ORIOLES

How was the new Miami stadium?  It looks wonderful!

vansmack wrote:
I have NOT been to the Trop (will not watch baseball indoors)

my fondest memory of the Trop nee ThunderDome:  April 21, 1996 - Game 3 of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, Bolts v. Flyers

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/05/05/Lightning/Six_Days.shtml

On a Sunday afternoon, Tampa Bay, (Florida!) became Hockeytown. A crowd of 25,945 - the most ever to watch an NHL game - shouldered their way into what is now Tropicana Field.

"It was almost like a Bucs game," Zamuner said. "There were signs everywhere, you couldn't even see the crowd."

Even the Flyers were impressed. Then and now.

"What was it called (then)? The ThunderDome?" Lindros said. "It was incredible. It really was. That's a huge number of people, just enormous. In hockey, you think of (Joe Louis Arena in Detroit), which is a little over 20 grand. There, you bumped it up seven eight more grand."

In a wild game, the Flyers took leads of 3-1 and 4-3, but Game 2 hero Bellows scored 79 seconds into the third period and the teams again headed for overtime.

"That day, Terry (Crisp) wore a hockey tie and there was a scoreboard on it," Crisp's wife, Sheila, recalls. "The score said 5-4. On the back of the tie was the name of the kid who drew the picture for the tie. His name was Jeff. Our son's name is Jeff. We figured that was a good omen. We were meant to win."

The Lightning did. At 2:04 of overtime, Selivanov scored what still ranks as the greatest goal in franchise history to give the Bolts a 2-1 lead in the series.

"I've done a lot of things in my career," then-Lightning general manager Phil Esposito said. "I've won Stanley Cups, played in All-Star games, made it to the Hall of Fame. But that moment, when Alex scored that goal, still is the most thrilling thing I've ever been a part of."

"At that moment," Reese said, "I was convinced we were going to win the series."

Apparently tickets to break a would be Yanks/O's tie on Thursday go on sale tomorrow (Tues) at 2pm.  Game would be in Bmore due to a tiebreaker.

Yes, that didn't make sense to me at all.

Tie the Yankees and lose a playoff to them and you have to fly to the West Coast to play Oakland the next day? EVEN IF YOU HAD A BETTER RECORD THAN OAKLAND? Or did I read that wrong?

Shemp wrote:

James wrote:
Reading all these slides really made my head hurt.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1353502-breaking-down-the-american-league-playoff-picture-with-3-days-to-go#/articles/1353502-breaking-down-the-american-league-playoff-picture-with-3-days-to-go

Seems to me the loser of a divisional tie-break game should be considered the #1 wild card team.  This  seems to contradict that notion.

Tampa doesn't deserve the team they have.  15K tonight?  Pathetic.

James wrote:
Or did I read that wrong?

I think you read that wrong.

The only way the O's or Yanks have to fly to Oakland or Texas is if all three are tied. 

Two-Club Tie for Division Championship & Tie with Club Outside Division For One Wild Card Spot:
1. One tiebreak game will be played on Thursday, October 4th (tentatively) to determine the Division Champion. Home field advantage will be determined by the rules above for a two-team tiebreaker.

2. A second tiebreak game will be played on Friday, October 5th (tentatively) between the loser of the game to determine the Division Champion and the team from the other division at the ballpark of the team in the other division to determine the Wild Card.

That's ONLY if it's a 3-way tie.

Otherwise, the team with the better record hosts the wild card game.

In both of these scenarios that he lays out, the records are a three way tie:

so what happens if all three teams finish the year with the same record?

It could happen pretty easily, actually. If the Orioles and Yankees both lose two out of three to finish the season and the A's win two out of three, then all three teams would end the season with a record of 93-69.

Thankfully, the tiebreaker scenario for this situation is quite simple.

First, the Orioles and Yankees would do battle for the AL East title on Thursday. Again, the game would be in Baltimore, as the O's have already clinched a better AL East record than the Yankees.

The loser of that game would play the A's on Friday. The tiebreaking rules would call for the A's to host the game, so the loser of the O's vs. Yanks tilt on Thursday would immediately have to fly across the country to Oakland.

Now, a scenario such as this could also come to pass if the A's sweep the Rangers while the Orioles and Yankees both lose two out of three in their final series, as the Rangers would find themselves with a record of 93-69.

If so, it would be the same thing. The O's and Yanks would play in Baltimore on Thursday, and the winner would head to Texas for a do-or-die wild card game on Friday.

Shemp wrote:
Seems to me the loser of a divisional tie-break game should be considered the #1 wild card team.  This  seems to contradict that notion.

Why would you think that?

I'm sure MLB's rationale had something to do with TV trucks getting set up or travel arrangements or some like that, so I agree that their rationale isn't any better, but I'm just wondering why you would argue that case.

For the record, I think it should be head-to-head and Oakland is 5-4 against the O's this season, but 5-5 against the Yanks, so go figure.

mekmad wrote:
Apparently tickets to break a would be Yanks/O's tie on Thursday go on sale tomorrow (Tues) at 2pm.  Game would be in Bmore due to a tiebreaker.

