Say what you will about Bud Selig pushing for the wildcard for the regular season. The concept makes for a great day of baseball Friday.
The most exciting games in sports are the Game 7s of a playoff series (or Game 5s of a baseball division series). Winner goes on; loser goes home.
TBS has two of them today with Atlanta-St. Louis and then Baltimore-Texas.
If I was a player, I’d be ticked off by the idea that an entire season’s worth of work can go down the drain in one game. But as a fan, it adds a level of excitement that previously didn’t exist. I’d expect TBS to do a strong rating for the games.
TBS’ John Smoltz and Ron Darling talked about the wildcard games and previewed the postseason in a conference call. Here are the highlights:
Darling on the new Wild Card format: It has changed forever how general managers and the people upstairs [front office] think about their teams. If you put any team at .500 on September 1 they feel like…with a strong September, they’ll have a chance to go to the postseason.
Smoltz on the Wild Card: You always have to give certain things time. You put a lot of pressure on the schedule, and the weather and a bunch of tiebreakers. You’ve got to give it a few years. It gives teams another chance to improve their chances. Now, if a Wild Card team wins a World Series, they’ve really had to work for it.
Smoltz on which team is best equipped for the best-of-five LDS format: Best of fives are scary. [I give] a slight edge to the San Francisco Giants because of their offensive improvement and overall depth in pitching. When you get to a short game, the Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves are as good as it gets. They can shut you down from the seventh inning on.
Smoltz on the Orioles and Tigers: Baltimore has got the ‘it’ factor and they keep winning. The American League is truly up in the air but, if I have to make a prediction, I do like the way Detroit has it set up with their rotation. I like Detroit coming out of the American League and surprising some people.
Darling on the Tigers: This Detroit team might be the most dangerous team in the playoffs.
Darling on Detroit Tigers ace Justin Verlander: Verlander is the surest thing in baseball. If you look at his numbers at the end of the year his ERA is low two, he’s got 15+ wins, 230+ innings, he doesn’t miss a start…he’s the surest thing in baseball.
Smoltz on the Tigers chances in the postseason: Look for the front of that offense to be bigger. Playoff baseball is so different. Justin Verlander puts pressure on the other pitchers. I like the fact they [Tigers] are starting at home. Detroit has a bit of an advantage in that first best-of-five series.
Smoltz on the difficulty of the Wild Card game and its impact on setting up a pitching staff: When you have to use your No. 1 guy (in a Wild Card game) it is a disadvantage. Nobody wants to really manage this type of game because there’s going to be so much second guessing.
Smoltz on who to watch on the surprisingly successful Oakland Athletics: Josh Reddick has had an incredible year coming over from Boston. Jonny Gomes has been around and is experienced. Their bullpen has been very underrated. This is a team that has the ‘it’ factor…this is a team that is very dangerous when you talk about the unknown factor. This is one of the best stories that has not been told.
Darling on the Athletics’ team chemistry: They are tight [knit]. They’re all about team. They are not about individual performances. They want to win games. When you have that combination and you have energy, that swashbuckling style they’ve got is one of the great stories.
Smoltz on the Washington Nationals chances without Stephen Strasburg: Without him [Strasburg], they’re still a very good team. It definitely lessens their chances when you take a stud out of your rotation. This team [Washington] has proven they are deep.
Smoltz on the Nationals without Stephen Strasburg and their chances in the postseason: It’s the intimidation factor; that’s really what it is. There is an intimidation and an edge that you have when you have him and when you don’t, it’s a little bit more difficult but not impossible. I think because it was so talked about it took away from the success that this team had.
Darling on Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg getting so much attention in the regular season: The [Strasburg] story became an entire year story and I think that’s a shame. Lost in this is how great [Ryan and Jordan] Zimmerman and [Gio] Gonzales were.
Smoltz on whether the Giants continue to use the entire bullpen to close: They are one of the few teams that can pull this off. They have guys down there with no ego. They are dominant. They have every specialty that you need. This is a team, when you think about‘bullpen by committee,’ there are very few teams that can do it. They are a very deep, very underrated bullpen. I like their chances.
Smoltz on AL MVP: AL MVP, for me, is more of a no brainer than most people, it’s Miguel Cabrera hands down. [Mike] Trout has had a phenomenal year. He just picked the wrong time to have a phenomenal year. He’s going to win Rookie-of-the-Year; he’s been MVP to his team, but as far as the MVP goes, hands down Miguel Cabrera.
Smoltz on NL MVP: I think its going to be a very close [NL] MVP race, I think it’s going to be one that splits a lot of votes which is going to hurt a lot of players, but the position of catcher has got to be thought of a little bit different than an everyday player because it has been so difficult to have those positions and produce the numbers that a [Yadier] Molina, and I know [Buster] Posey has played some first base so it kind of skews it a little bit…as of today, I think the guy that had the most phenomenal year statistically would be Ryan Braun, but I could see any of those guys nosing him out because their teams are in the playoffs and Milwaukee is not.
Darling on the AL MVP: I’m a [Miguel] Cabrera fan also. Mike Trout had an amazing year, an amazing five months of baseball. [He] really changed [the Angels] from a team that was struggling to a team that had a good summer not a great summer. That seems to be the easy one for all of us.
Darling the NL MVP: In the National League, [Yadier] Molina has been amazing. I think Ryan Braun has had the best year but, because of the technicality issue, that is going to cost some votes this year. In a close race, I think Buster Posey…this will be his year. I know Molina has been consistent all season long, but when San Francisco needed someone to carry them offensively Posey did it…if you check his numbers in the second half, they are almost obscene. So it’s Posey for me in the National League.
Smoltz on the AL Cy Young: This is a very tough situation in the American League. I traditionally don’t think relievers should win the Cy Young [Award]. David Price noses out [Justin] Verlander just by a little bit. It’s a tough year for a lot of guys. Voters have their hands full.
Darling on the AL & NL Cy Young: In the American League it’s David Price for me. He’s done it all season long and I thought he was the best pitcher over the course of the year. In the National League, it’s R.A. Dickey.
