage be determined?
by hip2bsquare on Jul 16, 2008 11:36 AM CDT
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PrintWell, my fellow Cubs fans, once again the American League has won the All-Star Game. (Ugh.) Which means that, once again, the AL's entrant in the World Series will have home-field advantage. And, once again, everybody is asking the same question: is this a fair arrangement? That's an especially pertinent question this season, as many playoff contenders - the Cubs included - are struggling to win on the road.
It's easy to call for the end of the "This Time it Counts" experiment, but then again, what's a better system? Should baseball go back to having home field advantage alternate between the two leagues? Or should it be determined by the two participants' won-lost record? Maybe a steel cage death match between the two owners? I'll leave it to you all to decide.
This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of SB Nation or Al Yellon, managing editor (unless it's a FanPost posted by Al). FanPost opinions are valued expressions of opinion by passionate and knowledgeable baseball fans.
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No perfect system...
...but I like to give it to the team with the best overall record. Sure, one leage may be stronger than the other, but we are now including interleague games which helps balance that just a bit.
I hate the current system, and any other system that does not include how a team does over the grueling 162 game stretch.
"I don't like them fellas that drive in two runs but let in three" Casey Stengel
Cage match? Of course it works.
If it didn’t work, everyone would still be in the cage.
I'm thinking you weren't burdened with an overabundance of schooling, so why don't we just ignore each other til we go away.
by neverAcquiesce on Jul 16, 2008 12:05 PM CDT up reply actions
Whatcha gonna do, brother?!
I'm thinking you weren't burdened with an overabundance of schooling, so why don't we just ignore each other til we go away.
by neverAcquiesce on Jul 16, 2008 12:26 PM CDT up reply actions
OMG
I saw Hogan and King Kong Bundy right when I was a kid at the Rosmont Horizon for the belt. It was the best fight I ever saw. I was in awe!
I haz blurg: hotbeans.wordpress.com
by digitalbenjamin on Jul 16, 2008 4:56 PM CDT up reply actions
I saw Hogan there
....but dont know if that was the fight, but I dont it.
Anyways, I still remember when my Dad had the binoculars and kept saying how they were talking to each other and it wasnt real. My Dad = The Man.
"Hey.....Cubs win!!!" ---Harry
"Swung on belted!!!"---Chip
League That Wins Interleague Play
If Selig is to believed (maybe, he’s full of it), MLB needs to know well ahead of time which league has home field advantage to make hotel reservations. We know in July which league has won interleague play. Because of the “hotel reservation” issue (legitimate or not), the overall winner in interleague play should determine which league gets the advantage.
"The big possum walks late." - Harry Caray
Huh?
They don’t know which cities are necessarily in the playoffs until a few days before. Who would have had reservations in Philly or Denver last October, if they had booked in July?
Sounds Like Baloney to Me, Too
I don’t know if I can believe Selig or not about this. As pointed out by others, the NBA doesn’t need to know well ahead of time what conference will get home court advantage in the finals. The Celtics got home court advantage because of overall record. The “hotel reservation” thing seems pretty weak.
"The big possum walks late." - Harry Caray
Exactly.
It has been pointed out that October is a heavy convention time of year and many hotel rooms are hard to get at short notice.
But I fail to see how, with many teams still in playoff contention, how knowing the home dates per league right now makes one bit of difference.
"That's my opinion and if you don't like it, well, I have others." ~ Groucho Marx
True
Those conventions are planned years in advance with large blocks of rooms already reserved. 60-90 days is not going to change much other than blocking fans who are not already booking rooms.
This was covered in another thread
Selig is full of it.
The minute the regular season ends, you book hotels in all eight cities. In seven of the cities, you book for four nights of World Series (the playoff team with the worst record has no shot at getting home field)
As the matchups play out, you cancel ONE night.
And who exactly does MLB have to book for? The media and fans make their own arrangements. And one of the teams gets to sleep in their own beds. They are booking for the visiting team and the assorted MLB officials.
I fail to see how the NBA and NHL manage this, but baseball can’t.
Think of how stupid the average person is, and remember, half of them are stupider than that!
In fact...
You can book even earlier. As soon as a team clinches, book the hotels.
