Quote:
Originally Posted by toxicavenger74
When you say a team is in the second Division, is this the regular season league and the playoff teams are considered the 1st division or is there another league that you are actually doing promotion/relegation with?
|
You brought up a good point. Promotion/relegation is not involved.
Sorry, I had forgotten that all of you are not 72 like me. Most of you didn't have the joy of knowing 1950's baseball, especially Minor League baseball, which is totally different today with nothing but developmental rookies. The Minors used to be a combination of veteran players and rookies and the teams really competed to win. Their survival depended on it. It was a time when we had the Little World Series (playoff champs of the International League and the American Association) and the Dixie Series (playoff champs of the Southern Association and the Texas League) .
You made me realize that many young people are not familiar with 8-team leagues that referenced the top four teams as being in the "league's first division" and the bottom four as the "league's second division". Apparently the phrases "first division" and "second division" are not common knowledge any longer.
Back in the old days of baseball there were only 8 teams in most leagues. I'm speaking mainly pre-1960, both major and minor leagues. The top four teams were referred to as the "first division" and the bottom four teams were referred to as the "second division".
Teams were always hoping to make the "first division" as that usually meant they had a successful season and a winning record (over .500). In the minor leagues where they used the Shaughnessy playoff system, it meant those four teams made the playoffs and would compete for the league title. I remember one year in the 50's when the Double A Mobile Bears were in last place at the All-Star break (the first place team played the League All-Stars), they bought several veterans from Triple A (Pacific Coast, International, American Association) and turned the season around. The Bears squeezed into fourth place on the last day of the season and went on to defeat the regular-season champ Atlanta Crackers in the first round and the second-place Memphis Chicks in the finals. As champion of the Southern Association, Mobile went on to defeat the Shreveport Sports, the Texas League champion in the Dixie Series, which was best-of-seven like the Shaughnessy playoffs. I lived in Mobile and that was my most exciting baseball season as a fan.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Shaughnessy playoff system is a method of determining the champion of a sports league that is not in a divisional alignment. It involves the participation of the top four teams in the league standings in a single elimination tournament.[1][2] While the first round of the playoffs involve the pairing of the first- and fourth-place teams in one contest (whether it be a single game or a series of games) and the second- and third-place teams in the other,[3] a variant of the Shaughnessy playoffs would pair the first- and third-place teams in one semifinal round and the second- and fourth-place teams in the other. In either variant, the winners of the first two games would then compete for the league championship.
It was an exciting way to determine the league title and kept fan interest alive in many cities. A fifth-place or sixth-place club could sneak into fourth place and gain a playoff spot and a shot at the league pennant. A team that had a poor first half could play well in the second half and make the playoffs.
Leagues like the Major Leagues that only awarded the pennant to the first place team did not have as many teams in contention like the Minor Leagues. Up to six teams would compete in the Minors. In the Majors you were lucky to have 3 teams in the race, 4 at most.
I really wish the Majors would get rid of the divisional setup they use now with 4-5 teams in each division and restore the 8-team concept.
I used the Shaughnessy system in the early years of the IPA when I went to 64 teams in the second season. I stopped using it because I thought it made it too hard for the regular-season pennant winner to go deep into the playoffs. Anybody can win a short 3-game or 5-game series - the best team needs longer series to show its superiority. I now just allow the regular-season division winner to make the playoffs. In real life this process hurts attendance, but in OOTPB, I don't think the Shaughnessy system would increase attendance just because more teams would make the playoffs.