Neil Best
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, then returned in 1985. His SportsWatch column debuted on Sept.
The one-game, winner-take-all, wild-card playoff format is four years old now, but this is the first time it has involved a New York team.
Meaning, of course, this is the first time the subject and the debate that surrounds it truly matter.
About that: Is this fair? In a word: not really. OK, that's two words. But a simple "no" doesn't quite cover it.
This system certainly is fairer than the old one, in which second-place teams with good records did not much care about winning division championships because doing so wasn't much of an advantage.