Think of how stupid the average person is, and remember, half of them are stupider than that!
you make it sound like this is the most obvious thing in the world
and what I learn from your post and everyone elses posts in this forum, the obvious thing is that there is no solution because no matter what people are going to complain. So it should just go back to the way the rest of the world does home field advantage, best record
"This balls got a chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannce, GONE!" - Pat Hughes
by SouthsideCUBSfan on Jul 16, 2008 6:20 PM CDT up reply actions
I liked the previous system
I know that in other sports it is the team with the best overall record, but for some reason I always liked the alternating from year to year.
They call me MISTER Fukudome!
+1
It worked before, so why not now?
"Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball." - Jacque Barzun
by Bump Bailey on Jul 16, 2008 10:37 PM CDT up reply actions
I'd go back to best overall record.
The ASG is just so…chaotic. It hardly seems a fair contest on which to base what could be a huge factor in this season’s Fall classic.
Nanika Ga Okoru!
Good point
Why cant they (mlb) just accept the all star for what it is; an exhibition/celebration of the game, the other leagues dont seem to have a problem with that. The NFL pro bowl is an after thought, I personally dont even know anyone who watches it…the NBA game is a defenseless joke, and from what Ive heard teh NHL might do away with theirs completely, like theyre forced to every four years b/c of the Olympics.
So I dont think Bud should try and make more out of this than what it is, youre giving away home field advantage, and the all star starters dont even make it past the 4th inning, so the games are decided by players, in some instances, are only all stars b/c every team needs to be represented.
Okay, just so I understand it... in your wildest fantasy, you are in hell. And you are co-running a bed and breakfast with the devil.
Because interleague has taken its specialness away
so they need to jazz it up somehow. I don’t hate interleague, but it is exactly the same as having your cake and eating it too. I’m already full by the time the ASG dessert is ready.
''Listen, losing Soriano is no box of chocolates.'' ~Lou Piniella
The old system
The old system worked for zillions of years why not just use that?
Go Cubs
by puckishcubsfan on Jul 16, 2008 12:07 PM CDT reply actions
or at least 93 years
"There are no curses here...Games are won and lost on the baseball field" - Lou Piniella
I like the random--and yet, at the same time, not random--method of annually rotating between the leagues
''Listen, losing Soriano is no box of chocolates.'' ~Lou Piniella
Voted for the same thing that I did
Guess I posted it too soon
by Shanghai Badger on Jul 16, 2008 12:38 PM CDT reply actions
Sorry, I missed that one
Even though you posted it on my birthday!
Still, it’s good to revisit the question now that the All-Star Game has passed.
"I see great things in baseball. It's our game - the American game." - Walt Whitman
by hip2bsquare on Jul 16, 2008 12:44 PM CDT up reply actions
No need to apologize -- not accusing you of a double post.
If anything, I’ve just been lamenting for the last few days that it didn’t get legs.
I really should have waited. Maybe mid to late May would have gotten more attention, once the Cubs started playing well.
Vote A.L. scrubs in ‘09!
by Shanghai Badger on Jul 16, 2008 12:50 PM CDT up reply actions
I would like to see the team
with the overall record have home field but I really don’t have a problem with the ASG determining this.
A baseball game is simply a nervous breakdown divided into nine innings. ~Earl Wilson
Have to say though
that while I vote for the “best overall record”, I don’t think I would have lasted as long as I did last night if there wasn’t something riding on the outcome.
I really don't understand MLB's logic
In saying that it cannot be done by best overall records of the World Series team because of hotel and travel considerations. If the NBA can do it that way for the NBA Finals, MLB should be able to do the same for the World Series. Is there some unique factor in baseball that is not present in basketball that I am overlooking here?
Idea
Make the players sell boxes of candy like we had to in little league. Whichever league sells the most, wins home-field. Simple!!
"Please move away from this vector and get into another coordinate pronto. There's no access for you in this quadrant." Mike Donnelly
Or those caramel ones.
Mmm…
I'm thinking you weren't burdened with an overabundance of schooling, so why don't we just ignore each other til we go away.
by neverAcquiesce on Jul 16, 2008 3:25 PM CDT up reply actions
I like the All-Star game method.
I think that if the role was reversed and the NL won the last 10 or whatever games, everyone on here would vote for the All-Star game as the best method.
However, I think that it needs fixed. If it is going to count as much as it does, do not give the fans so much say so. Players like Fukudome and Varitek did not belong on the team let alone the starting lineup.
Another thing they need to fix is the rule that each team must be represented by a player. Sometimes teams like the Pirates do not have an All-Star on the team. If it means home field advantage for the WS then put the best possible players on the field.
