The Craziness That Could Have Been

There will be plenty of time for finger pointing later. We will play the blame game and we will discuss who should stay and who should go, as well as who will stay and who will go. There is a whole offseason to discuss these issues, and I will be taking advantage of the time.

Today, however, it is more of a what might have been scenario. Imagine if the Mets beat the Marlins the last day of the season. That would have left four teams in the National League with identical records. The Mets and the Phillies would have, of course, had identical records, atop the Eastern division. The Rockies and the Padres would have also finished in a tie for the wild card, with those two teams have the same record as the Mets and Phills.

If that had happened, I would have thought the Mets play the Phills in a one game play off, with the loser going home. I would have thought that the Pads and Rockies would have done the same, a one game playoff with the loser going home. To me, that makes sense.

I heard something, however, and I may have missed it, that suggested had the four teams finished with identical records it would have set up a three way playoff set for the wildcard. I certainly may have missed something, but I believe the thinking goes like this… Since the Mets and Phillies would play a one-game playoff, the loser of that game would have finished with an identical record to the other two teams, before the playoff game. If that is the case, than there would have to be a three way playoff. Now, I always thought that the playoff game was consider part of the regular season, but this would seem to suggest otherwise.

It is fun to play the what if scenarios. Unfortunately that is the only thing fans will have to play with during the last season. I guess, there is always next year.