Nothing random about playoff success
Posted: Wednesday, November 12, 2008 4:27 PM
A baseball season is a marathon. Players train for longevity and duration, not for speed. The perfect marathoner runs virtually the same pace in mile 1 and mile 26. Rewards go to those who maintain their strength over the whole distance. Those who spurt tend to be penalized.
And that is always the lens through which I've viewed baseball teams. The sport's structure has changed with the addition of playoff rounds in the late 1960's (LCS) and then the 1990's (LDS). So the demand of a team is to win the marathon -- outlast all over the 162-game grind and then win three sprints in the postseason.
No other sport offers a similar challenge. A club can make the playoffs in other professional team sports with a .500 record. Rare is the baseball team to advance beyond the regular season with a break-even record.
And no other sport so dramatically changes the demands on a team in order to succeed in playoffs. Atlanta's great teams of the last two decades are the sterling proof of this. They won 14 straight division titles but only five pennants and just one World Series.
Does that diminish their achievement?
I say no. Winning the regular season is baseball's most difficult task. Some would argue that winning over 162 games is team sports' greatest achievement and I would agree.
Atlanta's strength was its depth of starting pitching. If baseball is viewed in five-game groupings to reflect starting rotations, the Braves always had an edge with starters 3-4-5. In the postseason, a team’s top 2-3 pitchers determine its fate and in that world, Atlanta's edge was lessened.
Which brings me to Billy Beane. The Oakland general manager was quoted as congratulating Tampa Bay on its AL East title. Beane said, "Winning the World Series would have been a secondary achievement to winning the AL East." Given the competition and payroll size of New York and Boston, that's a terrific point.
Then Beane dropped one of his favorites on us, referencing the "randomness" of the postseason. That term troubles me. It diminishes the achievements of teams who play well when it matters most. Rather than belittle the season of Colorado in 2007 or St. Louis in 2006, and many of their predecessors, what should be acknowledged is their ability to excel in pressure. Isn't that one of our truest forms of measuring athletic achievement and competition?
I admire Beane and understand his frustration over his excellent Oakland teams never reaching the World Series. But there is nothing random about the postseason. Different, yes, unfair, perhaps, but not random.
FIVE MORE SWINGS:
1. AND BEANE STRIKES AGAIN…with the Matt Holliday trade. Oakland only surrendered one meaningful player: Carlos Gonzalez. Huston Street had lost his closer’s job and Greg Smith was cast as a "nibbler." Now the A's may not get a full season from Holliday but they clearly view him as Sabathia 2009 -- the player who could fetch a huge return in a midseason trade. In the interim, Beane addressed Oakland's screaming need for a power hitter and the fan base's need to see renewed commitment from ownership.
2. IT NEVER TAKES LONG…for Scott Boras to amuse. Today's joke is a quote from the agent that, "Matt Holliday single-handedly put his team in the World Series (in 2007). Owners don't forget that."
Neither will Garrett Atkins, Brad Hawpe or the man most credited by the Rockies organization with breeding a winning vibe that led to the Fall Classic: Troy Tulowitzki. Isn't it interesting that with Tulo out in the first half of the 2008 season, the Rockies disappeared (39-57). When the shortstop returned in the second half, the Rockies were 35-31. I'm sure these players will be comforted to know their World Series appearance was all on the bat of Holliday. Try again, Mr. Boras.
3. TIM LINCECUM…was worthy of the Cy Young. I'm struck by the margin with which he won as he received 23 of the 32 first place votes. But in celebrating his tremendous year, there is a caution: 227 innings, 3,700 pitches, 2 games over 130 pitches and 7 over 115 in the final two months. Will the Giants pay a price for pushing their young stud in pursuit of this individual honor?
4. A RARE IN-DIVISION TRADE THIS WEEK…sent Scott Olson and Josh Willingham from Florida to Washington. The Marlins offloaded two potential arbitration cases. But watch Washington this winter. The Nationals are a fascinating case study after a year in which they had the lowest attendance and TV ratings for a team in the first year of a new ballpark.
5. HAS THERE BEEN A FASTER FALL…in recent years than Edgar Renteria, cast off by Detroit at 33? He ballooned in recent years and his lack of range was his downfall in his last three stops: Boston, Atlanta and Detroit.
