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Wild about the Card This year's best races have nothing to do with divisionsPosted: Monday August 11, 2003 12:11 PM
One sure way to get a baseball purist ranting and frothing at his false teeth is to bring up the wild card. Well, ranting is what we're here for. Heck, if we're not doing it, the least we can do is prompt a little of it. The truth is, where would we all be without the wild card? What kind of intrigue does late August, or September, hold without the prospect of a juicy wild-card showdown, especially this year? Your neighborhood purist can wail all he wants about the wild card and how it's bastardized the game. In fact, it's awfully hard to stop him … In the old days, you know, a team had to earn its way into the postseason. In the old days, dag nab it, a team actually had to win its division to play in October.
John Burkett and Bill Swift each won 20 games. Rod Beck had 48 saves. But remember? Remember? The freaking Atlanta Braves won 104 games that season. The Giants didn't even make the postseason. Back in those days, if you weren't good enough to win your division, you weren't good enough to play for the World Series, I tell you. Baltimore won 100 games in '80. Didn't make it. Detroit, 101 back in 1961, before that stupid division play began. The Tigers sat and watched the thing. The Yankees won 103 in '54 but finished eight games back so, forget it. They weren't going. Yep. Those were the good old days. I miss them … Well, since then, since 1995 when all-knowing Commissioner Bud Selig helped push through the wild card, baseball has obviously gone to pot. We've not only had four wild-card teams in the World Series -- including both the Anaheim Angels and the Giants last season -- we've had two of them (the Angels and '97 Florida Marlins) win the darn thing. (The other wild-card World Series team was the 2000 New York Mets.) And some say the wild-card teams aren't good enough? Purists will try to convince you of how the whole product is diluted now that four teams in each league make it into the postseason. But these same hardheads will skim over the fact that more layers of postseason play -- the division series, the championship series in each league -- means it's harder than ever to get to the World Series. Things change, you know? No one's seen a drop kick lately in the NFL. Tiger's not playing with wooden shafts. Did you hear? They lowered the mound back in '68. The wild card is part of the natural evolution of the game. It works, in every way. So, if you haven't already, get over it. And take a look at this year's whopper of a wild-card showdown …
American LeagueDivision leaders: Yankees, Royals, Mariners. Wild-card wannabes: Boston Red Sox, Oakland A's, Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins. No one in the Central has a better record than the Red Sox or A's, or probably will have, which means the wild card is not likely to come out of there. That leaves four teams -- New York, Boston, Seattle and Oakland -- that will battle for three spots, the East and West titles and the wild card. Wild-card calls: Seattle and Oakland still have six games against each other in late September. New York and Boston also have six more, in late August and early September. We like the Yankees, as a better all-around team, to win the East and the Mariners, a team that faded last season, to hold on for the West crown. That leaves the Red Sox and A's battling for the wild card. The Red Sox have the better hitting, the A's the better pitching. So we'll pick the A's, but not by much. We'll know a lot more about this in a week or so. The A's and Red Sox play seven times in the next 10 days.
National LeagueDivision leaders: Braves, Astros, Giants. Wild-card wannabes: Philadelphia Phillies, Florida Marlins, Arizona Diamondbacks, St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers, Colorado Rockies, Montreal Expos. The Braves and Giants have their divisions wrapped up, so every other decent team in those two divisions, the East and West, has wild-card dreams. Eight teams, in all, are within 5 ½ games of the wild-card lead. Wild-card calls: We're gonna eliminate the Dodgers, Rockies and Expos right off the bat. Those teams all have glaring weaknesses. They may not even finish .500. Next, we'll pick a Central winner so we can ID the wild-card possibles. Right now, the Central is a three-way among the Astros, Cards and Cubs. If Roy Oswalt is healthy, we really like the Astros to stay on top. If not, it's closer. On the other hand, neither the Cards nor Cubs have impressed, so even though the Cubs play a ton of losing teams down the stretch, we'll stick with the Astros. That leaves the Cards and Cubs from the Central, the Phillies and Marlins from the East and the West division's Diamondbacks. As we said, the Cards and Cubs haven't impressed so … see ya. We're down to the Phils, Fish and D'backs. It's hard to go against Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson, but Arizona has seven games left against the Giants (the D'backs are 2-10 vs. S.F.), seven with L.A. (6-6) and six against Colorado (6-7). Plus big series against Atlanta, the Cubs and St. Louis. Sorry. So, between Philly and Florida … the Marlins are 9-4 against the Phillies, they have six more to play against them and they're hot, going 15-7 since the break (the Phils are 12-13 in that time). We like their rotation, the pen and maybe even the lineup better than Philly's. Florida's on the road a lot down the stretch, but we like the Marlins as a wild card. It's a close one this season, with lots of starry eyes out there still. As for true baseball fans, this could be downright exciting in the next few weeks. Even a purist would have to say so.
