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September 11, 2007

Sox Could Have Choice Of ALDS Schedule

The New York Post reports that the team with the best record in the American League will be able to choose whether to play Division Series A (a seven-day schedule) or B (an eight-day schedule).

The seven-day series features two sets of back-to-back games, with off-days for travel scheduled between Games 2 and 3 and between Games 4 and 5. The eight-day series features only one set of back-to-back games (Games 3 and 4), with off-days scheduled between Games 1 and 2, another between Games 2 and 3, and still another between Games 4 and 5. ...

It's nearly impossible to conjure the scenario in which the team with the best record would choose to play five games in seven days when it can establish a three-man rotation by virtue of the extra off-day.
The paper says the team with the best record must make its decision within an hour after the Division Series matchups are known.

AL Records
Boston       87  58  .600    --
Los Angeles  84  59  .587   2.0 
Cleveland    84  60  .583   2.5
New York     81  62  .566   5.0 
Detroit      78  66  .542   8.5
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4 comments:

  1. timSeptember 11, 2007 at 11:13 AM

    I was JUST about to post in the other thread, linking to this story. Quick to the news redsock!

    Anyway, interesting scenario, I don't know how much I buy into Theo making that decision based solely on how often JtC is going to pitch in a different series, or if that will really even factor into their decision. I'm pretty sure that a better story would be that the Sox can choose to pick which schedule they want and they'll do so based on their pitching rotation vs. their opponent's etc. But then again, it is mass media we're dealing with here. And it is the post.

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  2. allanSeptember 11, 2007 at 12:40 PM

    Most SoSHers would opt for Series A -- in direct contradiction of the Post writer (who apparently believes Theo manages his entire life in order to avoid Joba).

    Series B would supposedly give Cleveland (Sbathia/Carmona) and Anaheim (Escobar/Lackey) -- teams with a rotation of two studs and two average starters -- a bigger advantage.

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  3. allanSeptember 11, 2007 at 12:41 PM

    Also, if Torre doesn't use JtC more often in the playoffs than he is doing in the regular season, then he is insane.

    (That's certainly been his MO with Mo.)

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  4. Spencer BrownSeptember 12, 2007 at 10:02 AM

    It's all documented, with history to boot, in WikiPedia.. the font of all knowledge.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_League_Division_Series

    This really gives the Sox something to shoot for. Home field advantage is big. Plus the ability to choose the schedule to best advantage themselves against NYY (their likely opponent assuming they have the best record in the AL) is also huge.

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