Ties in the World Series?
Sept 30, 2013 15:02:36 GMT -5
Post by Ben (Rays GM) on Sept 30, 2013 15:02:36 GMT -5
Now that the World Series has ended (and, I must say, I find myself quite pleased with the result), I'd like to take this opportunity to admit that I was really nervous that the series would end in a tie. Right from the start it looked like a tie was a possibility (Oren and I would have tied five times had we played each other every week this season), and as commissioner I was dreading that possibility and what it would mean for the league. Even though we voted for it back in 2011 and I was strongly against the idea of a tiebreaker back then, the idea of a tie just doesn't sit right with me anymore now that I've spent the last week worrying about it. In fact, I can honestly say that throughout the past week I found myself thinking that I'd rather lose than see the series end in a tie, and I know from talking to a few other people that the idea of a tie was just as unappealing to them.
So, I just wanted to re-open the discussion and try to get some new ideas out there. Two years ago when we had this discussion, the problem was that we couldn't think of a tiebreaker that didn't feel arbitrary. However, now that we've been doing this for a while, I think I've been able to come up with some ideas for what to use as a World Series tiebreaker that would work a bit better:
1) Use head-to-head record. Teams in the NL and AL don't play each other, but recently we've been playing around with "would-be" head-to-head record, i.e. what the record would have been if the teams had played each other every week of the season up to that point. If we were to use this as a tiebreaker, we would simply match the teams' stats up from every week, starting with week 1 and going all the way through the League Championship Series.
2) Use head-to-head stats. Yahoo keeps track of our cumulative stats for the entire season. To break a tie, we could simply look at the totals for each stat. For example, if the NL champ had more HRs than the AL champ, the NL champ gets a point. If the AL champ had a lower team ERA, the AL champ gets a point. Most points wins the tiebreaker.
3) Use cumulative playoff stats. It's not difficult to go back and look at the stats for the LCS and LDS. We could simply total these stats and find a winner that way.
4) See who would have won the LCS if the AL and NL team had been paired up. If that would have been a tie, see who would have won the LDS, then the last week of the regular season, then the second-to-last week, etc.
In any case, we could still give both teams the extra 5% World Series discount - I have no problem with both teams getting the discount if they tie, but I don't like the idea of declaring both of them champions. It doesn't look good for the league, and as someone who spent the last week thinking about it, I can say it doesn't seem like it would be nearly as satisfying.
Thoughts? I'd like to send this to a poll, but would need to hear opinions first. Which of the suggested tiebreakers appeals to you most? Do you have a suggestion of your own? Or would you prefer to just keep the joint-champions solution?
Please respond, even if you don't feel like you have that much to say. Every opinion is valuable, and the more people we hear from the better.
So, I just wanted to re-open the discussion and try to get some new ideas out there. Two years ago when we had this discussion, the problem was that we couldn't think of a tiebreaker that didn't feel arbitrary. However, now that we've been doing this for a while, I think I've been able to come up with some ideas for what to use as a World Series tiebreaker that would work a bit better:
1) Use head-to-head record. Teams in the NL and AL don't play each other, but recently we've been playing around with "would-be" head-to-head record, i.e. what the record would have been if the teams had played each other every week of the season up to that point. If we were to use this as a tiebreaker, we would simply match the teams' stats up from every week, starting with week 1 and going all the way through the League Championship Series.
2) Use head-to-head stats. Yahoo keeps track of our cumulative stats for the entire season. To break a tie, we could simply look at the totals for each stat. For example, if the NL champ had more HRs than the AL champ, the NL champ gets a point. If the AL champ had a lower team ERA, the AL champ gets a point. Most points wins the tiebreaker.
3) Use cumulative playoff stats. It's not difficult to go back and look at the stats for the LCS and LDS. We could simply total these stats and find a winner that way.
4) See who would have won the LCS if the AL and NL team had been paired up. If that would have been a tie, see who would have won the LDS, then the last week of the regular season, then the second-to-last week, etc.
In any case, we could still give both teams the extra 5% World Series discount - I have no problem with both teams getting the discount if they tie, but I don't like the idea of declaring both of them champions. It doesn't look good for the league, and as someone who spent the last week thinking about it, I can say it doesn't seem like it would be nearly as satisfying.
Thoughts? I'd like to send this to a poll, but would need to hear opinions first. Which of the suggested tiebreakers appeals to you most? Do you have a suggestion of your own? Or would you prefer to just keep the joint-champions solution?
Please respond, even if you don't feel like you have that much to say. Every opinion is valuable, and the more people we hear from the better.
