This game can be maddening sometimes

[aquapong]

Several 97+ win teams of mine have been knocked out of the playoff and lost two WS.

Now I just steamrolled the playoff and won the WS with a 86 win team.

[Mike67]

Things like that happen in real life too. Look at KC last year.. Went to the Series with 86 wins.. Beat out the O's, winner of 96.
The 1973 Mets went to the Series with 82 wins, beating out the 99 game winning Reds.. 2005 and 2006 had teams winning 80-89 games making the Series beating out 90-100 win teams..

Just something that makes this game interesting

[The Wolf]

“My job is to get us to the playoffs. What happens after that is ****ing luck.” – Billy Beane

[rudel.dietrich]

Setting long playoff series 'helps' a bit. In my fictional leagues I usually use all seven game series and make the championship series nine games.

Sometimes I use a shorter season 120 or 130 games and make all series nine games. You get a truer sense of who the better teams are the longer the series but upsets still happen.
But really in baseball the difference between an 82 win and 95 win team are not as much as other sports, mostly because so many regular season games are played and the standard deviation between team records is less than in other sports.

[majesty95]

The Twins feel your pain. Their 85-win team in '87 won the series yet their 102, 97 and 98 win teams in 65, 69 and 70 all went home without a ring.

[ThatSeventiesGuy]

Or the '06 Cardinals, who won 83 games while winning it all, but the 105 and 100 win teams of the previous two years coming up short.

[The Wolf]

The playoffs are a crapshoot.

A quote from The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow):

...if one team is good enough to warrant beating another in 55% of its games, the weaker team will nevertheless win a 7-game series about 4 times out of 10. And if the superior team could beat its opponent, on average, 2 out of 3 times they meet, the inferior team will still win a 7-game series about once every 5 match-ups. There is really no way for a sports league to change this. In the lopsided 2/3-probability case, for example, you’d have to play a series consisting of at minimum the best of 23 games to determine the winner with what is called statistical significance, meaning the weaker team would be crowned champion 5 percent or less of the time. And in the case of one team’s having only a 55-45 edge, the shortest significant “world series” would be the best of 269 games, a tedious endeavor indeed! So sports playoff series can be fun and exciting, but being crowned “world champion” is not a reliable indication that a team is actually the best one. (p. 70-71)

[aquapong]

Once again...my team was 64-64 with an anemic offense. In September I go on a 21-4 run and end up taking the wildcard. I cruise to the WS and then my anemic offense returns. I had no business being in the playoffs, I even was selling at the deadline to build for next season.

Now this season my team is much better...wouldn't call it stacked, but certainly much better. Watch I'll be out in the first round.

[jaysdailydose]

You sound like my hometown Detroit Tigers.

On paper, we should probably have two championships in the past 10 years.

Unluckily for Detroiters, they play the games on grass and turf, and not on paper.

[italyprof]

Originally Posted by The Wolf

The playoffs are a crapshoot.

A quote from The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow):

...if one team is good enough to warrant beating another in 55% of its games, the weaker team will nevertheless win a 7-game series about 4 times out of 10. And if the superior team could beat its opponent, on average, 2 out of 3 times they meet, the inferior team will still win a 7-game series about once every 5 match-ups. There is really no way for a sports league to change this. In the lopsided 2/3-probability case, for example, you’d have to play a series consisting of at minimum the best of 23 games to determine the winner with what is called statistical significance, meaning the weaker team would be crowned champion 5 percent or less of the time. And in the case of one team’s having only a 55-45 edge, the shortest significant “world series” would be the best of 269 games, a tedious endeavor indeed! So sports playoff series can be fun and exciting, but being crowned “world champion” is not a reliable indication that a team is actually the best one. (p. 70-71)

Those scenarios would be really crazy to try. So I might ! Thanks for some interesting ideas for customized post-seasons.

[RchW]

Originally Posted by italyprof

Those scenarios would be really crazy to try. So I might ! Thanks for some interesting ideas for customized post-seasons.

How about a two month regular season and 5 months of playoffs. There would be some bean ball wars for sure.

[Déjà Bru]

Not that it's germane, but it helps soothe me to say it here:

Three trips to the World Series in 20 years, two in the last three seasons, and been defeated every time (no sweeps, thank goodness). The goll-darned St. Louis Cardinals are unbeatable in my fictional historical league!

Don't care what Billy Beane says (no offense, Wolf). It hurts to battle all the way to the WS and come away with no ring (which is literal now that we have player award icons for that purpose - my players and I look longingly upon the 6 - that's SIX, as in one, two, three, four, five, SIX - championship rings that the Cardinals' ace pitcher has now).

