Baseball's Triad of Chaos: Bring it on

While last year’s addition of the second wild card spot revamped the pennant race, this year we could see an improbable three team round robin that should scramble the equilibrium.

With the Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers, and Cleveland Indians all separated in the wild card standings by a game, it makes sense that there are three teams fighting for two spots.

But if they all finish with the same regular season record, one team could opt to be team C as opposed to team A in the tiebreaker.

Confused yet? Don’t worry that’s normal. Here is how the three way tie would be unknotted.

Hypothetically if the Rangers, Indians and Rays all finish with the same record the team with the best record against the other potential wild card opponents will host the team with the second best record out of the three.

In laments terms this means the Cleveland Indians would host the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday. These are teams A and B.

This is because Cleveland went a combined 7-5 against the Rays and Rangers this year. Tampa Bay went a combined 7-6 against the Rangers and Indians this year, so they are team B.

Let’s say for all intents and purposes that the Rays go on the road, get a strong performance from David Price at the Jake and take the win from a jilted Cleveland Indians team.

This means that Tampa Bay gets to fly home to Saint Petersburg and host either the Indians or Rangers on Wednesday.

By (hypothetically) beating Cleveland, the Rays secure their claim to the first of two wild card slots and get to be the home team for the Rangers/ Indians showdown.

But before getting to Wednesday we have to hop back in the Delorean and travel back to Tuesday where the Texas Rangers would host the Cleveland Indians for the right to be the second wild card team.

The Rangers have the advantage of home field, yet Cleveland cancels that out by getting two shots to clinch the final wildcard slot as opposed to Texas’ one.

Regardless of the winner of Texas and Cleveland, the winner of the Tuesday night game will be the second wild card team. The second wild card team will have to fly out to Tampa and play the Rays because they became the first wild card team by winning.

Then everything goes back to the regular one game play in that did so well last year.

In hindsight the process is not especially confusing and this added wrinkle of three-teams-fight-for-two-spots-to-turn-around-and-fight-for-one-spot makes things far more interesting.

Imagine the spectacle of the oft underrated Rays team that could beat Cleveland on Monday and host a play in game that Wednesday.

Imagine being the Texas Rangers stumbling into a home game playoff atmosphere with a chance to end someone’s season in Arlington.

Or you could be the Cleveland Indians. By beating Tampa Bay and sending your good vibes over to help Texas win, you could knock out Tampa Bay and avoid playoff baseball in that dungeon that the Rays call a ballpark.

We could see three teams fighting for two spots to fight for one spot; let the chaos reign. 

Good on the Field, Bad in the Booth.

Whether Al Michaels is welcoming us to this broadcast of the NFL, Marv Albert coming to us live from Madison Square Garden, or Mike Emrick describing the “shoooootttt” of a hockey player, fans of all sports gather around their media outlet of choice to hear or see the action.

Obviously not every game is going to be the Miracle on Ice. And yes Jack Buck is probably going to believe what he just saw on 94 percent of the plays in a baseball game.

Regardless, sporting events have the potential to be positive experiences for everyone watching, or listening, to them. For this reason, it is so disheartening to see color commentators who hinder the viewing experience by butchering its content.

Take former Red Sox pitcher Derrick Lowe for example. Lowe had career moments that dropped about as much as his average sinker. From 1997-1999 Lowe had a 5-15 record as he was bounced back and forth from starter to reliever.

Ultimately Lowe turned around his career and turned out to be a perfectly average pitcher. Yet the clichéd transition from former pro to color guy hasn’t worked well for him.

He seems out of place in the booth and all too eager to belittle himself in an unproductive manor. He takes away from the game that is happening while trying to fixate on a point that lost its validity three batters ago.

While there is nothing wrong with a professional athlete who is willing to poke fun of himself repeatedly (because the Peyton Manning cut that meat commercial was, and still is, the funniest sports commercial of all time) the broadcast booth isn’t always the place to do it.

Still, pro athletes take up the booth in order to bring the game to their eyes. Though this route isn’t for everyone, even the best players stink with a microphone.

John Miller of ESPN spent years throwing his back out on live air to drag Joe Morgan through insufferable Sunday Night Baseball games. And Dennis Eckersley single handedly brought homer-ism from the Red Sox booth to a level most people didn’t know existed.

The booth isn’t meant for everyone, and yet countless athletes try to make it their saving grace after leaving the game they love.

If that is the case, then there is no reason why athletes who take the responsibility of the booth shouldn’t try to be great at it.

There is no shame in a former athlete turned commentator spending time in the film room reviewing their own diction and deliverance. Since watching film has been engrained in most athletes anyway, there is no reason to think they can’t at least improve by watching for their mistakes.

Perfect example of this would be ESPN’s Aaron Boone. When he first joined the Baseball Tonight crew in 2010 Boone was not able to string together thoughts in an intelligent way.

Three years and countless broadcasts later, Boone has gone from a seemingly non talent to quality talent. His thoughts flow from his mouth like a waterfall in a Poland Springs commercial today.

While he may not have attended the Connecticut School of Broadcasting in order to correct his prior errors, there has been a significant improvement in Boone’s booth game.

If an athlete is going to be a color guy or analyst after their playing career is over, they have to know their takes shape the viewing experiences of fans everywhere.

Or else they’ll sound like Derrick Lowe, Joe Morgan, and Dennis Eckersley: good on the field, but morons behind the mike.