It's the division format's fault?

Silly me ... I thought that on the day the Yankees were eliminated from the playoffs they'd fade into the background. I should have known better. The Red Sox clinch a playoff berth and we get the following gem from Hank Steinbrenner:

"The biggest problem is the divisional setup in Major League Baseball. I didn't like it in the 1970s, and I hate it now. Baseball went to a multi-division setup to create more races, rivalries and excitement. But it isn't fair. You see it this season, with plenty of people in the media pointing out that Joe Torre and the Dodgers are going to the playoffs while we're not. This is by no means a knock on Torre -- let me make that clear -- but look at the division they're in. If L.A. were in the AL East, it wouldn't be in the playoff discussion. The AL East is never weak."

I wasn't around in the 1970's. I do remember the 4 division format (2 in the AL and 2 in the NL) we used to have. And, I remember the SF Giants being edged out by the Atlanta Braves after winning 103 games (the Braves won 104). Was that "fair"? That was the situation that year.

I'm fine with Hank speaking his mind, but a little discretion would go a long way. The World Series is contested between two teams, one from the AL and one from the NL. The Super Bowl pits one from the NFC against one from the NFC. The Western and Eastern Conference Champions meet in the NBA Finals. Recently, the NFC has been down a little bit, as has the Eastern Conference in basketball. But, there isn't a major professional sports league in the US that doesn't at least divide teams into two units.

So, why is Hank calling out the Los Angeles Dodgers? The Indianapolis Colts (AFC) don't keep the Dallas Cowboys (NFC) out of the playoffs. The Colorado Avalanche don't keep the Pittsburgh Penguins out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Dodgers aren't keeping the Yankees out of the playoffs. The Red Sox and Rays are keeping the Yankees out of the playoffs. Right now, the Angels and White Sox would be the other two AL teams playing in the postseason. If Hank wants a target to gripe at, he should leave Torre alone and focus on Ozzie Guillen and the White Sox.

Chicago (the White Sox) leads the Central at 86-70. Hank's Yanks have compiled a record of 86-71 thus far this season. So, if the teams with the best four records from the AL made the playoffs, it would be a tight race down the stretch between those two, the Twins (85-72) and the Blue Jays (83-74), to a lesser extent.

In the NL, five teams (the Cubs, Brewers, Astros, Phillies and Mets) have better records than the NL West leading Dodgers. Additionally, Florida and St. Louis have the same number of wins and just one more loss than Torre's club.

And, theoretically, the unbalanced schedule should be leveling things out (because you play more games against teams in your division, so a certain number of losses have to be distributed within your division - look at the NFC East in football, where the combined record of the teams is 10-2, with both losses being in divisional match-ups ... the 4 teams are 8-0 outside of the division!). So, it's not unreasonable to think that the Yankees are the 4th best team in the AL and that the Dodgers are the 8th best team in the NL.

The problem with the Yankees is that they haven't been healthy this year. Sidney Ponson and Darrell Rasner were 3rd and 4th (behind Mussina - how did he win 19 games this year? - and Pettitte) in games started. Wang got hurt. Pavano ... well, what did you expect? Hughes and Kennedy weren't effective. Joba did a decent job, but couldn't stay healthy as a starter. The Yankees were relying on Hughes and Kennedy getting the job done, and it didn't happen. And, despite the outrageous payroll, they didn't have a lot of depth heading into the year.

Wang, Mussina, Pettitte, Hughes and Kennedy with Pavano possibly contributing a few starts? Where's the redundancy? Ponson wasn't there at the start of the year. They didn't want to use Joba in the rotation this year. Maybe the thought was that they'd be able to get the wild card (no one thought the Rays would get 95+ wins). Maybe they thought they'd outscore teams. Unfortunately, the offense wasn't elite this year - currently, they are 11th in MLB in runs scored.

The problem in the bloated Yankees roster. The Yankees have so much money they should be smart and overpay for less years. Yes, I said overpay. Instead of signing Player A for $90 million over 6 years ($15 million per year), offer him $50-55 million for 3 years ($16.67-18.33 million per year). If the player performs well, you end up paying them more in the long run. However, you don't end up with money tied up in contracts with players like Johnny Damon, Jason Giambi, Carl Pavano, etc. It's worth a shot, at least.

And, when I hear people mentioning the names Ben Sheets and AJ Burnett as possibilities for the Yankees, I get pretty excited. Why? I'm not a Yankees fan. Why should the Yankees go after injury-prone starters? They shouldn't. They should pay a premium for durable, high-quality pitchers because they can afford them.

The Yankees shouldn't be upset about the current playoff format. They should be upset that the team they put together didn't win 100 games! And, they should look at this as an opportunity to figure out a better way to put the team together as they move forward.