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October 07, 2005
Bud: Sox Co-Champs
Five days ago, I predicted this. From the Boston Globe:
If Red Sox executive vice president Charles Steinberg and his marketing gurus wish to unveil a banner declaring the Red Sox 2005 cochampions of the American League East, it appears that will be the team's prerogative.
"If I were running the Red Sox," commissioner Bud Selig said last night, standing in the press box at US Cellular Field, "I would declare myself cochamps."
Said Steinberg: "It sounds like we agree with the commissioner."
The Red Sox and Yankees finished atop the AL East with 95-57 records but the Yankees were declared division champions, by way of head-to-head competition (10-9).
Selig's office, through a spokesperson, said the Yankees were declared champions of the East for postseason seeding purposes. Similarly, the Red Sox were declared wild-card winners for seeding purposes.
There is no established rule for whether a team is a cochampion.
"It's just a matter of common sense," Selig said.
If I were the Yankees, I would declare myself "Continuous A.L. East Champions 1998-2005." That's just a matter of common sense too.
Posted by Steve Lombardi at October 7, 2005 09:32 AM
Comments
If I were the Yankees, I would declare myself "Continuous A.L. East Champions 1998-2005." That's just a matter of common sense too.
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Not much different from the Reds flying a banner that said they had the best record in 1981.
This is one of the few times I agree with Selig.
Posted by: Raf at October 7, 2005 11:01 AM
Mike from Baseball Toaster has a good take on this.
http://mikesrants.baseballtoaster.com/archives/272255.html
Posted by: Jen at October 7, 2005 12:35 PM
Nice article, but he overlooks the fact that the Yanks & RSox won the same number of games.
Any banner that the Sox print up will not contradict the standings. Both teams have a "-" in the GB column. They were tied for first.
So, what happens if both teams had went 9-9 vs. each other? Would they have decided the division on a coin flip?
Posted by: Raf at October 7, 2005 01:05 PM
They play 19 games against each other. They couldn't have gone 9-9.
Posted by: Jen at October 7, 2005 01:10 PM
Where in baseball rules are co-champions allowed?
Selig is a known idiot who is obsessed with Jackie Robinson.
Posted by: Don at October 7, 2005 01:31 PM
If they were "co-champs", then why were the RS designated the WC. Sorry Bud, but under the rules as currently compiled the Yankees are the AL East champs.
Posted by: rbj at October 7, 2005 01:33 PM
And, it was Buds rule that made the WC!
Posted by: Steve Lombardi at October 7, 2005 02:13 PM
They play 19 games against each other. They couldn't have gone 9-9.
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They won the series 10-8 this year
Posted by: Raf at October 7, 2005 02:49 PM
Maybe ESPN is wrong?
Posted by: Raf at October 7, 2005 02:52 PM
If they'd gone 9-9, there would have been a tie-breaker. Only one team can be the division champion.
Yanks win coin flip to host playoff tiebreaker
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2159537
Posted by: TomP at October 7, 2005 03:01 PM
The Yankees won the season series 10-9. They wrapped up the tie breaker between the two teams last Saturday, the win giving the Yankees a 10-8 lead. Then the Sox won Sunday, to make it 10-9.
Think George will sue for false advertizing?
Posted by: rbj at October 7, 2005 03:06 PM
Hey guys, after the sweep they're going to need to wrap the co-champs flag around themselves. Very surprising to see the Red Sox lose like that, I think they were too cocky going in to this thing.
Posted by: JeremyM at October 7, 2005 07:54 PM
Good work by Duque & Contreras... Why can't the Yanks get pitchers like that? :D
Posted by: Raf at October 8, 2005 09:52 PM