SWC75
Bored Historian
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The history of shortened seasons is that the winners of the championships they produce tend to get taken seriously if they were a respected franchise that had a strong season. The Boston Red Sox won their fourth World Series of the decade. The Reds of 1919 are not regarded as the best team because the White Sox threw the series. The 1972 Athletics won the first of three straight titles. 1981 gave us a Dodger-Yankees World Series. The Braves won their only World Series of their 14-year run of divisional titles in 1995. In football, Joe Gibbs Redskins won 2 of their 3 Super Bowls after shortened seasons. In basketball, The Spurs won their first of five titles after a shortened season and so did LeBron James. In Hockey, the New Jersey Devils won the first of three Stanley Cups in eight years after a shortened season and the Chicago Blackhawks won their second of three in five years after another. And the key to those results is that those leagues largely retained their normal playoff format. Only MLB in 1981 and the NFL in 1982 didn’t. In baseball, the altered format prevented the Cincinnati Reds, who had the best record in the sport that year, from being in the playoffs. The second became irrelevant when the Redskins, with an 8-1 record, survived the expanded playoffs and won the Super Bowl anyway.
For that reason, I think that hockey and Basketball will have respected champions. Tampa Bay had the second best record in the NHL, (42-21-6, 92 points), and the Lakers, who had the third best record In the NBA, (52-19), seem the likely NBA winners, (Miami was a credible 44-29). The NFL is trying to play a season of normal length. I’m concerned that MLB’s expanding their playoffs to 16 teams, beginning with a best of 3 series in a sport where you are a different team depending on who is on the mound and what they have today and a sport where you can’t physically overpower the other team, is much more likely to get a champions that doesn’t seem like a credible champion.
I decided to keep track of the regular season won-loss records of the teams in the MLB playoffs and who advances and who does not to see what the likelihood of an unexpected champion with a mediocre record winning the World Series will be.
Dodgers 43-17
Rays 40-20
Padres 37-23
Athletics 36-24
Twins 36-24 eliminated by the Astros
Braves 35-25
Indians 35-25 eliminated by the Yankees
White Sox 35-25 eliminated by Athletics
Cubs 34-26 eliminated by Marlins
Yankees 33-27
Blue Jays 32-28 eliminated by the Rays
Marlins 31-29
Reds 31-29 eliminated by Braves
Cardinals 30-28 eliminated by the Padres
Astros 29-31
Brewers 29-31 eliminated by the Dodgers
Giants 29-31 no soup for you!
Comment: It could have been worse: the top three teams are still in it and the only team with a losing record is the Astros, who have bene perennial contenders in recent years. They won the championship in 2017 and were favored in last year’s World Series. Still, a champion with a losing record would look bad, especially with the recent sign-stealing scandal.
Second round match-ups:
Rays (40-20) vs. Yankees (33-27)
Athletics (36-24) vs. Astros (29-31)
Dodgers (43-17) vs. Padres (37-23)
Braves (35-25) vs. Marlins (31-29)
Comment: Any of the teams on the left would be regarded as a legitimate champion. A Yankees-Dodgers World Series would overwhelm any concerns. The Marlins have never lost a post-season series but are hardly a dynasty. A championship with their 31-29 record would not go down well.
For that reason, I think that hockey and Basketball will have respected champions. Tampa Bay had the second best record in the NHL, (42-21-6, 92 points), and the Lakers, who had the third best record In the NBA, (52-19), seem the likely NBA winners, (Miami was a credible 44-29). The NFL is trying to play a season of normal length. I’m concerned that MLB’s expanding their playoffs to 16 teams, beginning with a best of 3 series in a sport where you are a different team depending on who is on the mound and what they have today and a sport where you can’t physically overpower the other team, is much more likely to get a champions that doesn’t seem like a credible champion.
I decided to keep track of the regular season won-loss records of the teams in the MLB playoffs and who advances and who does not to see what the likelihood of an unexpected champion with a mediocre record winning the World Series will be.
Dodgers 43-17
Rays 40-20
Padres 37-23
Athletics 36-24
Twins 36-24 eliminated by the Astros
Braves 35-25
Indians 35-25 eliminated by the Yankees
White Sox 35-25 eliminated by Athletics
Cubs 34-26 eliminated by Marlins
Yankees 33-27
Blue Jays 32-28 eliminated by the Rays
Marlins 31-29
Reds 31-29 eliminated by Braves
Cardinals 30-28 eliminated by the Padres
Astros 29-31
Brewers 29-31 eliminated by the Dodgers
Giants 29-31 no soup for you!
Comment: It could have been worse: the top three teams are still in it and the only team with a losing record is the Astros, who have bene perennial contenders in recent years. They won the championship in 2017 and were favored in last year’s World Series. Still, a champion with a losing record would look bad, especially with the recent sign-stealing scandal.
Second round match-ups:
Rays (40-20) vs. Yankees (33-27)
Athletics (36-24) vs. Astros (29-31)
Dodgers (43-17) vs. Padres (37-23)
Braves (35-25) vs. Marlins (31-29)
Comment: Any of the teams on the left would be regarded as a legitimate champion. A Yankees-Dodgers World Series would overwhelm any concerns. The Marlins have never lost a post-season series but are hardly a dynasty. A championship with their 31-29 record would not go down well.
