Round 14 Challenge 1 - America's Pasttime

Round 14 Challenge 1 - America's Pasttime
Baseball is often called America's pasttime. Maybe you agree with this statement, or maybe you realize that would actually be football. Doesn't really matter. For purposes of this challenge, we're calling it baseball.

And for those who haven't realized, baseball season is just beginning. Ah yes, that lovely time of the year about a month before the playoffs start when most of us begin paying attention to what's going on. Yes, it's a lovely time of year. Thankfully baseball season only lasts for about two months, then the sports announcers can focus full-time on football and hockey.

For today's challenge, we'll find out how much you know about baseball. Okay, we're not really doing that either. We are going to see how well you can predict who will win their games. Who has the skill, the pitching matchups, the drive, the desire, the dumb blind luck to pull it out in each game? If you know as much about baseball as I do, then you are not going to do well in this challenge!

There are 14 Major League Baseball games being played on Tuesday, September 7th. You will pick the winner in each of these games. We will be playing this as a simple "pick-em" with confidence points. Don't know what this means?

For each game being played, you will select a winner for the game. You will also assign a rating to each pick of how confident you are in each pick. Since there are 14 games, you will assign confidence points of 14 (to your most confident game), 13, 12,..., 1 to each of the games. These confidence points will also be the points you earn if your team wins the game. There are no additional penalties if your team does not win the game. If any game is cancelled for any reason, then your confidence points will be adjusted accordingly (i.e. if your 12-point game is cancelled, then your 14 point game will be worth 13 points, your 13-point game will be worth 12 points).

A list of games being played is available at Major League Baseball 9/7/04 schedule.

You will make your picks via a PM sent to my inbox. Your PM must be received by 6:30p ET. The first game is at 7:05p ET. If two teams submit identical picks and confidence point assignments then only the first pick set will be counted and the second player will be asked to submit a new pick set. Upon receiving your PM with your picks, I will immediately reply to you with whether you have submitted a valid set or not. I encourage you to submit your picks early in case they are not valid. You may not alter your picks once you have submitted a valid pick set (i.e. once I have confirmed your set). After I have received and valided all pick sets, I will post them in the "Survivor R14C1 - America's Pasttime" thread which I will create.

Challenge scoring: Players will be ranked in order of how many confidence points they have earned. If two players are tied, the tie will be broken by removing each teams "1 point" game and then re-comparing scores, removing the "2 point" game and then re-comparing scores, etc.
The player who wins the challenge will earn 4 points, the second place player will earn 3 points, the third place player will earn 2 points, and the last place player will earn 1 points. Any player who does not submit a pick set will receive 0 points.

Round 14 scoring -- This will be a combined scoring challenge, where your total score for the round is your score from Challenge 1 added to your score from Challenge 2. Ties will be broken based on your score from Challenge 1.

[the mole]

Just so EK has some competition:

14. Yankees
13. Atlanta
12. Detroit
11. Minnerota
10. San Francisco
9. St. Louis
8. Los Angeles
7. Houston
6. Cubs
5. Anaheim
4. Florida
3. Texas
2. Milwaukee
1. Oakland

Can you believe only 7,6,5 on Houston, Cubs, Anaheim??? They're like money in the bank, but the games above them are even surer.

[Ebenezer Kohl]

Originally Posted by the mole

Just so EK has some competition:

These picks aren't so bad. You could beat me with this... possibly.

Originally Posted by the mole

Can you believe only 7,6,5 on Houston, Cubs, Anaheim??? They're like money in the bank, but the games above them are even surer.

The position of Florida will be key.

[the mole]

Florida will be south of Georgia and Alabama. Trust me.

The problem with Confidence points is that if you have a strong opinion about a game that most consider close, you don't gain much, as you have to put less weight on other games. Let's say you and I generally agree, except that you feel strongly about FL and put them 10. You won't gain much, as you'll get less points for the teams I ranked 10,9,8,7,6,5. Even if you think the Mets will win (which wouldn't shock me), you don't gain a lot by putting the Mets 10 vs putting them 4.

Now if you think FL is too high at #4, maybe, but games 1-4 seem very even to me.

aces219
14 ChC
13 NYY
12 LA
11 StL
10 Ana
9 Min
8 Hou
7 Atl
6 Det
5 Bos
4 CWS
3 Mil
2 Fla
1 Col

Hagbard Celine
14 Hou
13 NYY
12 Ana
11 ChC
10 Det
9 Fla
8 LA
7 SF
6 Atl
5 Tex
4 Bos
3 Mil
2 Min
1 StL

J.T.
14 Hou
13 ChC
12 NYY
11 Mil
10 StL
9 LA
8 SF
7 Det
6 NYM
5 Phi
4 Ana
3 Tex
2 Bos
1 Min

Ebenezer Kohl
14 Hou
13 NYY
12 ChC
11 Ana
10 Det
9 Fla
8 LA
7 SF
6 Atl
5 Tex
4 Mil
3 Min
2 StL
1 Oak

[Ebenezer Kohl]

Mine and Hagbard's list look too close for coincidence. Anybody wager a guess why?

[Hagbard Celine]

Originally Posted by urysohn

1 Oak

Jerk.

The RedSox are winning tonight.