In 2000, the A's only played 161 games. They won their last game to win the AL West at 91-70. Seattle took the wild card at 91-71, and Cleveland just missed the playoffs at 90-72.
The missing game? A rainout at the dome in Tampa Bay. The game was cancelled due to a hurricane.
If the A's had lost their final game on Sunday and finished 90-71, they would have had to fly across the country to Tampa to make up a rainout on Monday, and then, if they had won, fly to New York to play the Yankees on Tuesday.
Did the A's play the same team in the playoffs that they would have if they'd flown to Tampa with their 91-70 record, then lost to the Devil Rays, leaving them tied with Seattle at 91-71? There would have been no need for a tiebreaker against Seattle, to see which was the division leader and which the wild card, which western team played the AL east winner and which the AL central winner?
I recall something similar in NL West two years ago, where Padres and Dodgers tied, but SD was declared division winner on the basis of W/L record between the tied teams. Is this formula only used where the "lesser" tied team automatically becomes the wil card? If the lesser team would be out of the playoffs completely (wild card team from another division), do they play a tiebreaker?
In 2000 there was still a rule that if two teams tied for first in a division and a second place team in another division had the same record, the second place team was automatically the wild card and the other two teams would just have a tiebreaker playoff.
That rule has been amended to create a playoff for the division first with the loser of that game playing the team from the other division for the wild card spot.
Very good... too bad that the facts of the case don't support Dylan's terrific song-story (per the Wikipedia article linked upthread). At a very minimum, Carter's fighting career had already peaked and was in decline by the time of the Paterson, New Jersey murders on June 17, 1966; he was never a "number one contender for the middleweight crown", rising as high as #3 in 1965.
The missing game? A rainout at the dome in Tampa Bay. The game was cancelled due to a hurricane.
If the A's had lost their final game on Sunday and finished 90-71, they would have had to fly across the country to Tampa to make up a rainout on Monday, and then, if they had won, fly to New York to play the Yankees on Tuesday.
I recall something similar in NL West two years ago, where Padres and Dodgers tied, but SD was declared division winner on the basis of W/L record between the tied teams. Is this formula only used where the "lesser" tied team automatically becomes the wil card? If the lesser team would be out of the playoffs completely (wild card team from another division), do they play a tiebreaker?
The A's win on the last day clinched a division win since they had beaten the M's 9 out of 13 that year.
That rule has been amended to create a playoff for the division first with the loser of that game playing the team from the other division for the wild card spot.
http://tinyurl.com/6ec8z6
My favorite is "Sara." But I have strong feelings for "Black Diamond Bay" as well.
However, I like the song a lot.
I was glad to show people the Central Library. I just need to make sure Rob uses his "indoor" voice. ;-)
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