Time for October baseball

The major league baseball playoffs started last night, and as good as this year's postseason teams are, there are a number of other talented teams whose playoff dreams ended because of the way playoff teams are determined.

If you follow one of the teams that knew in August that it would be statistically impossible for it to still be playing in October, you may have lost interest in watching baseball during the last few weeks.

It's especially difficult to maintain an interest in a losing team when you're relying on the University of Richmond cable channels, away from the regional networks that broadcast your team when you're at home.

But don't worry, my friends, because as of last night, all remaining major league baseball games will be televised on campus channels for your viewing pleasure. From the division series to the World Series, I'm sure there will be a lot of great games to watch.

But instead of talking about this year's playoff match-ups, I want to take a moment to recognize the teams that won't be playing any more games in 2008, even if they had better seasons than some of this year's playoff teams.

Last year, Joe Torre turned down his one-year contract offer from the New York Yankees, which included incentives if the Yankees played in the World Series. Though I rarely have many positive things to say about Joe Torre, I'll give him credit for one thing - he and the Los Angeles Dodgers are in the playoffs and the Yankees are watching from home for the first time since 1993.

This is because, whether or not he realizes it, Torre has found the key to managing a playoff team. Just pick a team (for example, the Los Angeles Dodgers) in a weak division and you can win that division even if your record is worse than a team (for example, the New York Yankees) that finished third in a stronger division and didn't make the playoffs.

Because postseason berths are determined by how well you do against the teams in your division, the top four teams that represent the American League and National League in the playoffs are not always the top four teams in each league.

The four American League teams with the best records are the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the Tampa Bay Rays, the Boston Red Sox and a tie for fourth between the New York Yankees and the Chicago White Sox. The four National League teams with the best records are the Chicago Cubs, the Philadelphia Phillies, the New York Mets and the Milwaukee Brewers.

These are, for the most part, the eight playoff teams, but the big difference is between the American League East and the National League West. The Dodgers' record is 84-78, but the Toronto Blue Jays, which finished fourth in the AL East, finished the season with a 86-76 record.

It's clear that certain divisions are stronger than others, which can be frustrating for teams like Toronto that realize, in another division, they could be playoff teams. But there are also disparities between the American League and the National League.

The eight best regular-season records belong to the Los Angeles Angels, the Chicago Cubs, the Tampa Bay Rays, the Boston Red Sox, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Milwaukee Brewers and a tie for eighth between the New York Mets and the New York Yankees.

Though the records at the top are mostly balanced between the NL and the AL, AL teams have a higher average winning percentage because of the strength of the AL East and the weakness of the NL West. The average winning percentage for an AL team is .510 and the average winning percentage for a NL team is .491.

The Boston Red Sox had such a good record that the team clinched its wild-card berth last Tuesday, but the AL Central race between the Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox wasn't decided until Tuesday and the NL wild-card race between the New York Mets and the Milwaukee Brewers wasn't decided until Sunday.

The Twins and White Sox were fighting for their division and the Mets and Brewers were fighting for the NL wild card, but both the Mets and the Brewers have higher winning percentages than the Twins and the White Sox.

Though I don't always agree with the way playoff teams are determined, I do love watching the baseball playoffs. Baseball is a sport that's full of tradition, and though I sympathize with the teams whose seasons end in September, I don't expect this tradition to change.

In fact, the fight for playoff spots has actually been pretty exciting this year -- thanks, once again, to the New York Mets. And because even the best teams lose more than one-third of their games, it makes each five- and seven-game series more exciting.

With the differences in pitchers and batting lineups that accompany each new game, there will be a new version of each playoff team every night, and you never know which ones will surprise you.

These few weeks, when professors are handing you midterms left and right, are always stressful for Richmond students. Whether or not you care about the teams that have made it to the playoffs, there will always be more than enough exciting games to justify a several-hour study break.

At the very least, take some time when you're eating by the Pier or working out at the gym to pay attention to the baseball highlights on ESPN. If this year's playoffs turn out the way I hope they will, you won't regret it.

Contact staff writer Barrett Neale at barrett.neale@richmond.edu