• Since hitting for the cycle on June 29, Oakland's Eric Byrnes is 9-for-90 without a multi-hit game. He was 7-for-74 in July. His average has plummeted from .336 to .274. Sometimes, the stats say it all. • Nice to have Shigetoshi Hasegawa (10 saves, 10 chances, an 0.66 ERA) around when Kazuhiro Sasaki is not. • Larry Bowa, on slugger Pat Burrell and his struggles at the plate (with a smile): "I don't know if it's killing him like it's killing me." • Since returning from his suspension on May 30 for using a corked bat, Sammy Sosa has 22 home runs, which is an many as Barry Bonds has. For whatever that's worth to you.
This week, a little something on closers, on trades, on the Yankees and a rant on the Coors Field effect … Most intelligent Yankee fans I know absolutely hated that deal [sending the Reds' Aaron Boone to the Yankees] and were dreaming of the good old days when Fay Vincent was around to suspend Steinbrenner's butt. George has the Yankees headed toward 1989-1992 again, bankrupting the farm system while adding more and more bad contracts. That's not how the Yankees won their four recent championships. Personally, I'd trade Boone back to the Reds for Claussen in a N.Y. minute. I'd even give the miser running the Reds a bit more of George's money. George may have forgotten how the championships were won, but Yankee fans absolutely haven't. We don't want to see the Yankees join the Knicks, Rangers and Mets in big-market sport franchise hell. -- Matt Carnicelli Boone isn't exactly tearing it up in New York yet, either, which is another reason to hate this trade. Still, an upgrade is an upgrade, and this probably does make the Yankees better for now. As far as the long run? You're right. George and the Yankees weren't looking long-term on this one at all. Being a diehard Cardinal fan and following Albert Pujols' quest for the Triple Crown, I feel the need to bash Pujols' greatest obstacle this year: Coors Field. It's a shame that a good (not great) ballplayer who plays for the Rockies his entire career could well end up with Hall-of-Fame numbers, but nothing close to that if he played at sea level all along. In terms of actual player talent, I don't see how any Colorado batter should even be considered for an All-Star Game or any similarly significant honor. The park makes a mockery of baseball and skews stats dramatically -- as if that was news. I know Pujols won't win the Triple Crown, and probably not even the RBI title due mostly to the existence of that baseball mecca in Denver. And I'm fine with that. Put Pujols in Colorado for a year and I bet he hits that magic .400 mark. But you know what? I'd rather watch a great player play great no matter where he is. -- Will Grapperhaus, Louisville, Ky. Sorry, Will, I couldn't get your whole e-mail in here. But your point is made. Without Coors, would Preston Wilson have 112 RBIs (through Sunday)? Would Todd Helton have 96? Would Helton be nipping at Pujols' heels with his .356 average? Probably not. In the end, though, as far as Pujols' bid for the Triple Crown goes, it's probably all moot. Pujols may not have the stuff to win the home run crown, and it's not anyone in Colorado that will take it from him. It'll probably be that guy in San Francisco. I think you have been saying the aging Giants now for about 10 years. Did you say the same thing about the Jason Schmidt trade? We're all aging, John. Go Giants. Had to call ya on this one. -- John Apostoli The Giants are a little creaky, you have to admit. As for me, I stopped aging when I hit 35. Maybe I misread your article when I read it, which obviously is bound to happen from time to time. However, I feel labeling Smoltz, Gagne, and Wagner as the best trio of closers of all time is dismissive to many of the game's great closers. Case in point: Mariano Rivera, arguably the best postseason reliever in history (can you tell I am partial to the Yanks?). The man is 6-1, ERA of 0.79 in cumulative postseason play, with only 12 walks in 53 innings pitched. Also, the 264 career saves don't hurt much, either. Don't get me wrong: The three aforementioned closers are great ones, and Smoltz is very quickly establishing himself as one of the most devastating closers in history in quite the Eckersliorian fashion. But I think, with the exception of Wagner, neither Smoltz nor Gagne has proven themselves for at least five years in the bullpen. Give them two more years of putting up these numbers, and then, we can talk about the most intimidating closers of all time. -- Kevin T. Howard, New Britain, Conn. A few people missed the idea behind the Smoltz, Gagne and Wagner thing. This wasn't to say that they're the best three of all time. It was