Wow. OOTPB has come a long ways as to challenge, as long as trading is set to Hard difficulty. No other tweaks are necessary anymore to provide a challenge, in my opinion.

Of course, that may be because I stink! Don't think so, though. I have gotten to the altar, just never been a bride! Uh, a groom, that is.

[DustinthePOWERHOUSE]

Broke the record for single season wins, had two guys who won 23 games (INSANE!) and got SWEPT in the first round by the Twins.

Anything is possibleeeeeeeeeeee

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by DustinthePOWERHOUSE

Anything is possibleeeeeeeeeeee

Did your "e" key get stuck just now or is that a cry of despair?

[dg32]

Kevin Garnett screamed it after the Celtics won a championship a few years ago.

[DustinthePOWERHOUSE]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

Did your "e" key get stuck just now or is that a cry of despair?

Always despair, always.

[Anyone]

Originally Posted by italyprof

Those scenarios would be really crazy to try. So I might ! Thanks for some interesting ideas for customized post-seasons.

Is it even possible? I've gone into "Use Custom Playoffs," and I'm pretty sure the longest series it will allow is 9 games (which is the longest post-season series ever used in the real life majors).

[aquapong]

Originally Posted by dg32

Kevin Garnett screamed it after the Celtics won a championship a few years ago.

That song makes sense now.

[aquapong]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

Not that it's germane, but it helps soothe me to say it here:

Three trips to the World Series in 20 years, two in the last three seasons, and been defeated every time (no sweeps, thank goodness). The goll-darned St. Louis Cardinals are unbeatable in my fictional historical league!

Don't care what Billy Beane says (no offense, Wolf). It hurts to battle all the way to the WS and come away with no ring (which is literal now that we have player award icons for that purpose - my players and I look longingly upon the 6 - that's SIX, as in one, two, three, four, five, SIX - championship rings that the Cardinals' ace pitcher has now).

Wow. OOTPB has come a long ways as to challenge, as long as trading is set to Hard difficulty. No other tweaks are necessary anymore to provide a challenge, in my opinion.

Of course, that may be because I stink! Don't think so, though. I have gotten to the altar, just never been a bride! Uh, a groom, that is.

My franchise in '16 is frustrating. I've lost 6 WS and won 3. The Red Sox have won 6 (lost 2 more), Angels 4, Tigers 2, and the Nationals 2. A few other teams have won 1.

[Aaron's Aron]

Originally Posted by The Wolf

The playoffs are a crapshoot.

A quote from The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow):

...if one team is good enough to warrant beating another in 55% of its games, the weaker team will nevertheless win a 7-game series about 4 times out of 10. And if the superior team could beat its opponent, on average, 2 out of 3 times they meet, the inferior team will still win a 7-game series about once every 5 match-ups. There is really no way for a sports league to change this. In the lopsided 2/3-probability case, for example, you’d have to play a series consisting of at minimum the best of 23 games to determine the winner with what is called statistical significance, meaning the weaker team would be crowned champion 5 percent or less of the time. And in the case of one team’s having only a 55-45 edge, the shortest significant “world series” would be the best of 269 games, a tedious endeavor indeed! So sports playoff series can be fun and exciting, but being crowned “world champion” is not a reliable indication that a team is actually the best one. (p. 70-71)

I think that there is a way for a sports league to combat the issue of playoffs not being an accurate representation of who the best team was. Of course a 269 game series would be too long, and having every series be 23 games is a too long as well because there would be no time for the season. However... how about a 162 game series? One big series involving thirty teams, lasting 162 games?

I follow soccer pretty closely, particularly the Barclays Premier League (CHELSEA!), and one thing I love is how they determine the ultimate winner. There is no playoffs, and it is just one big division. Whoever has the most amount of points at the end of season wins! I love this because it more accurately represents who the best team is. In the playoffs, as you guys said, a team can just get hot at the right time and win it all, while a completely dominate team can get cold or match up against the hot team and get knocked out. This system rewards good play throughout the entire season. Consistent play is better than two to three weeks of hot play. Streaks balance out over the season too, which doesn't happen in the playoffs. It also helps teams that get their star player that hit .310 during the season which became meaningless once the playoffs started injured, making it a whole new, worse team.

I know I could have explained and worded that better, but I have concussions so meh. That's just my opinion, and obviously it won't happen in real life MLB, but I just think it is a very interesting idea.