Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 30, 1995 TAG: 9507310031
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO COLUMN} JACK
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
First, the Indians get snookered out of their first division title and first AL pennant chance in more than four decades last summer because of the strike. This year, the Indians might like to throw the format for the new first round of playoffs into Lake Erie.
Only in baseball can the game's best story of the season - a team that has only 7,000 seats left to sell at Jacobs Field over the next two months - be victimized by a backhanded play.
Of course, we're talking about a sport that has done such a wonderful job marketing itself that people now think the most famous No.3 in history is Dale Earnhardt, not Babe Ruth.
As for the Tribe, there's a quick two strikes in the postseason. Not only will the Indians have to play the first two games in the first best-of-five AL divisional playoff series on the road, they may have to meet the team with the second-best record in the league. A similar situation could face the team down I-71, National League Central Division-leading Cincinnati.
Before the divisional series was struck out last year, Bud Selig and the other Lords of the Big Flies came up with a perennial rotation system for the host team in each series. One club would be the host for Games 1-2 and the series would move for the final three games, if all are necessary.
You've probably read that the team with the best record in each league is to play the wild-card team (the second-place team with the best percentage), with the other two division winners meeting in the other series.
However, what you may not have read is that other factors can come into play in the pairings. First, no team can play another from the same division in the first round. Second, since the home-park schedule goes according to rotation, teams scheduled to play at home in Games 1-2 obviously can't meet. Third, a wild card can't have the home-field advantage in the final three games of a series.
This year, the AL East and West winners are scheduled to serve as hosts for Games 3-5. That means the Central winner - it's an Indian summer - will be home for Games 1-2. So will the wild-card team. That means the Indians couldn't play the wild-card - as the NFL teams with the better records do.
Here's strike two: If California wins the West and Texas is the wild card, or vice versa, they can't play in the first round as divisional foes. The Indians already can't play the wild card because of the home-park rotation.
If two West teams are in the AL's final four, Cleveland couldn't play AL East champ Boston - the current leader with the third-best record among division leaders - because California and Texas can't play. So, the Indians and Angels would be the matchup, meaning one of the two best AL teams (if the standings don't change) would be eliminated in the first round.
In that scenario, it would be better to be the wild card from the West than the champion from the West. Carrying Cleveland's potential a round further - again, because of a predetermined rotation - the Tribe can't have four dates at ``The Jake by the Lake'' in the best-of-seven AL Championship Series. That's because the rotation says West, then East, then Central is the home priority this year.
So, Cleveland can get Games 1-2 and 6-7 at home in the ALCS only if the other first-round survivor is the wild-card team. The AL champ will get four home games in a best-of-seven World Series, however.
In the NL, the situation isn't quite as lopsided for the team with the best record, although the East and Central winners - Atlanta and Cincinnati? - will begin with Games 1-2 on the road. If the wild card is from the same division as the team with the best record, however, those teams can't meet in the first round.
In the NLCS, the home-park advantage for Games 1-2 and 6-7, in order, is Central, East, West.
And you thought the only rotations that were meaningful in a short series were those decided by managers?
by CNB