THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT: Oct. 8, 2014

Sports can be funny sometimes.

One minute, you're the toast of the town after acquiring some shutdown starters.

The next, you're like everyone else, sitting at home watching.

I WILL admit, after the trade of David Price to Detroit, as well as Oakland's acquisition of Jon Lester from Boston, I didn't think there was a chance that it could be anyone else but the Tigers and the Athletics playing for a spot in the World Series.

Make that the 1,000th time I've been wrong this year.

In trying to match pitching with each other, both forgot how to hit, with Oakland losing to Kansas City in the American League wild-card game, and Detroit getting swept by Baltimore in the division series.

Funny, you'd think that trading your best power hitter to get some pitching might just work out.

Kansas City went on to sweep the Los Angeles Angels - the team with the best record in baseball - to advance to the championship series for the first time since 1985.

Baltimore, which hadn't been relevant in the AL East in a long, long time, will face Kansas City.

Over recent years, the American League has been dominated by either Boston or the New York Yankees, but now, there's some parity it seems.

As a Mariners fan, you can't help but wonder what if?

What if they had another power hitter, where could they be right now?

Chances are, they might have done enough to get into the postseason, but they didn't, not with everything right in front of them late in the season.

If nothing else, watching the playoffs this year should be more of a learning experience of what it takes to advance.

And to do it on a budget.

EVENTS LIKE those with seven of the top 10 teams in college football losing last weekend are reason enough why a playoff system is needed to determine a national champion.

It is that same chain of events that unfortunately that will wind up the same as if a computer picked the final four.

A lot can still happen between now and the time when the bids are announced, but it seems that, once again, at least two Southeastern Conference teams will get in, along with Florida State.

If those are the best of the best, then great, but someone's going to be left out in the cold - and it doesn't get any colder than in the Pac-12 Conference, where a good Oregon, with only one loss, won't get a shot and Arizona won't even sniff the discussion.

With the way that Oregon fell from No. 2 to 12th in the Associated Press standings after losing to Arizona, chances are the Ducks will need to win out, and hope some teams lose, just to end up back in the conversation.

Like a lot of help.

So much help, that it's crazy to even think it could happen.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d'Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at JEPressSports.