Advancement analysis
Through 143 games, if teams are more than 2 games above or below .500, they are very likely in/out of the next round.
- Currently, only two teams with BETTER than a 73-70 record would not advance: schwarze's 1907 Cleveland Naps (76-67) and toysboys' 1994 Braves (74-69). In the Cleveland league, the West is weak while the East/Central each have 3 strong teams but only 5 of the 6 can advance. schwarze and pedro are tied for the final advancement spot but pedro has a better Exp%. Similarly, the Braves have the WC leader in the East but all 4 teams in the Central are 74+ wins, leaving toysboys the odd team out.
- Conversely, there are three teams with WORSE than a 70-73 record that would advance: footballmm11's 1969 Athletics (68-75), ronthegenius's Jimmie Foxx’s 1944 Cubs (68-75), and bigsteve12's Pick 23: 2014 SF Giants (66-77). Both the A's (Central) and Giants (West) have very weak divisions, where the winner will advance despite not being among the top 6. For the Cubs however, it's just a weak National League with only 4 teams above .500.
Teams between 70-73 and 73-70 records are right on the bubble and at the mercy of the strength of the overall league (top 6) or division (division winner) to determine advancement.
Strong and Weak divisions
WEAK: Only four division winners would advance despite not being in the top 6. In addition to my A's team and bigsteve's Giants team listed above, Relkcirts' 1952 Cleveland Indians (71-72, 7-game lead) and schwarze's 1941 Brooklyn Dodgers (70-73, 9-game lead) are both below .500 but have opened up pretty big leads in a weak division.
STRONG: The NL West Dodgers division has a 77-66 team in 4th place (barracuda3 has lamented his hate for said team) with a .555 Exp%. The other 3 teams all have Exp% over .600! The AL East Senators have a .562 Exp% in last place, though their record is under .500 (71-72). Still, all 4 teams are above .520 Exp. The NL East Pirates also have a barracuda3 team in last place, this time with a 79-64 record and .520 Exp%...that division also has schwarze, pedrocerrano, and ronthegenius all with 84+ wins and .599+ Exp%. How's that for a division of death?!