Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 3, 1994 TAG: 9404030182
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BEN WALKER ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
John Olerud scrunched his face, trying to imagine how this year's standings would look in his morning newspaper.
"It will be different," the 1993 American League batting champion said. "It might take a little while to figure out."
But even before the first pitch is thrown in a rare night opener in Cincinnati, baseball fans already know how they feel.
To purists, realignment and wild-card playoffs are the absolute worst thing that has happened to baseball since the designated hitter was introduced to the American League in 1973 - far worse than even Michael Jordan trying to make the major leagues. They say it represents yet another step toward the NHL-ization of baseball, where the regular season means little, and completely eliminates any hope of a pennant race like the one between the Atlanta Braves and the San Francisco Giants last fall.
To proponents, splitting each league into three divisions is a big change for the better. They say teams such as the Texas Rangers and the St. Louis Cardinals, which would have made the playoffs last season under the new format, now have an increased chance of taking on the two-time World Series champion Toronto Blue Jays in October, and the proponents contend that will mean more interest for a sport whose appeal has been declining.
To Jim Fregosi, it's all a lot of hot air.
"It doesn't have a damn thing to do with anything," the Philadelphia Phillies' manager said of realignment. "You still have to win the games. You have to win 95 games to make the playoffs. You're all playing the same schedule. What's the big deal?"
The big deal is that for the first time in the 125-year history of baseball, a team won't have to finish first to reach the playoffs.
That means, for the first time, teams will have to win a best-of-five first-round series and a best-of-seven series before reaching the World Series. And, because of a new television package, not all of the opening-round games will be shown in all areas.
That has people talking, far more than they did about Jordan's spring fling or Chan Ho Park's bows and hesitation pitches. And it is topic No. 1 as baseball prepares for a season that will feature the Blue Jays trying to become the first three-time World Series winners since the Oakland Athletics' (1972-74), Barry Bonds chasing his third consecutive National League MVP award, Cal Ripken pushing toward Lou Gehrig's consecutive games streak, new ballparks in Cleveland and Texas, and no more Nolan Ryan, George Brett and Robin Yount.
On the field, the game will remain exactly the same in 1994. No disputes about whether to use the designated hitter in interleague games - which still may be a few years away - and no lively baseballs, though there were some high-scoring exhibition games. There is a chance, however, of another strike by players around Labor Day.
How the game looks, or at least how it is perceived, will be much different from the start.
It will require more than skimming the top of the standings to see who's playoff-bound. Instead, it will take scanning the records of the second-place clubs to see which is leading the wild-card race.
Last year, that would have been simple in the NL. The Braves and Giants, who began the final day of the season tied with 103 victories, both would have made it. Instead, the last-day drama, which wound up with Atlanta winning and San Francisco losing, merely would have been for playoff positioning.
"You're going to lose things like that," said Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Andy Van Slyke. "You've taken away those kinds of races, and that's what makes baseball exciting."
Then again, the Seattle Mariners, who never have made the playoffs, could get in this year with a second-place finish in the weak, four-team AL West. Or the revitalized Cleveland Indians could extend their season by finishing behind the Chicago White Sox in the new AL Central.
"I think the fact that more teams will be involved in races might be a good thing for baseball," Olerud said. "You might see teams in it that have not made it for a while."
That's what happened in 1969, when the leagues were split into divisions.
Coming off a 1968 season in which the Detroit Tigers and St. Louis were runaway pennant winners, seven teams were given permission to print playoff tickets when the 1969 races entered the stretch. One of those clubs was the New York Mets, who capped one of baseball's most incredible stories by winning the World Series.
This year, Olerud and the Blue Jays will try to make more history. Joe Carter's three-run homer off Philadelphia's Mitch Williams in the ninth inning of Game 6 made Toronto the first repeat champions since the 1977-78 New York Yankees. Now, the Blue Jays are aiming at Oakland's string of three titles.
Toronto will start this season without Carter, who broke a thumb when he was hit by a pitch. The Phillies will be without John Kruk, who is undergoing treatment for testicular cancer. The White Sox, winners of the AL West in 1993 and now in the Central, will be without Scott Radinsky, who has Hodgkin's disease. The Braves released Ron Gant, who broke a leg in a dirt-bike accident and will be sidelined at least until June.
Atlanta, with its rotation of two-time Cy Young winner Greg Maddux, one-time winner Tom Glavine and NL playoff MVPs Steve Avery and John Smoltz, is expected to win a tough NL East that includes Philadelphia and the Montreal Expos. Atlanta hopes to avoid becoming the first major-league team to reach the postseason in four consecutive years without winning the World Series.
Cleveland, with Dennis Martinez, Jack Morris and Eddie Murray, and Texas, with Will Clark, will try to reach the playoffs for the first time since the leagues split into divisions 25 years ago. Both teams are excited about their new, old-style ballparks. The Colorado Rockies will play their last season at Mile High Stadium before moving into new Coors Field.
Bonds and Frank Thomas will try to repeat as MVPs, and Juan Gonzalez, Ken Griffey Jr. and the new crop of AL stars will battle for the home run title. Sluggers Darryl Strawberry, Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco are back from injuries that cost them most of last year.
One player who did not miss any games last season was Ripken. The Baltimore shortstop extended his streak of consecutive games to 1,897, and if he continues to play every day, would break Gehrig's record of 2,130 in mid-June 1995.
by CNB