just saying that they may be the best three to ever be in one league at the same time. I realize you mentioned him in your article but it's worth reiterating -- don't forget that the single best closer of all time (in terms of efficiency) has been on the sidelines all year -- Trevor Hoffman. He could easily be added to your "best trio" to make quite a quartet! And the good news is he might be back by September (to save all those critical Padres wins down the stretch?) -- Brian Gallaway Well, let's not get into that … Your argument is almost solely based on the number of saves these guys may or may not accumulate. I think most people agree the save is an overrated, artificial stat, the nature of which has been subject to change over the years. I'd take the 1977 National League threesome of Rollie Fingers, Goose Gossage and Bruce Sutter over Gagne, Smoltz, and Wagner in a heartbeat. Gossage went 11-9 with 26 saves and a 1.62 ERA in 133 innings while striking out 151. I wonder if even two of your guys will throw as many innings or strike out as many. Sutter was 7-2, 31 saves, 1.34 ERA, 129 K's in 107 innings. Fingers was the slacker. He was 8-9 with 35 saves and only a 2.99 ERA. He whiffed 119 in 132 innings. Still, he's in the Hall of Fame and we can probably cut him some slack on the ERA. We can safely say relief pitching ain't what it used to be. Gossage, Sutter and Fingers didn't wait around for a custom-made, ninth-inning save situation. They came in with the game on the line, regardless of the inning. I personally believe the seasons Gossage and Sutter had in '77 have been lost to baseball history because they don't have the gaudy, artificial save numbers of contemporary pitchers. Give me a guy with 130 innings, mostly in clutch situations with runners on or having to go three innings for a save over the pampered closers coming in with no one on and a three run lead in the ninth any day. -- Jim Lonier Agreed. It's hard comparing these pampered closers to those in the past. But you can't blame these guys. That's the game they play. And these three guys -- Smoltz, Gagne and Wagner -- do it just about as well as anyone could. OK, we can't fairly compare players of different eras, I'll give you that one. But all eras had jerks. We have Barry Bonds today, and Ty Cobb comes to mind as a jerk of Babe Ruth's era. There's more media scrutiny these days, to be sure. But some players can manage to not have a meltdown every time they get near a microphone. Bonds just isn't one of those players. -- Jim Galler, Stokesdale, N.C. Bonds does a great job of keeping his mouth shut most of the time. And then, when he does open it … Reference the "fire sale" in process (yes, it is not over til it is over, per Yogi!) by the Reds. Is it not ironic that after sticking the public taxpayers with the humongous bills for the new stadium that the owners all of a sudden get this penny-pinching urge to sell their mature players? I mean, if they are serious about saving payroll, why pay Larkin $9 million a year for two home runs and a pittance of RBIs? Next look at Griffey Jr. Why retain him if he is proven to be prone to simple injuries? I realize that Casey and Jr. did try to report in shape this year but, hey, man, it is too late after languishing for three to four years doing what feels good and costing the team many wins. -- S.G. Baker It's a mess in Cincinnati, plain and simple. That beautiful ballpark cost $350 million, or something around there. Somebody's due a refund. Just thought I would remind you that the Cardinals have the same record they had this time last year, and they won the Central with 97 wins. -- David White, Oak Hill, W. Va. Ah, but this is not that Cardinals team, is it? John Donovan is a senior writer for SI.com.
Comments? To e-mail Donovan, click here.
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The biggest mistake a player can make sometimes is opening his mouth. Raul Mondesi, stung after his trade from the Yankees to Arizona, made the moronic move of accusing the Yanks' Joe Torre, one of the most respected managers in the game, of racism. He said Torre treated both Mondesi and Yankees second baseman Alfonso Soriano differently because they are both from the Dominican Republic. Soriano immediately denied that he is treated differently, Yankees players ripped into Mondesi, Yanks GM Brian Cashman said Mondesi had "zero credibility" and allegations of too much partying by Mondesi quickly made the papers. This after Mondesi prompted the trade by leaving the stadium in a snit after Torre pinch-hit for him. Raul … shut up and play.
"To be honest, it didn't matter who we got back. The first priority was addition by subtraction."
