What if Major League Baseball's World Championship was treated like a Professional Wrestling championship belt, potentially changing hands with each contest?
I'll admit that I shamelessly stole this idea from my other great love, college hockey. However, the structure of college hockey's post season is such that the belt pretty much has to return to the national championship every year (since just about every team makes its conference tournament, and those tournament champs automatically get a spot in the NCAA tournament in addition to the top 12-16 ranked teams). In Major League Baseball on the other hand, there's a decent chance that a team can win the last few games of their season, including taking over the belt, and still not get one of the 8 playoff spots. How often does this happen? I'm not sure.
But I'm interested in finding out.
Below is a proof of concept, tracing the 2009 World Championship belt through the 2010 season, to the 2010 World Championship. If I have the free time (while planning a wedding, starting a new job, training for assorted marathons etc.) I'll trace the championship belt further back.
But I will also trace the belt through this season. If you're interested at all (and really, how could you NOT be?) I'll be posting updates here every time the belt changes hands. Thanks for reading!
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Nov 4 2009 -April 8 2010: New York Yankees
April 9 : Tampa Bay Rays
April 10 - April 13 : New York Yankees
April 14 : Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
April 15 - April 21 : New York Yankees
April 22 - April 23 : Oakland Athletics
April 24 : Cleveland Indians
April 25 - April 26 : Oakland Athletics
April 27 - April 29 : Tampa Bay Rays
April 30 - May 1 : Kansas City Royals
May 2 - May 7 : Tampa Bay Rays
May 8 - May 11 : Oakland Athletics
May 12 - May 13 : Texas Rangers
May 14 - May 16 : Toronto Blue Jay
May 17 : Minnesota Twins
May 18 - May 19 : Toronto Blue Jays
May 20 - May 21 : Seattle Mariners
May 22 - May 26 : San Diego Padres
May 27 - May 28 : St. Louis Cardinals
May 29 : Chicago Cubs
May 30 - May 31 : St. Louis Cardinals
June 1 : Cincinnati Reds
June 2 - June 5 : St. Louis Cardinals
June 6 - June 8 : Milwaukee Brewers
June 9 : Chicago Cubs
June 10 - June 11 : Milwaukee Brewers
June 12 - June 24 : Texas Rangers
June 25 : Houston Astros
June 26 - June 28 : Texas Rangers
June 29 : Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
June 30 : Texas Rangers
July 1 : Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
July 2 - July 3 : Kansas City Royals
July 4 : Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
July 5 - July 15 : Chicago White Sox
July 16 - July 18 : Minnesota Twins
July 19 - July 20 : Cleveland Indians
July 21 - July 22 : Minnesota Twins
July 23 : Baltimore Orioles
July 24 - Aug 1 : Minnesota Twins
Aug 2 - Aug 3 : Tampa Bay Rays
Aug 4 - Aug 5 : Minnesota Twins
Aug 6 : Cleveland Indians
Aug 7 - Aug 10 : Minnesota Twins
Aug 11 : Chicago White Sox
Aug 12 - Aug 18 : Minnesota Twins
Aug 19 - Aug 20 : Chicago White Sox
Aug 21 : Kansas City Royals
Aug 21 : Chicago White Sox
Aug 22 : Kansas City Royals
Aug 23 - Aug 24 : Detroit Tigers
Aug 25 -Aug 26 : Kansas City Royals
Aug 27 - Aug 28 : Cleveland Indians
Aug 29 : Kansas City Royals
Aug 30 : Texas Rangers
Aug 31 : Kansas City Royals
Sept 1 - Sept 2 : Texas Rangers
Sept 3 - Sept 9 : Minnesota Twins
Sept 10 : Cleveland Indians
Sept 11 - Sept 16 : Minnesota Twins
Sept 17 : Oakland Athletics
Sept 18 : Minnesota Twins
Sept 19 - Sept 21 : Oakland Athletics
Sept 22 - Sept 26 : Chicago White Sox
Sept 27 : Boston Red Sox
Sept 28 - Sept 30 : Chicago White Sox
Oct 1 : Cleveland Indians
Oct 2 - Oct 3 : Chicago White Sox
Championship Belt does NOT end up in the post season. That's not going to stop me from tracking it this season. Some interesting data from the above experiment:
- Every team in the American League held the belt at some point.
- The belt spent the most time in the American League Central
- The Minnesota Twins successfully defended the belt the most times.
- This is a lot more work for MLB than it is for NCAA hockey.
Enjoy the baseball season y'all!
2 comments:
Hmm... what if you treated a series of games between two rivals as one "contest" for purposes of the belt competition? I'd say the belt stays in the same place in the event of a 2-2 tie in a series of four games...
That lessens the work a tad, too.
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