The Playoffs begin this week with Wild Card action between the Yankees and Twins, and the Diamondbacks and Rockies.
Jump in Dr. Emmet Brown's DeLorean DMC-12 and head forward to the past and see how that statement sounds. The Yankees were rebuilding. The Twins were woebegone. The Diamondbacks had been wracked by mismanagement and were coming off a 93-loss season. And Colorado continued to refuse the Rockies' plea to come down to sea level.
It's a most unlikely set of Wild Card match-ups.
Even more unlikely would be the Twins and Rocks making noise in the post-season. Each is a distant last team in. Minnesota, the last AL team over .500, trailed New York by seven games and Cleveland, the Wild Card winner's first round opponent, by 17.
The Rockies backed into the playoffs six games behind the coasting Dbacks. They finished 16 games worse than the Wild Card winner's reward, the L.A. Dodgers.
In case you missed it, here are the final standings.
I'd like the regular season to matter, so I find it hard to root for them to get beyond the Wild Card. But I'm certainly rooting for the Twins to defeat New York.
Go AstroNatIndianCubDbackDodgers!
As I always root for teams whose fan bases have suffered most, I'm thrilled to see Cleveland, Houston, Los Angeles and Washington each win 97+ games and waltz to division titles by 20+ games. Cub fans would not be over-indulging to win a second championship in 109 years. And Arizona last ended in a dogpile 16 years ago in one of the most entertaining World Series ever. Go, all of them.
The only teams I could do without this post-season are New York and Boston. The Yankees need to go bereft for half a century before they stir my sympathy. New England has enjoyed sports superiority for a decade and could use a rest. They're still cleaning up the confetti from the last parade, whether that was the Red Sox, Celtics or Patriots.
Cleveland/Houston versus L.A./Washington would undoubtedly validate the regular season and present us with clashes of the titans. It'd be a fitting end to an historic season.
'Tis a puzzlement: how does a 91-36 team lose 11 in a row and 15 of 16 games?
No 90-win team had ever lost that many.
No team had ever lost 15 of 16 in the same year they had won 15 of 16.
The 11-game losing streak is the worst in baseball this season -- and it was "accomplished" by the best team.
Wha-what?
After 127 games, the Dodgers were on a record-tying 116-win pace. They held a 12-game lead over...everyone. Their entire starting lineup was above average at the plate. Their backup catcher was hitting .300 with power. They employed the best starting pitcher and the best reliever in baseball. Their fourth starter was 11-4, 3.77.
Then, good God. They became the 1899 Cleveland Spiders. Their hitting was not just the worst in baseball during those two-plus weeks; it was about half as good as the average team offense.
Every starter but Justin Turner became a below average hitter. Neither Clayton Kershaw not Yu Darvish could get through the fifth inning of a start. The bullpen gakked up close games.
The entire team fell off the cliff together.
Baseball is unpredictable. That is part of its allure. MVP-level players can suddenly lose their mojo. But for 25 teammates at once to suddenly slump, that's unprecedented.
After 400,000 games of Major League Baseball, it's never happened before.
So which Dodgers are the 2017 Dodgers? Are they the 91-36 team or the 1-15 team? Or are they the 93-52 team that represents their record as of this writing?
Bill Parcels said you are what your record says you are. That's probably right for L.A. this season.
I Have a Theory...
that explains how a historically great team could be historically terrible for an extended period.
Here goes:
They've assembled an awesome roster in L.A. this year. Talented players all producing career-type seasons, particularly on offense. Chris Taylor, Cody Bellinger, Austin Barnes even Justin Turner had never before done quite this. The entire roster was playing over its head.
The game always wins in the end. A player can only take from Baseball for so long before he has to pay the tab. Payback came to each Dodger player at the same time. The whole team outperformed its talent for 127 games and then fell to earth together.
On other teams, players heat up and slump on their own schedules. The team record reflects that. They get to their win total in fits and starts. Not the Dodgers.
What does that mean for tomorrow? It means nothing. They're still a great team. They won't lose 15 of 16. They probably won't win at their previous .716 clip either. Some guys will cook again. Others will remain mired. Still others will bounce halfway back.
What does it mean for the playoffs? Even less. There's no relationship between how well a team plays in September and how well they play in October.
So let's just enjoy seeing something that has never happened before in 131 years of Major League Baseball.
