A Johnstown AAABA Team Must Win, And One Must Lose

Now that Mainline Pharmacy has done the job and set up an all-Johnstown franchise final for the 80th AAABA Tournament championship, thoughts turn to other considerations.

If you are a Mainline fan, you could understandably be feeling both elated and frustrated at the same time after seeing your team come from behind to beat New Brunswick, 5-4, in the night game at Point Stadium Friday. Here’s why.

Mainline won the regular-season title over Martella’s and then won the best-of-5 championship series 3 games to 1.

Yet, Saturday night at Point Stadium, Martella’s needs to win just a single game against Mainline to render all that somehow irrelevant, capturing the tournament championship in the process

Simply put, single games are not the best judge of teams’ relative baseball ability. It is a game in which teams prove their worth over the long haul.

There is a reason Major League Baseball plays the longest regular season among major sports, and has corrected the mistake of one-game wild-card matchups, now going with best-of-3 series in that round.

No sport offers an underdog the greater ability to win a single game than baseball. A hot pitcher, or a standout pitcher having a bad night, can lead to the better team losing. Similarly, batters and fielders can have an off night, or a hot game, skewing the outcome in favor of the lesser team over the small sample of one game.

The AAABA Tournament’s move to pool play years back, besides guaranteeing teams three games here, also was billed as smoothing out the outcomes in separating the better teams from their lesser counterparts.

Once out of pool play, however, it becomes lose and leave.

This is not all that unfair considering most times the opposing teams don’t have a history between them, at least not to the degree that Martella’s and Mainline do. Some might argue it was tough that Mainline had to beat New Brunswick for the second time in a few days to advance. Mainline got it done; not without extreme effort.

Now, having Martella’s able to win the tournament championship with a single win over a Mainline team that has proven in the regular season and league playoffs to be the better unit, somehow offends the senses.

Since both teams are based here, a best-of-3 series would be more equitable test. It won’t happen, but maybe it should.