Pennant Races vs. Wild Cards:
I keep hearing sportscasters eluding to the fact that the wild card is great because more teams are in the chase further into the season. Let’s take a look at how this shakes out with pennant races and wild cards. We will use 7 games or less behind as being in competition for pennants or wild cards. If a team is 7 games behind after the next to last Sunday of the season, they would still have a mathimatical shot at winning.
There are a total of 12 teams in all divisions who fit this criteria in the wild card chase. Not bad. But in the pennant race league, 22 teams are either at the top or within 7 games of it. So if we are talking about teams in contention, the wild card league has nothing on the pennant race league.
Furthermore, the pennant race league has the strength of pennant races; and the fact that the wild card league leaves the top 6 teams out of the equation. This shows the great advantage pennant races have with regard to the quality of the overall product.
Last Night’s Results:
NY 9 TB 5 (East); CLE 7 DET 2 (East); MIN 7 CHI 6 (West); SEA 2 LA 1 (10) (West); TEX 4 BOS 2 (Not Tier Schedule); OAK 9 KC 6 (NTS)
COL 1 CIN 0 (1st Tier); FLA 1 WAS 0 (East); PIT 9 HOU 0 (East); STL 5 LA 4 (West); SD 6 ARI 4 (West); NY 4 SF 3 (Not Tier); ATL 11 MIL 6 (NT); CHI 11 PHI 6 (NT)
East W L GB
- Tampa Bay 35 19 —
- New York 35 20 .5
- Boston 35 31 6
- Toronto 29 26 6.5
- Kansas City 18 18 8
- Detroit 19 19 8
- Cleveland 22 25 9.5
- Baltimore 13 43 23
West W L GB
- Minnesota 23 17 —
- Texas 23 20 1.5
- Oakland 23 20 1.5
- Los Angeles 27 27 3
- Chicago 18 22 5
- Seattle 17 29 9
East W L GB
- Atlanta 31 24 —
- Cincinnati 27 23 1.5
- Philadelphia 29 27 2.5
- Washington 28 27 3
- Florida 28 29 4
- New York 27 30 5
- Houston 18 25 7
- Pittsburgh 15 28 10
West W L GB
- Los Angeles 36 22 —
- San Diego 35 24 1.5
- Colorado 32 27 4.5
- St. Louis 26 23 5.5
- Chicago 27 26 6.5
- San Francisco 24 24 7
- Milwaukee 24 27 8.5
- Arizona 19 41 18