The Libloggery: blogging creative writing, photography, opinion, and random fun. -

MLB 2006 Promotion/Relegation World Series Update

Earlier this month I wrote about how a promotion/relegation system would have played out for the the past MLB season. Now that the first two rounds of playoffs are finished and none of the teams that would have played in a hypothetical promotion/relegation World Series are left, it's time to speculate as to how it could have been.

In the American League, the New York Yankees and Oakland A's would have played in the ALCS. Since Oakland won the season series 6-3, Oakland are the AL Champions.

The New York Mets and San Diego Padres would have met in the NLCS. The Mets went 5-2 against the Padres in the regular season, so the Mets would have been the NL Champs.

Thus, the World Series would have been played between the Oakland A's and the New York Mets. Since they did not play in the regular season, it's going to require some creativity to proclaim a winner. I will look at common opponents. The A's and Mets both played against the Yankees, Orioles, Blue Jays, Red Sox, Giants, Dodgers, Rockies, Padres, and Diamondbacks. The A's went 31-22 against these teams while the Mets went 29-19. Thus, based on the Mets' 60.4% winning percentage over the A's 58.5%, the New York Mets are my hypothetical 2006 World Series Champions.

Major League Baseball 2006 Relegation Report

Now the the 2006 Major League Baseball regular season is over, let's see how the final standings play out given the promotion/relegation criteria I wrote about in August.

The final standings are shown in the table below.

American League 2006 First Division
Team	Record	GB
New York Yankees	97-65	-
Oakland Athletics	93-69	4
Chicago White Sox	90-72	7
Los Angeles Angels	89-73	8
Toronto Blue Jays	87-75	10
Boston Red Sox	86-76	11
Cleveland Indians	78-84	19
Milwaukee Brewers	75-87	22

National League 2006 First Division
Team	Record	GB
New York Mets	97-65	-
San Diego Padres	88-74	9
Philadelphia Phillies	85-77	12
St. Louis Cardinals	83-78	13.5
Houston Astros	82-80	15
Atlanta Braves	79-83	18
Florida Marlins	78-84	19
Washington Nationals	71-91	26

American League 2006 Second Division
Minnesota Twins	96-66	-
Detroit Tigers	95-67	1
Texas Rangers	80-82	16
Seattle Mariners	78-84	18
Baltimore Orioles	70-92	26
Kansas City Royals	62-100	34
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	61-101	35

National League 2006 Second Division
Los Angeles Dodgers	88-74	-
Cincinnati Reds	80-82	8
San Francisco Giants*	76-85	11.5
Arizona Diamondbacks	76-86	12
Colorado Rockies	76-86	12
Pittsburgh Pirates	67-95	21
Chicago Cubs	66-96	22
*Giants had one game with the St. Louis Cardinals rained out. If promotion/relegation were actually implemented then this game would have been made up since it obviously effects the standings. However, as it stands I will proclaim a three-way tie between Arizona, Colorado, and San Francisco based on wins.

In the American League, the Cleveland Indians and Milwaukee Brewers would be relegated to the second divsion with the Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers promoted to the first division. The Red Sox would face the Rangers in a playoff series for the final first division spot. Since the Red Sox won the season series with the Rangers 5-4, the Red Sox keep their first division status.

The American League championship series would be played between New York Yankees and the Oakland A's. Since this series has a chance of occuring I will hold judgement as to who would represent the American League in my hypothetical World Series. As it stands now, Oakland won the season series 6-3, so if they do not meet in the real ALCS then that will decide my league champion.

The Florida Marlins and Washington Nationals are relegated to the National League's second division while the Los Angeles Dodgers and Cincinnati Reds are promoted to the first division. It becomes trickier to decide which team from the second division gets to play the Braves for the final first division spot. Had the Giants played and won the the make-up game with the Cardinals, they would have the honor. However, I can't assume that they would win or lose that game, so I will proclaim a three-way tie for third place based on wins. Now we have a group of three teams, let's see how they faired against each other. Against the Giants and Rockies, Arizona was 20-18, agains Arizona and the Rockies, the Giants were 19-18, and against Arizona and the Giants, the Rockies were 17-20. Thus the Rockies are eliminated, but since we don't have an even number of games played by all three, we must again proclaim a tie, this time between the Giants and Arizona. In the regular season, the Giants were 11-8 against Arizona, so they would play the Braves. Against the Braves, the Giants went 4-3, so they would win promotion and the Braves would be relegated.

The National League championship series would be played between the New York Mets and San Diego Padres. The Mets went 5-2 against San Diego in the regular season. However, as in the AL, this NLCA might actually occur, so I will not yet proclaim a NL champion.

In summary, the 2007 Major League Baseball First and Second Divisions are shown below.

American League 2007 1st Division	National League 2007 1st Division
Boston Red Sox Chicago White Sox Detroit Tigers Los Angeles Minnesota Twins New York Yankees Oakland Athletics Toronto Blue Jays	Cincinnati Reds Houston Astros Los Angeles Dodgers New York Mets Philadelphia Phillies San Diego Padres San Francisco Giants St. Louis Cardinals
2007 2nd Division	2007 2nd Divison
Baltimore Orioles Cleveland Indians Kansas City Royals Milwaukee Brewers Seattle Mariners Tampa Bay Devil Rays Texas Rangers	Arizona Diamondb acks Atlanta Braves Chicago Cubs Colorado Rockies Florida Marlins Pittsburgh Pirates Washington Nationals