Fri Feb 02, 2018 11:55 am
The fact that none of the three entries into the finals managed to win more than 91 games, to me illustrates the lottery like nature of the 3 qualifying spots from the list of tournament also rans.
Doug Howser clearly dominated in the second semi finals league but a team that had a negative run differential instead goes to the finals. This was his last hurrah, in part as a result of losing to a Dale Murray team where Murray shut him down with 1 hit over five innings of relief and in part because of his disgust with how SOM treats customers. That is too bad, he is a good man and I will miss him.
I applaud that Mighty Moose and his board made some changes to this year's format, somewhat deemphasizing the playoffs, in favor of greater weighting of overall performance during the regular seasons That they did so was instrumental in my deciding to participate again in the tournament.
I appreciate the notion of the Barnstormers attempting to determine the best manager by having all who participate run in what is essentially marathon like gauntlet. That is a reasonable test of managerial acumen. The structure of the playoffs in the tournament, wherein three finalists are selected by winning a semi-final league, should in my opinion, be subject to rigorous review for future tours.
The two playoff finalists that have been so far added to the legitimate 9 qualifiers, finished 25th and 46th respectively in the overall event standings. Both happened to be fortunate to win the playoff lotteries with teams that were just not very good. Based on their performance in the current Barnstormers, neither manager deserves a spot in the overall final event IMHO, at least not in a merit based event.
I understand the rationale for having the current playoff format, it keeps people from dropping out and provides some interesting spectacles. But these reasons are both inimical to the reason there is a tour - to determine the best manager over the course of the entire event.
There is always going to be the element of a crapshoot with the finals. The year Labratory won (after finishing 14th), djmacb and Springer0432 completely dominated the tour. Both stopped playing ATG entirely until returning recently. Last year, of the four teams in the finals playoffs, three teams were very solid, yet the worst of the bunch won the tournament. Not much can be done about that, it is the nature of the playoff beast.
But what can be done, going forward, is to do away with the lotteries to determine the last three spots in the finals. I would much rather see a 7th event and the top 12 finishers over that 7 event marathon, determine the finalists. Alternatively, have 11 finalists chosen on merit and have one semifinal league consisting of the managers who finished 12-24 in the standings. Both of these are far more equitable than a system that allows the manager who came in 46th, averaging only 85 wins per season, a chance to win the Barnstormers title.