Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Day 6: Pennsylvania Still The Darlings
Well, Pennsylvania turned an incredible heartbreaking loss on the first night of the Little League World Series into probably one of the more memorable runs in recent memory. After Tyler McCloskey's throw to first base took out perennial-power Warner Robins, Keystone finds itself just one win away from playing in the United States championship game.
The historical thing about that possibility? With the exception of the illegal Rolando Paulino team in 2001, no team from the "Mid-Atlantic" region has ever played for the US championship. The last team from a Mid-Atlantic state to do it was Toms River East American in 1999. The last team from the Eastern region to play for a US championship was Saugus American LL from Massachusetts in 2003.
There's still a winner's bracket game to be played, however. Big Sky, Montana will continue to try and shock the world by taking on Ocean View, California tonight. The loser faces Keystone and its 30,000 fans.
If Montana finds a way to beat California it will be one of the bigger upsets in a long time in the LLWS, but if they do, it will be the first time since 2006 that a team from the Northwest plays for a United States championship.
This brings me to my next point.
Modified double elimination. ESPN and Little League have been telling us the format is double elimination all week long. I, like most people, assumed that meant whoever wins the two pods must be beaten twice. Then they will play single elimination championship game for the US crown. That's how they did it last year. That's how they do it at the College World Series.
I've been all wrong. Apparently, if you come out of the loser's bracket, you only need to beat the winner's bracket team once. This is a huge disadvantage for the teams that have earned the right to be beaten twice. Little League doesn't care.
Who does this hurt the most? Mexico. California will most likely be okay. Nobody has a pitcher that can match up with the staff they have. Mexico may actually have better pitching, but you can never ever count out the Japanese. If Japan makes it back to the International Championship, there is no favorite in that game. That's wrong.
I think the worst thing about the double elimination tournament is that California is basically an afterthought. I understand that ESPN is pushing PA like crazy, but PA is playing every single night. They have to be pushed. California is just sitting around being forgotten about, especially after their second game wasn't shown on television because of tennis. Tennis? Really? That gives ESPN better ratings than the LLWS? I doubt it.
There's only six teams left in the entire world of Little League Baseball. It's pretty amazing.
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14 comments:
Tonight's game between Georgia and Pennsylvania was the most exciting baseball game I've ever watched. To think that such passion could have been evoked by two teams of twelve and thirteen year old boys in beyond comprehension. Those fellows really earned the right to be called champions. It is a shame that one team has to go home.
I BE IN WILLY ON SAT--YOU COMING?
BR DON
the game was shown it was on espn 3 for the first half hour then on espn classic for the second half hour then on espn until tennis ended , but still tennis? maybe old lady's in skirts watch tennis but real sport fans would rather seen the LLWS, I remember last year the cancelled one of the regional semis game for tennis
i was their for the past 2 keystone games. the crowd is amazing. warner robins got knocked out the same way they got to Williamsport, on crowd support.
section1guy you should of also mention that itnwas the first time .a mid Atlantic team beat a southeastern team since Harlem ny beat clemmons nc in 2002
Montana Just Pulled off the the biggest upset in LLWS history
Upset yes, but hardly the biggest. 1989, Trumbull CT over Taiwan in the title game is still the benchmark. For those who are too young to remember, Taiwan at the time absolutely dominated LL Baseball. Check the records and results from the 70s and 80s.
It was not as big of an upset as it should have been, they still have to beat Cal or Keystone again. If it was a true double elimination the way it should be, it would have made this game much more important. If Cal plays Montana again saturday, i dont think it will be close. If Montana ends up playing Mexico on Sunday and beat them i would consider that the biggest upset of all time.
would love to see the rematch of cal vs mont. don't care so much about the crowd, wanna see a good game.
Montana doesn't hit as well as PA, and PA's pitching is better. CA-PA is the best game anyway.
Now, that MT beat CA... who knows what the best game is.
i think this modified double elim is fair except in one scenario.If first game winner and loser both advance to title game and game one loser wins they will advance with a split of the series. In every other instance the team out of the losers' bracket would have won the head to head battle (at least i think this is the case)
Even if they won the head to head game they both have 1 lose, in double elimination it should take TWO loses to be eliminated. If Japan beats Mexico, and Cal beats Montana, both very possibly scenarios, Little League will have to consider going to back to the IF game next year.
Was very fun this year. Japan and Taipei weren't as good as usual. What happened to them? Mexico made it exciting on the int'l side, but too bad they didn't have another chance. US side was fun as well with a big upset by Montana. Again, too bad they didn't have another chance. Crowd was just annoying. Wished it was done at a neutral place. Too much for kids. It's little league. Anyways, congrats to Cal! Great job to get the title back to the US!
The double elimination tournament should be exactly what it says "double elimination". I feel horrible for the team that wins its way through the winners' bracket and loses the first game of the championship round and goes home (regardless of which region they are from, meaning if a mid-atlantic team from where I am from advances after 1 game coming through the losers' bracket, I believe they should have to beat the other team again) I read in an article where the president said it's due to "the cost of another game" WHAT!!!!! They're constantly are saying how the umpires, vendors and everyone else are volunteers! No expense there, so what else? Maybe the baseballs,(ha) use the same ones from the previous game, I'm sure the teams won't mind bc it's fair! Maybe lights and electricity? Start the first game at 11am second game at 3pm. No lights needed! I think I covered everything you'd need for another game. If I missed something, I'm sure espn would cover any miscellaneous costs through the advertisements and commercial revenue. I'm sure Kellogg' s would cover any extra expenses. Last but not least, you could pass a hat around the stands and I'm sure the parents/fans would donate to cover the expenses to see a "true" champion team crowned the correct way. Ha There has to be more behind it then the "cost". Maybe the president wanted a team to win in the past from the losers' bracket and they got beat in the second game of the championship series, so he decided to change it. :)
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