{"id":387,"date":"2009-09-30T15:21:08","date_gmt":"2009-09-30T19:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=387"},"modified":"2009-09-30T15:24:44","modified_gmt":"2009-09-30T19:24:44","slug":"just-get-in-the-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=387","title":{"rendered":"“Just Get in the Tournament”"},"content":{"rendered":"This line, as odd as it may seem considering his situation every year, has\u00a0been uttered multiple times by Yankees GM Brian Cashman, in response to various questions ranging from “Are you worried\u00a0about how your team is playing heading into the playoffs?” to “How much do you concern yourself with winning the division if you have already clinched at least a\u00a0wild card?”\u00a0 “Just get in the tournament,” is his line.\u00a0 And, that is what the Phillies, with a win or a Braves loss, will do tonight.<\/p>\n
![](\"http:\/\/www3.allaroundphilly.com\/blogs\/delcotimes\/ryanl\/uploaded_images\/p1.charlie.manuel-789496.jpg\")
Are they “peaking” at the “right time” (or however the cliche goes)?\u00a0 No, most certainly not.\u00a0 Are they the best team in the National League?\u00a0 Maybe, but probably not.\u00a0 Are they sound in the areas deemed most important to postseason success?\u00a0 Definitely not, at least when talking about the bullpen.\u00a0 But, are they in the tournament?\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 And, with what the baseball playoffs have become over the past decade or so, Cashman is right when he says the only thing that matters is “getting into the tournament.”<\/p>\n
Let us look back at this decade’s baseball champions and see what Cashman is talking about:<\/p>\n
\n- 2000 Yankees<\/u>:\u00a0\u00a0When you think about it, you probably think, like I did,\u00a0“what a great team that was.”\u00a0 They had won\u00a0three of the prior four championships, and featured a core of\u00a0the game’s elite players.\u00a0 But, what if I told that they only won 87 games, and that\u00a0every other playoff team that year plus\u00a0the Cleveland Indians, who didn’t make it, won three more games than the Yanks?\u00a0\u00a0There was also a lot of talk about just how awful the Yanks were playing heading into the playoffs.\u00a0 And, they got in the tournament and won.<\/li>\n
- 2001 Diamondbacks<\/u>:\u00a0 This was a very good team, but certainly not the favorites (winning fewer games than both the Astros and Cardinals)\u00a0and, most definitely, not without their question marks.\u00a0 They had acquired Schilling in midseason and after the top two pitchers, they really had no one.\u00a0 And, need I remind you of the name Byung-Hyun Kim?\u00a0 Yes, he was their closer.\u00a0 But, they got into the tournament.<\/li>\n
- 2002 Angels<\/u>:\u00a0 A wild-card team that was led by David Eckstein and those stupid Rally Monkeys.\u00a0 Not exactly a recipe for over-confident fans, huh?\u00a0 Oh, and you might say, “Yeah, well they did have a dominant closer in Francisco Rodriguez.”\u00a0 And, you would be right–he was dominant in the playoffs.\u00a0 But, entering the 2002 playoffs, he had ZERO career saves, and was only 20 years old.\u00a0 But, they got into the tournament.<\/li>\n
- 2003 Marlins<\/u>:\u00a0 Another wild-card team that finished ten <\/em>games behind the Braves in the NL East.\u00a0 Yes, they were playing great ball in the second half, but do you think anyone on September 30, 2003, would say “You know who I’m picking to win it all?\u00a0 The Marlins.”\u00a0 Probably no one other than the 14 die-hard Marlins fans.\u00a0 And, maybe Brian Cashman, who realizes that it’s all about getting into the tournament.<\/li>\n
- 2004 Red Sox<\/u>:\u00a0 They had not won in 86 years (in case you forgot) and lost the division to the Yankees–a division title they probably should have won, but limped through September and ended up as\u00a0the wild card.\u00a0 But, they got in.<\/li>\n
- 2005 White Sox<\/u>:\u00a0 Here is where is starts to get even better.\u00a0 The White Sox took the lead of the AL Central in late-April and never looked back–sort of.\u00a0 They did lead for almost the entire season, but if you don’t recall, they almost choked away the division to the Indians in the final month.\u00a0 They had a questionable closer, no momentum, and no pedigree.\u00a0 But, what did they do?\u00a0 They got in the tournament.<\/li>\n
![](\"http:\/\/media3.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/content\/photo\/2006\/10\/24\/PH2006102401507.jpg\")
2006 Cardinals<\/u>:\u00a0 This might be the absolute best example of the point I’ve been trying to make for far too long here.\u00a0 The Cardinals won 83 games in the regular season.\u00a0 They BARELY <\/em>held on to a division and avoided the “worst collapse of all-time,” as all the sports writers dubbed it as it was happening.\u00a0 They were also called the “worst playoff team ever.”\u00a0 Oh, and their closer?\u00a0 It was Jason Isringhausen up until mid-September when he blew his 10th save and was replaced as the closer.\u00a0 The Cards turned to a rookie starter to be their closer (Adam Wainwright, meet JA Happ) and the rest is history (including a nasty, nasty <\/em>curveball that Mets fans probably remember all too well).\u00a0 They got in the tournament, and despite all their warts and baggage, they won it all.<\/li>\n- 2007 Red Sox<\/u>:\u00a0 Probably the best (or one of the best) team in the league, but they didn’t exactly finish strong either.\u00a0 Plus, they had a closer, who was a\u00a0starter in the minors,\u00a0in only his second season as a closer.\u00a0 But, they got in the tournament.<\/li>\n
- 2008 Phillies<\/u>:\u00a0 It is great to think of all of this happening to these other teams.\u00a0 The White Sox and Red Sox breaking their long streaks of ineptitude.\u00a0 The Cardinals winning 83 games, but somehow winning the title.\u00a0 The D-Backs winning their first.\u00a0 The Marlins winning their second (having NEVER won the division).\u00a0 But, that is just stuff that happens somewhere else.\u00a0 Not in Philadelphia, right?\u00a0 Wrong.\u00a0 Last year, for those who don’t know, the Phillies won the World Series.\u00a0 And, trust me, they were not <\/em>the favorites going into the playoffs.\u00a0 But, what they did was exactly what they are about to do this year–THEY GOT IN THE TOURNAMENT.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![](\"http:\/\/againstthespread.files.wordpress.com\/2008\/12\/worldfingchampions.jpg\")
So, let us not worry ourselves with closers or slumping offenses or breaking-down starting pitchers.\u00a0 Let us not worry about 1964 or Mitch Williams or anything like that.\u00a0 Let us celebrate the next Phillies victory as if they accomplished EXACTLY what they needed to accomplish through the 162-game season.\u00a0 They, like seven other teams will, won the regular season.\u00a0 There are 8 winners and 22 losers, and with one more win, the Phillies will assure themselves a place as one of those winners.\u00a0 They will, simply put, get in the tournament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This line, as odd as it may seem considering his situation every year, has\u00a0been uttered multiple times by Yankees GM Brian Cashman, in response to various questions ranging from “Are you worried\u00a0about how your team is playing heading into the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[16],"class_list":["post-387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mlb","tag-phillies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}