Every high school athlete on every varsity team should have the opportunity to advance to a postseason for his or her chosen sport.
The key words in that sentence are “have the opportunity to.”
But in Rhode Island high school baseball, the mantra might as well be, “Playoffs for everyone!”
The regular season ends this week, and when the playoffs begin next week, 24 of the 28 teams in Division I — where Rogers, Middletown, Portsmouth and Tiverton reside — will be part of the postseason.
As of Tuesday, 13 Division I teams have winning records. Two teams are at .500 and one other could finish there.
For the mathematically challenged, that means no fewer than 12 teams with losing records will qualify for the double-elimination round of playoffs.
This is worse than the NHL or NBA.
Some may recall that the sheer absurdity of 86 percent of teams in the division reaching the postseason was a condition, of sorts, for many of the 12 teams moving up to the new and improved Division I. It was incentive for many teams, some of which were local, to join a much stronger division. They wanted to ensure that, despite the realignment, they would have the same chance (or close to it) of making the playoffs each year.
In that sense, the system works … because just about everyone gets in.
Occasionally, an underdog will go on an unthinkable postseason run and, perhaps, reach the regional finals. But more often than not, the teams who have struggled to win all season will encounter similar issues in the playoffs.
Not only does it plain not make sense for the playoffs to be so inclusive, how much fun can it be for the kids on those losing teams?
“Woo hoo! We made the playoffs!” Next thing they know, they’re getting whacked two straight games and the season is over.
Why prolong the agony of a losing season?
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1 comment:
I like the fact that all four of our local high school teams are playing at the highest level in the state, and doing quite well. But I kind of agree here.
There should be at least three divisions of baseball, seeing as though there are four divisions of tennis. That's borderline absurd.
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