2007 Postseason Update
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by Niteowl049
Baseball Notebook
2007 Postseason Update
The 2007 postseason has been one of the least competitive in my memory. So far in the postseason we have seen the following routs:
AL Division Series Red Sox sweep Angels 3 games to none Indians defeat Yankees 3 games to one
AL Championship Series Indians as of today are 3 games to one ahead of Red Sox
NL Division Series Rockies sweep Phillies in 3 games Diamondbacks sweep Cubs in 3 games
NL Championship Series Rockies sweep Diamondbacks in 4 games
Records of teams still in playoffs: Rockies 7-0 Indians 6-2 Red Sox 4-3
Total Record 17-5
Records of Eliminated teams: Cubs 0-3 Phillies 0-3 Angels 0-3 Yankees 1-3 Diamondbacks 3-4
Total Record 4-16
So far in the postseason no team trailing in a series has won more than one game in that series. It is discouraging to know out of twenty games by the five eliminated teams that they could only manage to win four games with three of those games being won by the Diamondbacks.
Out of four division series there were three sweeps with the Yankees the only team eliminated in a division series to win even one game making the eliminated teams in division series 1-12 in the division series.
In division series play only 13 games out of 20 were played because of the three sweeps and Indians winning in four games.
In championship series play so far 8 games have been played out of a possible 14 games.
So far in the postseason only 21 games have been played out of a possible 34 games with the 22nd game being played tonight in Cleveland. This is first series of postseason that will have a fifth game played.
Not sure what the financial ramifications are in having such short series during the playoffs but the Cubs and Angels probably have not done well financially as they only had one home game before being eliminated.
Out of six postseason series four have ended in sweeps. Sweeps are great for winning teams but are not that great for baseball with so many games not shown on TV because they weren't necessary. It is discouraging to know after five series have been played that no losing team in a series has won more than one game in that series which includes the Red Sox who may or may not win their second game tonight.
Last year in postseason only the Mets won more than one game in any playoff series when they lost to the Cardinals 4 games to 3 in the NLCS. Tigers, Mets and A's all had sweeps during the division series and the championship series.
In the last three World Series the winning teams have a 12-1 record with the Red Sox and White Sox sweeping in 2004 and 2005 and the Tigers could only manage one win in 2006 World Series against the Cardinals. The last seven game World Series was in 2002 when the Angels defeated the Giants 4 games to 3. In 2001 the Diamondbacks took 7 games to defeat the Yankees and the previous seven game series before then was 1997 when the Marlins defeated the Indians. The Twins defeated the Braves in 7 games in 1991.
Since 1987 there have only been four 7 game World Series. In contrast from 1955-1960 five of those 6 World Series took 7 games.
So many younger baseball fans have witnessed very few 7 game World Series with only four being played in the last 20 years.
We can only hope we have a 7 game World Series this year. There is nothing like a 7 game series in which both teams come into the seventh game knowing they have to win that game unlike lately when the teams have packed and gone home after four games too many times. In the ALCS the Indians have the luxury of having three chances to win one game but knowing the history of the Red Sox from 2004 won't count them out since they were three games behind the Yankees in 2004 and came back to win four in a row and with a win tonight would be traveling back to Fenway Park for the sixth game of series.
