Yankees and Red Sox Tie, Title Decided Stupidly

Regular readers will by now be familiar with the general contempt in which this journal holds the owners and bureaucrats of Major League Baseball. The great American pastime, as perfect an afternoon’s sport as can be imagined, is in the hands of the criminally stupid. The latest proof of this comes in the way the American League Eastern Division title went to the New York Yankees (95 wins and 67 losses) rather than the Boston Red Sox (95 wins and 67 losses) – a foolish comparison of head-to-head play.

Granted, the American League uses the designated hitter rule, and therefore, doesn’t really count as real baseball. And the Boston-New York rivalry doesn’t mean a thing to most of the nation that proudly and gladly resides west of the Hudson River or south of the Molly Pitcher Service Area of the New Jersey Turnpike. And the World Series is likely to be won by the St. Louis Cardinals, who should need only 5 games to take whatever side wins the American League pennant. However, sporting justice delayed is – pretty common really.

In a sane society that takes its sport seriously, two teams that finish the season at the top of the standings with identical records would play one another, either one game, or a two of three, or something. But no, the “for profit” Lords of Baseball decided that, since both teams would go to the play-offs anyway thanks to the also-stupid wild card rule, the division title could be decided by comparing the records of the Red Sox and the Yankees over the season, which favored the Yankees 10 games won to Boston’s 8. So why play another game to determine the title?

Because it is the TITLE, dear baseball owners. If the title were on the line, given the hype of this rivalry, could more tickets be sold? Could more advertising revenue come in for the broadcast of the sudden death match? Over in England, Chelsea and Liverpool played to a scoreless draw in the Champion’s League on Wednesday, but did that detract from the interest in Sunday’s game where the same sides played for Premiership points? No, if anything, it enhanced it. And the fact that Chelsea won 4-1 had nothing to do with the point being made with an example from English soccer.

Oddly, the wild card teams in the last three years have been the World Series winners -- Boston last year, Florida in 2003, and the California Angels in 2002 (and the team can change its name to Anaheim Angels or the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim or whatever else, but they left Los Angeles in 1965, and they play in Anaheim, and they really shouldn’t be ashamed of that). So, have the nonsensical tie-breaker rules given the Red Sox a better shot at a successful defense of their World Series title? Well, the Yankees have to fly to California to start their series against the Angels of wherever they call home, while Boston has an easier commute to play the White Sox in Chicago, a team that went into a tailspin at the end of the season. Perhaps, it’s just as well that the Red Sox and Yankees didn’t play for the title – losing offered better prospects, and that’s a recipe for bad play.

© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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