"St. Louis winning the World Series -- that was ridiculous. People will say the Cardinals were the best team because they won the World Series (in 2006). Well, no, they weren't. They just got hot at the right time. They didn't even belong in the playoffs. And neither does a team from the NL West this season."
The quote above wasn't muttered by Tino Martinez, or Jason Marquis. It came from none other than, Hank Steinbrenner, acting General Manager of the New York Yankees.
Hank Steinbrenner certainly isn't the first person to argue the negative influence of the wild card in baseball. His points aren't invalid. Heck, Bob Costas wrote a book about it.
However - like the majority of opinions filtered through a Steinbrenner's piehole - the argument is genuinely grouchy, biased, and ill-timed.
With the Yankees missing the playoffs for the first time since 1994, his argument comes off as whiney and partial - which is unfortunate, because as Costas describes in his "Fair Ball," there are some red herrings in the nature of MLB's much-publicized wild card races.
Above all else Hank Steinbrenner's statements reek of irony.
1.) Why the '06 Cardinals are consistent examples of teams limping into the playoffs and winning the World Series is beyond us. They had record-breaking seasons in '04 and '05, and didn't exactly come from obscurity in '06 with non-established, unproven talent. Moreover, they still won the division in '06. The Padres took the wild card, not the Cardinals.
2.) To further the statement above, the Red Sox "got hot at the right time" in '04. The Marlins "got hot" in '03 and '97.
3.) And, oh yea - the Yankees' last championship team (2000) won 87 games, yet first in the AL East, and went on the eventually win the World Series. Meanwhile, four teams had better records and the 90-win Indians in the AL Central missed the playoffs entirely. Forget about that one, Hank.
4.) The Yankees are complaining about something not being fair? Really? We're doing this again? How about that fact that you have a $100 million payroll advantage on every other team, Hank. It's not our fault you spent it on over-priced post-primed money pits. Deal with it.
"St. Louis winning the World Series -- that was ridiculous. People will say the Cardinals were the best team because they won the World Series (in 2006). Well, no, they weren't. They just got hot at the right time. They didn't even belong in the playoffs. And neither does a team from the NL West this season."
