Picking Playoff Matchups Still Puzzling

The Angels may be staggering toward the finish line like a dazed Olympic marathon runner, but barring a complete collapse on the last lap, they figure to at least crawl into the playoffs.

Their magic number is 15, even if much of the magic has disappeared in the past month. Two victories in the last 13 games has turned an apparent dream season into a tossed- and- turned- all- night September.

A bunch more losses could make it a lasting nightmare, but let’s assume they avoid total self-destruction, pour a cup of water over their heads and are wearing their postseason game faces come October.

Are they destined for a thumping at the hands of baseball’s winningest team? Well, they’ll most likely be playing the Cleveland Indians, anyway.

If the season were to end today, the Angels would open the division series Oct. 3 and 4 in Cleveland and return to Anaheim Stadium for a game on Oct. 5 . . . and Oct. 6 and 7, if necessary. Kansas City or Seattle, now tied for the wild-card berth, would play host to the Red Sox for two games before returning to Boston.

If Texas, three games behind in the wild-card race, finishes with the best record of any American League team that did not win its division, they would play the Red Sox and the Angels would still get the Indians.

The Yankees, however, could scramble the scenario. If New York, 1 1/2 games back, wins the wild-card spot, the Angels would travel to New York to open the division series before returning to Anaheim. No wild-card winner can face a team in its own division.

However, the rules also state that the division winner with the home-field advantage--this year, that’s the AL West and AL East--and the best record gets the wild card. So, if the Angels finish with a better record than the Red Sox, they would get the wild-card team . . . unless it’s Seattle or Texas.

Of course, you probably already knew all of this because this format and the rotating home-field advantage system was established by baseball’s playoff realignment committee in the winter of 1993 and intended for use in the strike-shortened 1994 season.

In case you were daring to wonder about the best-of-seven league championship series while trying to forget the Angels’ playoff history, the Angels (or the team that beats them) will play host to Games 1, 2, 6 and 7. Unles s a wild-card team such as the Yankees were to beat the Angels in the division series, because a wild-card can’t have the home-field advantage in the ALCS.

“Once you get the concept, it’s really pretty simple,” says Jim Small, manager of the Major League Baseball public relations department.

If you say so, Jim.