Breaking down the FL's tiebreaker games
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1. They said there was a sound reason for using the rule, though almost all admitted hating it and saying it was not real baseball. Washington's Bob Bozzuto and Schaumburg's Jamie Bennett were the two who spoke most passionately to me against the tiebreaker. Only two managers I spoke with said they liked the rule.
2. They said it would heavily favor the home team. The conventional wisdom was that, to borrow the analogy used by Evansville manager Andy McCauley, it would be like college football overtimes. The visiting team wouldn't know if playing it safe and for one run would be enough to win. The home team always would know if it should play for one run or the big inning.
It turned out that the visiting teams dominated ITR games.
There were 25 tiebreaker games played and the visiting team registered a 16-9 record. The road team won each of the first six tiebreaker games played.
The only team that managed to go the entire season without playing in a tiebreaker game was Windy City. Joliet played its first ITB in the final game of the regular season.
Washington and Rockford played the most tiebreaker games with six each. Both teams went 2-4.
Three teams went undefeated in the ITB format. Normal was 4-0, the Greys were 3-0 and Joliet 1-0.
The only team that played an ITB game and failed to win one was Lake Erie, which was 0-2.
posted by Chris Dugan at
1:59 PM
6 Comments:
What a joke. Leave the international rules for the Goodwill Games, because nobody's watching that.
I spoke with Bill Lee in August about the tie-breaker rule. I told him how most of the fans didn't like it because it isn't "real baseball". Mr. Lee explained to me all the reasons the Frontier League implemented the rule. I get the impression that the real reason the League adopted the rule had very little to do with shortening the time it took to play a game. From the explanation he gave me, the reason for the rule, at least in the Frontier League, had a LOT more to do with economics than any other reason. I also got the feeling that the rule will NOT be going away as many of us had hoped for. I sure hope I'm wrong of that but, from the tenor of his explanation, I doubt it.
Ima Fraid
Play until you win said,
"What a joke. Leave the international rules for the Goodwill Games, because nobody's watching that".
Nobody watches the Wild Things either. Been to a game lately? The ballpark is an
echo chamber.
There won't be any games at the park after 2016 so I suppose it really doesn't matter what the outcome is on the tie breaker rule stuff. Long live the once prosperous and beloved Wild Things.
Economics? What increased cost is there in a 12-inning game vs. a 10-inning game? The vast majority of gameday staff is cut loose by the ninth inning anyway, so your remaining staff is primarily salaried at that point. Lights cost money, but we are talking roughly high two digits per hour (YMMV).
According to Mr. Lee, it ALL has to do with workers comp which, according to him is "killing" the League in cost. You know, the old 'injured arms' of pitchers that
result from overuse from having to pitch too many innings!
I don't buy it either, but Mr. Lee is a really nice man and who am I to argue with him because he knows the facts in regard to workers comp and I don't.
One big mistake Mr. Lee, and the Frontier League made was to ever let a person as Stu Williams get a foothold on the inner-workings of the League. Already Mr. Williams has filed lawsuits because, as I understand it, he feels the League has
somehow caused him to lose some money. I don't completely understand the issue so I won't make any judgment about the validity of the claim. Nevertheless, it certainly doesn't make for good publicity.
One thing I do know however, and I'm not the only one that feels this way, is that the Wild Things have taken a huge nosedive in fan support since Mr. Williams arrived on the scene.
I keep reading here about the Wild Things leaving after the 2016 season. To be honest, I believe every word of it. If he wanted to keep the team here he would not have allowed the situation to deteriorate to it's present state. Also, you don't hear any denial coming for his office, do you? Nuff' said!
Ima Fraid
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