Red Sox are laying down.  There won't be a tie-breaker.

i read that this is the case if it's oakland and baltimore in the wild card.

wild card will be in Oakland regardless or records, they go by the head go head.

vansmack wrote:




For the record, I think it should be head-to-head and Oakland is 5-4 against the O's this season, but 5-5 against the Yanks, so go figure.

Shemp wrote:

mekmad wrote:
Apparently tickets to break a would be Yanks/O's tie on Thursday go on sale tomorrow (Tues) at 2pm.  Game would be in Bmore due to a tiebreaker.

Red Sox are laying down.  There won't be a tie-breaker.

Yeah, thanks Red Sox..  Looks like tix actually go on sale at 12pm for area residents, open to NY at 2pm..  But it looks like it will be the wildcard for the O's so I won't bother.  Updated bracket:
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/standings/postseasonpicture.jsp

James wrote:
i read that this is the case if it's oakland and baltimore in the wild card.

wild card will be in Oakland regardless or records, they go by the head go head.

Well, I'm not sure where you read that but it's ABSOLUTELY incorrect.

The home team for the wild card is the team with the best record.

In the event of a tie, it goes like this:

1. Head-to-head winning percentage during the 2012 regular season.
2. Higher winning percentage in intradivision games.
3. Higher winning percentage in the last half of intraleague games.
4. Higher winning percentage in the last half plus one intraleague game, provided that such additional game was not between the two tied clubs. Continue to go back one intraleague game at a time until the tie has been broken.

The only anomaly is the case of a three way tie with one division deciding game, then the loser of the  division game to the other teams stadium, rather than head to head record deciding.

vansmack wrote:

Shemp wrote:
Seems to me the loser of a divisional tie-break game should be considered the #1 wild card team.  This  seems to contradict that notion.

Why would you think that?

I'm sure MLB's rationale had something to do with TV trucks getting set up or travel arrangements or some like that, so I agree that their rationale isn't any better, but I'm just wondering why you would argue that case.

For the record, I think it should be head-to-head and Oakland is 5-4 against the O's this season, but 5-5 against the Yanks, so go figure.

It's almost like by losing the tiebreaker you're dropping 2 slots - down to WC #2.  I understand the rules, but it just seems odd.  I don't want to see them have to go to that football stadium from hell I guess.

Very odd.

Let's concede that the O's finish second to the Yanks in the regular season, as many seem to be already.

Then they should hope for a Texas/Oakland tie. That way  they (the O's) host the wild card game. As opposed to one team winning the West outright, then the O's would have to travel west (they lost season series to both Oakland and Teexas) to play the wild card game. Though since Texas is up by one with two to go and they're playing each other, one of them IS going to take it outright.

Hence, I guess we now know there is absolutely zero chance there will be a wild card game in Baltimore, right?  They either win the division, or are the visiting wild card team.

Shemp wrote:

vansmack wrote:

Shemp wrote:
Seems to me the loser of a divisional tie-break game should be considered the #1 wild card team.  This  seems to contradict that notion.

Why would you think that?

I'm sure MLB's rationale had something to do with TV trucks getting set up or travel arrangements or some like that, so I agree that their rationale isn't any better, but I'm just wondering why you would argue that case.

For the record, I think it should be head-to-head and Oakland is 5-4 against the O's this season, but 5-5 against the Yanks, so go figure.

It's almost like by losing the tiebreaker you're dropping 2 slots - down to WC #2.  I understand the rules, but it just seems odd.  I don't want to see them have to go to that football stadium from hell I guess.

These rules seem as bogus and arbitrary as NASCAR rules (like when NASCAR gives drivers bonus points for each time they thank their corporate sponsors in a post-race interview….as opposed to the glory years of NASCAR when drivers earned bonus points for thanking the Good Lord in post-race interviews.)

mekmad wrote:
Apparently tickets to break a would be Yanks/O's tie on Thursday go on sale tomorrow (Tues) at 2pm.  Game would be in Bmore due to a tiebreaker.

Tickets go on sale to season ticket holders at 10

Tickets go on sale to those in the MASN area at 12

General Public at 2

There are still 2 games to play folks!  Must win for the Orioles as it seems that the Red Sox are just putting in all their minor league players instead of actual players.

Also, it would be nice if the Rangers would just step the f up.

James wrote:

Hence, I guess we now know there is absolutely zero chance there will be a wild card game in Baltimore, right?  They either win the division, or are the visiting wild card team.

If the Orioles win 2 (which they MUST) and Oakland loses 1 the WC game is in Baltimore.  Unless the Yankees lose 1 then there will be a tiebreaker game 1st.

Ah, ok thanks. I started thinking that might be the case after i typed the other post.

Shemp wrote:

James wrote:

Hence, I guess we now know there is absolutely zero chance there will be a wild card game in Baltimore, right?  They either win the division, or are the visiting wild card team.

If the Orioles win 2 (which they MUST) and Oakland loses 1 the WC game is in Baltimore.  Unless the Yankees lose 1 then there will be a tiebreaker game 1st.

K8teebug wrote:
There are still 2 games to play folks!  Must win for the Orioles as it seems that the Red Sox are just putting in all their minor league players instead of actual players.

I'm not sure the Red Sox have any actual players left.  ..and I say that as a Sox fan.  Still, I would expect them to step up and try and put the screws to the Yankees.  Yet more disappointment from this team.