Who's in First?
Discussion in the NPB News forum
Comments
Standings
[ Author: moto-WelshCarp | Posted: Jun 3, 2001 2:02 PM
]
Interestingly enough, the English version of the Daily Yomiuri is following the old system and has Swallows down as in first place!
Re:Standings
[ Author: westbaystars | Posted: Jun 3, 2001 3:32 PM
| YBS Fan
]
The Yomiuri lists themselves in second? The irony of it is too sweet.
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A-san: No. What is in second place.
C-san: I'm not asking you who's in second.
A-san: Who's in first.
C-san: One place at a time!
A-san: Well, don't change the teams around.
C-san: I'm not changing nobody!
A-san: Take it easy, buddy.
C-san: I'm only asking you, who's the team in first place?
A-san: That's right.
C-san: Ok.
A-san: Alright.
With apologies to Abbot and Castello, it's rather confusing as to just who is in first today (6/2) in the Central League.
Looking at the standings in today's Nikkan Sports, it says that the Giants are in first, 4 wins over the Yakult Swallows. However, so far as winning percentage is concerned, Yakult leads the Giants by .002 percentage points, with 0 games separating the two. Here's how the two teams stack up:
It had been mentioned before that the first ranking condition this season is wins in the Central League, the secondary condition being winning percentage. Should the season end with different teams having won the most games than having the hightest winning percentage, then there will be a playoff between the two to decide the Central League championship.
That's a long way off, but I think that it shows one of the things that the "powers that be" had thought about when deciding to go with this scheme for the published rankings: the psychological factor.
The Giants can open the newspaper and see that, hey, they're in first still. They can sigh a deep sigh, but have got to keep an eye out on their tail.
The Swallows can get fired up, seeing that they're 4 wins down in the "odd new" system, even though they're in first by the "traditional" system. They, and their fans, can even hold the Giants in contempt, knowing that they're the "true" first place team.
Well, there's still a long season ahead, and anything can still happen with the standings. I don't know how much of a psychological effect the two rankings have on the players, but now two teams' fans can say that they're by them selves in first place.