Could Milton Bradley be on the move? What are the chances of the Dodgers making the playoffs? And exactly how erratic has Freddy Garcia been this season? All these questions, their answers, and much more news from Cleveland, Los Angeles, and Seattle in your Friday edition of Prospectus Triple Play.
Nine days ago, the Twins were up against the wall. They’d dropped the first two games of a four-game series in Chicago, falling two behind the White Sox in the AL Central. They’d be sending their ace, Johan Santana, to the mound for the third game, but that wasn’t without its perils–the heavily right-handed White Sox were slugging above .480 against southpaws. Even if the third game went their way, the Twins would be facing Esteban Loaiza, Cy Young contender, in the fourth game. They seemed certain to leave Chicago with a hill to climb, the only question was how big. Now, nine days ago seems like nine years ago. Last night’s 5-3 win over the Sox was the fifth game in a row the Twins had taken from their chief rival, and it extended their AL Central lead to 3.5 games over the Sox. With seven of their last nine games against the Tigers, and a magic number of seven, it seems like just a matter of time before the Twins become–you taking notes, Bud?–back-to-back AL Central champions.
There have been massive overhauls of the internal structure of baseball
over the last 10 years. Major League Baseball expanded to Colorado and
Florida in 1993, realigned and added the Wild Card in 1995, introduced
interleague play in 1997, and expanded to Arizona and Tampa Bay in 1998.
Each of these changes necessitated a change in major league baseball’s
scheduling, but in each of these changes a balanced schedule was maintained;
the schedule made sure teams played every other team in the league an almost
equal number of times. There was no such thing as strength of schedule.
Starting in 2001, MLB implemented an unbalanced
schedule with the usual amount of fanfare and fan disgust that usually
accompanies such changes. The change increased games between teams in the
same division while decreasing the number of games against other teams in
the league. The reasons behind the change were many, but certainly one of
the most prevalent was that increasing the meetings between divisional
rivals would pique fan interest and peak attendance and, subsequently,
revenue. Who wouldn’t want more games between the Red Sox and Yankees? Or
the Cubs and Cardinals? Or the Devil Rays and Orioles?