Division realignment

The divisions have been realigned.

Chris and I were witnesses, and we had a neutral third party paper-picker going with an arbitrary system of 1 sheet of paper at a time, back and forth on divisions.


DIVISION 1
Adam
Chris
Ken
Dave
Hal
Mike

DIVISION 2
Andy
Shea
Rick
Jack
Joe
Bob

League trivia: Did you know Chris is the only one with a first name longer than 4 letters in this league?
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Critics get louder over unbalanced divisions

In the comments section of the power rankings, Mike posted his thoughts on the biggest surprise of the season.

"I voted other," he wrote. "I am most surprised that at this point in (the) season, 5 of the 6 playoff teams are from one division."

If the playoffs started today, the Twitter Division would only get one playoff team in - the division winner. And it would be the first time in league history we've even been remotely close to seeing that.

Well, Mike isn't the only one talking about that.


The criticism for the league setup has been getting louder lately. Much like the NFL was bashed when the Seattle Seahawks got a home game this past season with a 7-9 record, we are hearing people talk about whether it's fair that Ken, Chris, or Shea (the possible division winner) will get a first-round bye. None of the three seems to be able to win lately, and the division winner could have a worse record, potentially as bad as .500, than other playoff teams.

Jack is 8-5-2 and in fourth place in the Facebook Division. If he were in the Twitter Division, he'd be in first place.

On Pardon The Interruption today, co-host Michael Wilbon said: "It's a major issue that needs to be looked at in the offseason." Tony Kornheiser wasn't in that camp, bashing Wilbon and other critics for getting worked up over something so rare.

"Look, everyone just needs to calm down, OK? This NEVER has happened before and probably won't ever again. And we still have a lot of season left. So everyone just calm down a notch!"

Meanwhile, over on SI.com, there was a feature story by Jon Heyman about the negative heat the league is getting over this. And on Twitter today, "MTL divisions" was a trending topic for much of the day.

Which side are you on? Is it wrong that a division winner could have a worse record than another playoff team and still get a first-round bye?
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A telling sign

We've opined all season about the difference in talent in the divisions. The Facebook division seems to be far and away superior to the Twitter division.

Here's some more proof.


The Twitter Facebook division has made a combined 84 moves (average of 14 per team). The Facebook Twitter division has made a combined 120 moves (average of 20 per team)!

Remember, you only get 45 and we're not even halfway through the season. A big, telling sign.

Five of the six Twitter teams have made at least 19 moves, whereas only last-place Dave has made that many in Facebook.

Certainly a good indicator that the steady teams are in Facebook.
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Bob gets it done

The defending champ has prevailed.

After a entertaining last-week match to decide the division, Bob and Adam went down to the wire, needing all the way until Sunday to decide the Tiger Woods champion.


Bob, the league's defending champ, has won the matchup. He gets the league's top seed, division prize bonus, and a bye.

"The champ is here," Bob posted on his matchup smack talk shortly after clinching the victory.

Bob had a tremendous Sunday, winning with stellar hitting and some timely managing.

Adam, on the other hand, gave a valiant effort but will be the No. 3 seed in the playoffs. And it will be costly missing out on the bye as it looks like star Josh Hamilton will be out for at least the first week of the playoffs.
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Handicapping all four tight races

One of the beauties of August fantasy baseball is the pennant races. We currently have two really great division races and a jam-packed wildcard race. Heck, even the last-place race should come down to the wire.


The Tiger Woods division features Bob and Adam, each vying for not just the division title but first place overall.

The Elin Nordegren division is a three-way race between Hal, Andy and Chris.

The wildcard race likely will come down to Shea, Joe, Jack and Rick fighting for one playoff spot.

The last-place race has Mike, Ken and Dave dueling it out.

I have taken the liberty to break down each of these races based on strength of schedule over the final three weeks.

One key thing with fantasy baseball is that because of the tiebreaker rules (win percentage in Week 22 for wildcard, division record for division) it's really a wide open race. Head-to-head might not matter for a regular-season tiebreaker, so as long as you're within one game, you could have a legitimate shot.

