So let's say it's early March: basketball is still wrapping up and you, a Conference ABC VII baseball coach, have the entire season ahead of you. No pitches have been thrown and there are no irate parents banging down your door because [insert child here] hasn't gotten any playing time. It's a new year and a clean slate and really, things couldn't be better.
Well, not exactly. Turns out, you've had a few rough seasons and, though you've improved, your chances of making it to the postseason are, how do we say this delicately, non-existent. It's got nothing to do with your lineup or your pitching staff or any of that good stuff, but with a little thing we like to call ability-based grouping.
See, the people calling the shots in Nassau have decided to fashion the postseason like a sixth-grade kickball game. You fasten down the best guys (Massapequa, et al.) for your first dozen or so spots and let everybody else fight for whatever is left. If you're team ABC VII, things are not looking good. Because of ability-based grouping, there's no guarantee that anybody in that division gets a chance at the big guys - not even the leader.
In fact, though the numbers are dodgy, it looks like one of those teams would have to pull out at least something like 15 or 16 wins to be even be considered. They'll also have to beat out most teams in ABC VI. Granted, ABC VII teams are playing in a weaker division, but still: this essentially means that these teams have to, in one season, win more games than they've likely won in the past two or three years combined. Ouch.
Meanwhile, in a completely different universe, AA I, AA II, ABC I, ABC II and a few others can already start popping their sparkling apple cider.
Coaches from all over the baseball spectrum are just a little bit miffed. Of over a dozen coaches polled, maybe one or two didn't hate the new system with a fiery passion. This, by the way, includes coaches whose teams are postseason locks.
As it turns out, if you're a top-tier coach, you have one of two options:
- Completely disregard the next seven weeks, play your freshmen and substitute the starting lineup with your fourth period phys ed class.
- Play like you always do and watch everyone's collective batting average plummet against the pitchers in your ridiculously competitive league. Also: wave goodbye to your bench players, whose playing time will be severely limited in these tight games.
And if you're not one of the chosen ones? Well, the options are even less enticing:
- You could battle it out for the handful of postseason spots and spend the entire season refreshing the Newsday scoreboard and wondering if it's too late to teach your kids how to effectively throw a knuckleball.
- Call it a "rebuilding year," develop younger talents, and wait for next season...when you'll be in exactly the same spot.
Well, the Nassau baseball decision-makers wanted an interesting season. Looks like they got one...