No, they didn’t get tanked like last years Boston Red Sox team, but they did fail to try their best in order to win games at the end of the 2010 season. That’s exactly what the team GM said:
“I’m not taking away from Tampa Bay, but we didn’t try to win the division,” Cashman said. “We tried to line ourselves up for the playoffs and that worked. “The division title was rendered meaningless the way the set-up was. It really meant nothing more than a T-shirt and a hat.”
WHOA! Okay, seriously now. That is kinda what the Yankees should have done once they were in that position. This isn’t like football where the offense needs to keep their rhythm and timing down. The most important thing in baseball is having your pitchers rested, and giving up an extra-home game is worth that shot. It worked out in for the Yankees as well. They ended up with a much more favorable matchup for the Divisional Round, going up against the Twins. The Yanks swept them, and ended up in the ALCS for the second year in a row.
This line by Cashman just helps solidify why Bud Selig wants to add that additional Wild Card team to the playoff mix. It will force teams to finish out their season, rather than think they can just idle down with the playoff spot secured. The new rule still sucks, because more teams in the playoffs isn’t a need in baseball. It just opens the door for further expansion down the road, and I could completely see the 162 game season being shortened to accommodate that.
Baseball has more champions than any other sport. Let the NBA and NHL let half their league in to just lose to the same 9 teams every 10 years.
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