TIGER WOODS
Adam
vs. Mike
vs. Dave
vs. Bob
Opponents' win percentage: .465

Bob
vs. Dave
vs. Jack
vs. Adam
Opponents' win percentage: .491

ELIN NORDEGREN
Hal
vs. Shea
vs. Chris
vs. Ken
Opponents' win percentage: .465

Andy
vs. Chris
vs. Rick
vs. Shea
Opponents' win percentage: .482

Chris
vs. Andy
vs. Hal
vs. Rick
Opponents' win percentage: .535

WILDCARD
Shea
vs. Hal
vs. Ken
vs. Andy
Opponents' win percentage: .518

Jack
vs. Joe
vs. Bob
vs. Mike
Opponents' win percentage: .509

Joe
vs. Jack
vs. Mike
vs. Dave
Opponents' win percentage: .368

Rick
vs. Ken
vs. Andy
vs. Chris
Opponents' win percentage: .500

LAST PLACE
Ken
vs. Rick
vs. Shea
vs. Hal
Opponents' win percentage: .500

Mike
vs. Adam
vs. Joe
vs. Jack
Opponents' win percentage: .535

Dave
vs. Bob
vs. Adam
vs. Joe
Opponents' win percentage: .632

So, there you have it. If we are calculating results based on this only, we have Adam and Hal favored to win their divisions, with Joe the frontrunner to grab the final wildcard spot. And, Dave, sorry, but you're penciled in for last place.

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A tale of two divisions

Boy, would Joe, Jack and Dave like to switch divisions with Rick.

Why, you ask? Rick is in last place in the Elin Nordegren Division with a 5-8-2 record. He is only 2.5 games out of first place. Jack and Joe (6-8-1) and Dave (5-8-2) are in the Tiger Woods Division and 4 and 4.5 games out, respectively.


Amazingly, Rick still has a shot to win his division. And he said he thinks he still has a shot, as well.

"No matter what division we are in, we are going to play hard and try to make the playoffs," Rick said. "It's just a lucky break that we can be in last place in the division and still compete."

All six teams are packed together like riders during a Tour de France stage. No one at the top seems to want to take control. Andy and Hal can't seem to win anymore, Chris has more name changes than victories lately, and Shea has been too inconsistent. Even Ken couldn't take advantage of an opportunity last week.

"It's an extremely competitive and exciting division," Shea said. "It'll be a race to the end."

There's two ways to look at this. One - managers can feel like a loss is not so much a blown opportunity because everyone else in the division is just average. Or, two, managers can get frustrated that they're not taking advantage of other team's mediocrity.

The latter was how Shea felt after a bad week vs. Bob.

"My team cannot afford to flop and lose like we did (last) week," Shea said shortly after Sunday's matchups ended. "It was a pathetic performance, and we missed a key opportunity to take down one of the top teams in the league. We aren't looking to sneak into the playoffs. We should be in first place right now."

Meanwhile, in the other division, Bob and Adam are fighting it out for a title. Adding to the drama even further is that they play each other in Week 22, the final week. As long as there is no more than a one-game separation, that matchup will decide the division title.

Both Adam and Bob have 10 wins, and 11 is usually the benchmark to making the playoffs. Only three teams (Chris in 2009, Dave/Joe in 2007) have missed the playoffs with 11 wins.

It'd take a heck of a double-meltdown to have anyone other than one of these teams win the Tiger Woods Division. Joe, Jack, Dave, and even Mike certainly have as good a shot as anyone to make the playoffs as a wild-card team. But, unlike the other division, the division title is far away.

Last year was the only time four teams from one division have made the playoffs. There's a chance that could happen this year. But, of course, there's still seven weeks left and plenty of time for things to change.

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The new divisions!

Welcome to the 2010 division realignment show. I'm your host, Commish, and I'll be with you for the next few minutes bringing you live coverage of this historic day!

Recently, the MTL Keeper League voted on realignment. The owners got their wish, as today we bring you the results.

First, a quick word from our sponsors, and then after the commercial break, we'll begin with this great day.


Welcome back, everyone. Here's how the process works.