Bleeding Cubbie Blue since 1985.
If the current method is kept...
(Which I don’t like), then I agree that something needs to be done about who plays. There is no reason Dan Uggla should be having a say in what team gets home field advantage by booting balls and waving at crappy pitches. Sure, Fukudome looked just as bad at the plate, but at least he was determining the fate of his own team.
News flash, everyone
The Cubs have not, repeat, have not been assured a World Series berth.
Objectively, the system stinks. To polly’s point, the Marlins could make it to the post season.
by Shanghai Badger on Jul 16, 2008 5:41 PM CDT up reply actions
Best Overall Record
Why play the whole “championship” season if home field is to be determined by anything other than a team’s won-loss record? All other methods are outside a team’s control (the All-Star game is an exhibition game, after all) and hence arbitrary, which is profoundly counter to the essential competitive nature of sport. Geez, next MLB might want to start awarding “participant” ribbons to the teams whose “win-challenged” records kept them out of the playoffs. Or perhaps all the non-playoff teams could play a single elimination tournament for the last playoff spot in each league. Geez …..
If It Takes Forever ....
Wait ... Here's the Solution!
Why doesn’t MLB just completely screw this up and, like the Super Bowl in the NFL, play the World Series on a pre-determined neutral site! Boy, Selig could ruin things for everybody this way! I’m shocked he hasn’t thought of this already!
If It Takes Forever ....
I would've made "neutral site" an option in the poll...
...if I had thought it was even possible for that to be a practical, desirable option. Then again, “This Time it Counts” hasn’t exactly been practical or desirable, either.
"I see great things in baseball. It's our game - the American game." - Walt Whitman
Agree
Practical, Desirable Option does not describe “neutral site” or “This Time It Counts”. Bud could get all his hotel reservations squared away though, with a neutral site. Isn’t this all about what easiest for Bud and MLB anyway?
If It Takes Forever ....
Not necessarily easiest
Just what means the most $$$$$$.
"I see great things in baseball. It's our game - the American game." - Walt Whitman
Other
Team post-seventh-inning ERA divided by total number of home runs hit by league representatives in the home run derby, multiplied by weight of entire coaching staff, multiplied by number of letters in last name of the catcher with the most starts, divided by year in which home stadium was buit, multiplied by number of nuts in an Almond Joy. Team with the highest digit as the last number of the result gets home field. If last digits are the same, flip Bud Selig’s favorite dress shoe (the left one). If it lands on its side, NL. If it lands on the sole, AL.
..."multiplied by number of letters in last name of the catcher with the most starts"...
If there’s ever a Cubs-Rangers World Series, we’re in trouble. (Soto vs Saltalmacchia)
"I see great things in baseball. It's our game - the American game." - Walt Whitman
I think the AS game thing was a good idea
But it’s just not fair.
"Check the magic of a winning season and there are always reasons beyond the talent." Ned Colleti
by wrigleyrocker12 on Jul 16, 2008 4:35 PM CDT reply actions
Yea I liked the idea initially until the NL decided to NEVER win
and it gets more aggrevating now because the Cubs have a shot…. o well
"This balls got a chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannce, GONE!" - Pat Hughes
by SouthsideCUBSfan on Jul 16, 2008 6:21 PM CDT up reply actions
Go to Vegas ...
.... if you want games of chance. In baseball, let the best team, based upon their regular season record, host each successive playoff round. That’s the method now, with the exception of the World Series. It’s time for the World Series home field to again be determined in the same way, as has been the historical norm.
If It Takes Forever ....
I was mostly joking
but isn’t that still how they figure out who gets home field for tiebreaker games?
Best record should determine.
This is so obvious except to Bud Selig. He wanted to make the ALG count, but apparently nobody told the managers, because every year they try to squeeze every player in and that’s why Tuesday night they ran out of pitchers. So, in the end, Bud’s asinine idea couldn’t prevent that.
it’s an exhibition game, Bud. It’s not supposed to count except for fun. Get a life and accept it, Bud!
Jees, 70% for the OBVIOUS solution
but of course bud light has to come in there and make an even bigger ass of himself after the 2002 game in cheese/beer/brat-land.
I do state that it could be worse. Gary Bettman could be baseball’s commish. So all you other die hard Cubbie fans, consider yourself a “little luckier”. I have to deal with that dumb-ass NBA reject for my Blackhawks.
Sweet Lou for Mayor in '11.
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