“The best teams make the playoffs; the hottest team wins the championship”
“The best teams make the playoffs and the hottest team wins the championship” means that the team with the best regular season record doesn’t always win the championship. The regular season sorts out the best teams to make the playoffs, and in the playoffs the hottest team (not necessarily the team with the best record) is the one that wins the championship.
New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter said in 2001, “The best teams make the postseason, but the hottest team wins the championship.” Jeter has repeated the line many times during baseball’s postseason.
Wikipedia: Derek Jeter
Derek Sanderson Jeter ( /ˈdʒiːtər/; born June 26, 1974) is an American baseball shortstop who has played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees. A five-time World Series champion, Jeter has been a central figure of the Yankees during their success of the 1990s and 2000s due to his clubhouse presence, on-field leadership, hitting ability, and baserunning. He is the Yankees’ all-time career leader in hits (3,142), games played (2,460), stolen bases (341), and at bats (10,013). His accolades include twelve All-Star selections, five Gold Glove Awards, four Silver Slugger Awards, two Hank Aaron Awards, and the Roberto Clemente Award. Jeter is the all-time MLB leader in hits by a shortstop, and the 28th player to reach 3,000 hits.
22 August 2001, Dallas (TX) Morning News, “Mariners don’t rattle Yankees: New York veterans know that winning in playoffs is what matters” by Ken Daley:
“But when you get to the postseason, you have to be the hottest team at that time. The best teams make the postseason, but the hottest team wins the championship.”
New York (NY) Daily News
Derek Jeter sitting out of season finale with sore hand
BY ROGER RUBIN
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Saturday, September 27, 2008
(...)
“Same as it every year: If you don’t win, it’s a wasted year. That’s the bottom line,” he said. “You come here to try to win. You either win or lose. ... The best teams make it and the hottest team wins. We weren’t one of the best teams to make it.”
ESPN
Jeter’s October filled with marketing, video games, but no baseball
Associated Press
Updated: October 28, 2008, 5:54 PM ET
(...)
“We need to play consistent baseball,” he said. “I’ve said time and time again, the best teams make [the playoffs] and the hottest team wins. This year, we weren’t either one.”
ASAP Sports
AL DIVISION SERIES: TWINS v YANKEES
October 7, 2009
Derek Jeter
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Game One
Twins – 2
Yankees - 7
THE MODERATOR: First question for Derek Jeter.
(...)
Q. Derek, you always say the best teams make the playoffs, the hottest team wins it. Considering it was the hottest team came in, how important was it to get the first win against them?
DEREK JETER: It was big for us. Especially when you’re playing a five-game series. Every game is important. You want to come out here, you want to play well, you want to sort of set the tone. The thing is we have tomorrow off. Then we come out here on Friday. Minnesota has a great team. I’m sure they’re going to bounce back and be ready for us on Friday. So we have to come out with the same intensity level we did today and hopefully find a way to way to win Game 2.
Scripps News
Shea: Cards following San Francisco’s World Series script
Submitted by SHNS on Tue, 10/18/2011 - 12:50
By JOHN SHEA, San Francisco Chronicle
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As MVP candidate Ryan Braun said after his Brewers were eliminated by St. Louis, “The best teams get to the postseason. The hottest team wins it.”
The Lantern (Ohio State University)
Region-by-region NCAA Tournament bracket analysis
The Lantern staff previews all four NCAA Tournament regions and predicts regional champions
By Lantern Staff
Published: Sunday, March 11, 2012
Updated: Monday, March 12, 2012 01:03
(...)
An old sports adage states that the best teams make it to the postseason, but the hottest team wins the championship.