The term “tanking” has surfaced in professional sports in recent years.
It simply refers to teams intentionally losing games to improve their draft stock.
It’s not necessarily good for the game, but it’s been deemed acceptable because many of the teams who try “tanking” probably won’t be involved in winning a championship anyway.
Monday was the first time I experienced tanking at a youth level.
The Central Iowa Little League team playing in the Little League Softball World Series was involved in quite the controversy Monday.
Central had won its game earlier in the day against Canada and finished 3-1 in pool play. To advance to the LLSWS semifinals, a West squad from Washington had to win or score at least three runs in a loss in its final game against the Southeast team.
If Southeast defeated West on Monday, all three teams would be 3-1 in pool play, but only the top two advance to Tuesday’s semifinals.
The controversy came in the game between Southeast and West.
A straight up win for the West team would give it a 4-0 record and the top seed from Pool B. But a loss with less than three runs scored would bump them to the No. 2 seed by way of a head-to-head tiebreaker over Central.
The West squad not only lost 8-0, but it didn’t get a hit and the coaches didn’t start or play their four best players, including the pitcher, shortstop, catcher and first basemen.
Fans of the Central Iowa Little League team, which includes four future CMB Raiders, took to social media to voice their displeasure for the poor sportsmanship by the West squad.
Some even sent the softball little league association letters that brought attention to the West’s squads apparent tanking tactics.
I wasn’t there. So I can’t judge this situation for myself. I have contacts who were there, including CMB softball coach Troy Houge, whose daughter Mikayla pitches for Central.
I have worked with Coach Houge for several years dating back to my first stint in Newton. I know him well. He wouldn’t lie. If Central was denied a chance to play in the semifinals because they lost Monday or West was truly trying to win, Houge would accept it and move on.
But he was one of the ones expressing his displeasure.
There is no reason for me not to believe that what the West was doing was tanking. And little league officials must have thought something wasn’t right, too. After the West lost 8-0, the league could have allowed it to advance to the semifinals as the No. 2 seed. Instead, the league is allowing Central a “play-in” game Tuesday morning against West.
West jumped out to a 3-0 lead over Central before needing a walk-off hit in the bottom of the sixth inning to win 4-3 on Sunday. Tuesday’s “play-in” game should be interesting.
And now that news of West’s “tanking tactics” have reached a national level, most will be rooting for the Central Iowa squad to prevail Tuesday morning.
I don’t think the issue of tanking was solved by allowing Central to play another game. It almost allows a team that cheated a chance to play one more game without any other penalties.
If the West wins, it advances even though it cheated. And from that point on, kids who play in little league sports will know that sometimes you can cheat and get away with it.
We have to teach our kids at a young age how to win the right way. Someone has to win, and someone has to lose. It’s part of sports.
But unfortunately, this issue is not over. There will always be some coach out there that decides to work the system. Someone who knows the tiebreaker scenario from top to bottom and figures out how to advance in a tourney based on what the tiebreaking rules are.
But you won’t convince me that a team who didn’t start its four best players and bunted several times in a row when it was down 5-0 was playing to score a run, let alone win.
This will certainly leave another black eye on a youth sport that has taken an ethical hit in recent years.
We’ve now seen ineligible players used on a championship-quality baseball team, and a championship-quality softball team losing on purpose to better its chances of winning a title later in the tournament.
What’s next? And at what cost?
Contact Troy Hyde at
641-792-3121 ext. 6536 or thyde@newtondailynews.com