I had originally planned to pick names out of a hat, but someone from the peanut gallery objected, so instead of making it fun, we're going to keep it bland and just roll dice with a witness.

Before we get started, let's take a look at the divisions we've become accustomed to.

Division 1: Adam, Chris, Jack, Mystery Team, Rick, Shea
Division 2: Andy, Bob, Dave, Joe, Ken, Mike

Now, onto the realignment draft! I have called upon Chris to witness the draft so no cheating was involved.

The six highest rolls will be placed in one division, and the six lowest in another.

And without further ado (in alphabetical order)...

Division 1
Andy
Chris
Ken
Mystery Team (replacing Richie)
Rick
Shea

Division 2
Adam
Bob
Dave
Mike
Jack
Joe

So the results yield two pretty fair divisions, based on both last year's results and historical stats. You could also look at it like Adam and Jack were traded for Andy and Ken.

Both divisions have three playoff teams from last year, but Division 2 has both division winners as well as the league runner-up. I would give the slight toughness edge to that one.
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Divisions will be realigned

As of this post, the tribe has spoken 8-0 in favor of division realignment. I don't know who the three non-voters were but obviously it's well past a simple majority.

I will randomly realign the divisions later today and post a message when it has been completed.

Stay tuned for that as well as our second topic of discussion this afternoon.



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Topic 1: Division realignment

Welcome. This will be the place to discuss rules changes.

The discussion will take place in the Comments section on the blog. I will add a poll and we will have a final vote. In some cases, a majority will be needed to pass the rule change, in others a 3/4th majority and some might even need a unanimous vote.

Our first topic of the winter meetings to discuss in division realignment.


Current status: Two divisions of six teams, the same alignment from Season 1.

Proposed change: Random realignment of divisions every three years (including this offseason).

Pros: New rivalries, new blood, a fresh start for some, a way to mix things up.
Cons: No reason to since we play everyone twice anyway, divisions are fine as is.

Change needed: Simple majority

Should we randomly realign the divisions every three years, including this one?
	Yes
	No
pollcode.com free polls

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And now the divisional race

Following up yesterday's post, today we take a look to the Tug McGraw division, which features the most exciting divisional race in league history.

Four - yes, count 'em four! - teams are still alive for a division title. And they're all within a game of each other. Amazing.

Joe, Ken, Bob and Andy. A breakdown of the race after the jump.


Ken and Joe each lost last week, while Bob won and Andy tied, complicating things even more. But, the wild-card in all of this is the final week. Ken plays Joe, and Bob plays Andy! HOW'S THAT FOR DRAMA, FOLKS?!

But, before that, here's a look at each team's chances.

Joe
Current standing: 1
Record: 12-6-1
Games behind: --
Remaining opponent's win percentage: .500

Bob
Current standing: T2
Record: 12-7
Games behind: 0.5
Remaining opponent's win percentage: .561

Ken
Current standing: T2
Record: 12-7
Games behind: 0.5
Remaining opponent's win percentage: .632

Andy
Current standing: 4
Record: 10-6-3
Games behind: 1
Remaining opponent's win percentage: .562

OK, so here we go with a little breakdown. First things first, the tiebreaker is divisional record. All three teams end the season with games against the division, so we won't get into that just yet. We'll wait until next week at least.

At first glance, Ken has it the toughest - but he controls his own destiny. He faces all three of the other competitors fighting for the division. A tough task, but one that could leave him with a division crown.

It's really anyone's guess as to who will win it at this point. We'll obviously know more after this week, but not much. Because of that final week of the two matchups pitting Andy vs. Bob, and Joe vs. Ken it will be tough to get a good outlook on all this. Plus, Andy faces Ken this week, and Bob faces Ken next week.

Joe clearly has a favorable schedule, with games against Mike and Dave, but even if he wins the two he is supposed to win, it will still likely come down to that final week.

Andy has his work cut out for him, but it's obviously possible with matches against Ken and Bob.

Any way you put it, it will be great entertainment. Fans of the league are certainly getting their money's worth.
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Pop the champagne

Jack is our first division winner! With a stunning three weeks to play, too.

Congrats, Jack.


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