The year of PLayoff and Wild Card berths

skinnyhorse · Post by **skinnyhorse** » Thu Oct 25, 2018 12:02 am

1F323F2E29382F6F6C5D0 wrote: I wander how many people are going to check out because it's two Goliath's playing in the World Series?

Me? I'm watching the Sixers tonight.
I have no interest in the World Series.

No interest here.

DemDog · Post by **DemDog** » Thu Oct 25, 2018 12:40 am

283032353522333429283E5B0 wrote: I wander how many people are going to check out because it's two Goliath's playing in the World Series?

Me? I'm watching the Sixers tonight.
I have no interest in the World Series.

No interest here.

World Series? What World Series? I thought baseball season ended at the end of September. :'(

mouse · Post by **mouse** » Thu Oct 25, 2018 11:27 am

I think of this as the dark zone, or a dead period while we wait for the sixth day after the world series when free agency (and winter baseball activity) starts. I can't really complain about NH not doing anything this winter when technically, no one is permitted to do anything. But once day six gets here . . .

So I'm now pulling for Boston to win in four.

Bobster21 · Post by **Bobster21** » Thu Oct 25, 2018 12:15 pm

The Red Sox are the #1 spending team in MLB this year so they should win the World Series. It's only fair. The poor Dodgers are only the #3 largest payroll. And our Pirates are getting plenty of rest during the post season which should make Clint Hurdle very happy.

mouse · Post by **mouse** » Thu Oct 25, 2018 12:32 pm

Ah, and it does show that spending money isn't the solution, as the number two spending team apparently got aced out along the way.

Bobster21 · Post by **Bobster21** » Thu Oct 25, 2018 12:58 pm

5E5C464056330 wrote: Ah, and it does show that spending money isn't the solution, as the number two spending team apparently got aced out along the way.
Yes, MLB can proudly point to the Giants to prove that money doesn't buy championships and parity exists.

But it was nice to see some teams in the lower ranks of payroll involved in the post season. Oakland was #28 although they were 1 and done by NY (#6). The Brewers were #22 and they came within a game of going to the WS. Atlanta was #18 and they were 1 and done by LA (#3). So while its always encouraging to see a lower payroll team get in, the reality is that 7 of the 10 post season teams were in the upper half of MLB payrolls and the two finalists are in the top 3. Colorado (#13), Cleveland (#14) and Atlanta (#18) were all close to the MLB average. I think all anyone really asks of the Pirates is to approach the MLB average to have a decent chance. Hovering near the payroll bottom every year and aiming--as NH said this year--for 78-82 wins and hoping to somehow overachieve is not a formula for success.

SammyKhalifa · Post by **SammyKhalifa** » Thu Oct 25, 2018 1:20 pm

587578696E7F68282B1A0 wrote: Ah, and it does show that spending money isn't the solution, as the number two spending team apparently got aced out along the way.
Yes, MLB can proudly point to the Giants to prove that money doesn't buy championships and parity exists.

But it was nice to see some teams in the lower ranks of payroll involved in the post season. Oakland was #28 although they were 1 and done by NY (#6). The Brewers were #22 and they came within a game of going to the WS. Atlanta was #18 and they were 1 and done by LA (#3). So while its always encouraging to see a lower payroll team get in, the reality is that 7 of the 10 post season teams were in the upper half of MLB payrolls and the two finalists are in the top 3. Colorado (#13), Cleveland (#14) and Atlanta (#18) were all close to the MLB average. I think all anyone really asks of the Pirates is to approach the MLB average to have a decent chance. Hovering near the payroll bottom every year and aiming--as NH said this year--for 78-82 wins and hoping to somehow overachieve is not a formula for success.

I'd be willing to bet that TV contract dollars is the number 1 predictive "metric" for who gets into the playoffs.

I wish the 3/4ths of teams that can't do that year by year would have shown some guts the last time they had a chance to do something about this, and made the media agreement more like the NFL's. I mean nobody over there seems to be hurting for money.

Bobster21 · Post by **Bobster21** » Thu Oct 25, 2018 1:33 pm

6B5955554173505954515E59380 wrote: Ah, and it does show that spending money isn't the solution, as the number two spending team apparently got aced out along the way.
Yes, MLB can proudly point to the Giants to prove that money doesn't buy championships and parity exists.

But it was nice to see some teams in the lower ranks of payroll involved in the post season. Oakland was #28 although they were 1 and done by NY (#6). The Brewers were #22 and they came within a game of going to the WS. Atlanta was #18 and they were 1 and done by LA (#3). So while its always encouraging to see a lower payroll team get in, the reality is that 7 of the 10 post season teams were in the upper half of MLB payrolls and the two finalists are in the top 3. Colorado (#13), Cleveland (#14) and Atlanta (#18) were all close to the MLB average. I think all anyone really asks of the Pirates is to approach the MLB average to have a decent chance. Hovering near the payroll bottom every year and aiming--as NH said this year--for 78-82 wins and hoping to somehow overachieve is not a formula for success.

I'd be willing to bet that TV contract dollars is the number 1 predictive "metric" for who gets into the playoffs.

I wish the 3/4ths of teams that can't do that year by year would have shown some guts the last time they had a chance to do something about this, and made the media agreement more like the NFL's. I mean nobody over there seems to be hurting for money.

Yeah, the TV revenue is the driving force. But all NFL TV revenue is from the networks. Each network makes a deal with the NFL as a league, every broadcast is produced by the networks, and the money is equally divided. But MLB TV revenue is primarily what each team can negotiate with their local provider. Other than weekly ESPN and MLB Network broadcast, all game are produced locally. There's no incentive for teams like the Yankees and Dodgers to put the boatloads of money they get from their broadcast deals into one large pot and share it with teams like the Pirates who don't have a lot of TV revenue to add to the pot.

SammyKhalifa · Post by **SammyKhalifa** » Thu Oct 25, 2018 3:06 pm

Yeah, I don't think a big nation-wide network deal like that with baseball--just too many games. But there needs to be a mechanism to divide the dollars more equally. The Yankees aren't really competing with the Red Sox or the Indians or Tampa Bay or whatever. They're competing with the NFL and the NBA and hockey and NASCAR and whatever.

But like you said they don't really have any incentive right now to do that. The bottom 80% of teams do, though, and they didn't stand up.

BenM · Post by **BenM** » Thu Oct 25, 2018 4:49 pm

I actually believe that there are a number of low revenue owners who are quite content with being able to maintain low payrolls.