American Legion Baseball Lower State Issues

[DuecesWild2]

I've just been thinking about the playoff issues that we have where it looks like all 15 teams from the lower state will get in the playoffs, I think this is an easy fix moving forward. If all 15 of these teams come back next year and no others join then the best fix would to be move Chapin-Newberry to the Upper State and combine the leagues into 2 leagues of 7, those teams would then play each other 3 times for a total of 18 games. The leagues would be as follows:

League II
1. Florence
2. Murrells Inlet
3. Horry
4. Georgetown
5. Lake City
6. Hartsville
7. Manning

League III
1. Sumter
2. Camden
3. Goose Creek
4. Dalzell
5. Orangeburg
6. West Columbia
7. Lexington

The Upper State would then have 3 leagues of 6 teams where you take the Top 4 from each.

League V
1. Fort Mill
2. Lancaster
3. Rock Hill
4. Clover
5. York
6. Union

League VI
1. Inman
2. Gaffney
3. Greer
4. Spartanburg
5. Travelers Rest
6. Easley

League VII
1. Greenwood
2. Greenville
3. Walhalla
4. Belton
5. Williamston
6. Chapin-Newberry

 

[basenok]

I still can't believe it is so hard to develop a bracket. For God's sake, there has been this many teams around for 40 years. A lot of people are beginning to question the integrity of the playoffs.

 

[basenok]

Holy Cow!!!!! This can't be for real. Evidently there is no bracket for the lower state. Whoever, in their infinite wisdom, will wait until the 1st round of the state playoffs are completed next week to match up the teams for the 2nd round. As if that is not enough, one of the remaining 7 teams in the 2nd round will have a BYE in the 2nd round which will vault them into the State Championship Tournament. Who does the bye go to? The #1 seed? Who (or how) determines the #1 seed? What if the #1 seed does not want the bye and would rather play in round 2? (I probably wouldn't, I'd rather play week 2) Does the #2 team get it? What if none of the top 4 or 5 want the bye? The #6 or #7 team walks right in. Where's the integrity? There again how are the seeds determined? Runs allowed? If that is the case you could potentially have a team that has sub .500 record that plays well for 3 games against an average team and walking into the state tournament as the #1 seed in the Lower State because they get a bye in the 2nd round. There again, Integrity? Are the group of "baseball experts" running this thing determining in their best judgement the seeding of the teams? Someone please tell me the transparency and integrity in this system? Something is smelling really bad here. 12 Teams has been the answer all along. No bye, everybody earns their way in. If you did not play well enough in the regular season, then you don't make the playoffs. Plain and simple. Is this is some kind of feeble attempt to save ALB by letting all teams in? I have no investment in this other that being a ALB fan. If I were a coach or player that had worked my butt off all summer and put off vacations and donated my time to try to make ALB successful in SC, I would be highly upset with the powers that be in the decisions that being made.

 

[basenok]

Here's a thought after Lexington failed to show up to play at Sumter tonight: Sumter wins their first round due to a forfeit by Lexington. Receives the #1 seed for for the 2nd round due to not allowing any runs in the 1st round. Gets a bye in the 2nd round as the #1 seed and they walk right into the state championship tournament and will have not played a single game in the playoffs. This thing keeps getting better by the day. Maybe they will let the coaches shoot marbles or pitch horseshoes to determine the seedings for the state tournament.

 

[LeftyTosser]

And folks wonder why young men would rather play tournament ball than legion? The picture should be getting clearer by now.

 

[DuecesWild2]

Not so fast on Sumter, getting the #1 seed, all forfeits go down as 9-0 games and I'm pretty sure that seeding will be best record and the run differential, so as it stands right now this are the seedings.

1. Sumter +27
2. Chapin-Newberry +16
3. Orangeburg +16
4. Florence +11
5. Camden +10
6. Hartsville +7
6. Horry +7

With that being said, all of these teams have a chance to catch Sumter with at least 2 games remaining, however if they don't I am pretty sure that Sumter will pass up on the bye. There is no way they will go into the State Tournament thinking they have a chance to win it after being off for 2 1/2 weeks.

 

[basenok]

Unless they have changed the rules from a few years ago (and they very well may have) the seedings in the state championship tournament are based off of wins and runs allowed. Sumter is 3-0 with no runs allowed. Like I say, they may have changed the rule since the last time I was told how they did it. Then again, who's to say that's how they are going to do the 2nd round. The way this thing is going, they might as well just pull the 2nd round out of a hat. With the seedings after night one that are listed above. You could end up with a 2nd or 3rd place regular season league finisher seeded higher than all 3 league winners and get a bye into the state championship. The horse is out of the barn now. Too late to get him back in. Going to be interesting to see how all this plays out. Thank god I'm not having to answer for all this. Wonder if the people in charge realize that 12 teams (instead of 15, which is now down to 13 with Lexington pulling out) would have eliminated all of this. But it does make for some interesting discussion. Just when you think ALB can't do worse, they go and out-do themselves once again. Legion ball is dead in SC and I totally can see why now. I don't blame people for not wanting to coach and players not wanting to play ALB vs travel ball. If this is how it is done at the end, why put in the time and effort. Go play travel ball. That is only two days each time and usually involves a bracket.

 

[DuecesWild2]

If it is runs giving up then it would look like this:

1. Sumter 3-0 (0)
2. Orangeburg 1-0 (0)
3. Florence 2-0 (1)
4. Chapin-Newberry 2-0 (2)
5. Hartsville 2-0 (7)
6. Horry 2-0 (13)
7. Camden 1-1 (7)

If it is run differential then it would look like this:

1. Chapin-Newberry 2-0 +35
2. Sumter 3-0 +27
3. Florence 2-0 +21
4. Orangeburg 1-0 +16
5. Hartsville 2-0 +11
6. Horry 2-0 +10
7. Camden 1-1 +8

So it would look like 1 of 2 things if they did it this way and things ended today, the first way would be:

Sumter with Bye to State
Orangeburg vs. Camden
Florence vs. Horry
Chapin-Newberry vs. Hartsville

OR

Chapin-Newberry with Bye to State
Sumter vs. Camden
Florence vs. Horry
Orangeburg vs. Hartsville

 

[DuecesWild2]

But in reality if things hold up they should do as follows:

Chapin-Newberry with Bye
Sumter vs. Horry
Florence vs. Hartsville
Orangeburg vs. Camden

 

[DuecesWild2]

After last night's game and the protest that was won by Orangeburg earlier today, the seedings would look like this:
Runs Giving Up
1. Sumter 3-0 (0)
2. Orangeburg 2-0 (0)
3. Florence 3-0 (1)
4. Chapin-Newberry 3-0 (3)
5. Horry 3-0 (24)
6. Camden 2-1 (8)
7. Hartsville 2-1 (21)

Run Differential
1. Chapin-Newberry 3-0 +42
2. Sumter 3-0 +27
3. Florence 3-0 +25
4. Orangeburg 2-0 +25
5. Horry 3-0 +15
6. Camden 2-1 +12
7. Hartsville 2-1 +1

Sumter with Bye
Orangeburg vs. Hartsville
Florence vs. Camden
Chapin-Newberry vs. Horry

OR

Chapin-Newberry with Bye
Sumter vs. Hartsville
Florence vs. Camden
Orangeburg vs. Horry