If the Braves go down to the Phillies, only one division winner will have made it to the Championship Series.
Something has to be done, because it’s obvious the time off, throws teams off. Maybe the teams should at least play simulated games during the week, or something.
12 teams out of 30 make the playoffs.
The playoffs have steadily expanded in all the sports.
So now baseball sees 40% of teams making the playoffs. So there will always be some pretty good, but not outstanding, teams that make the playoffs. If not for TV money, we could return to a world in which only the best of the best made the playoffs. But that will never happen. Playoffs only expand, they never contract.
Baseball has insane variance-never see moneylines as high as football or basketball.
They add in these short series putting in even more chance and voila the regular season is near worthless.
No, I think wild cards should be one game played the the first day after the season ends. Just one game. The only reason the league put more games in is for more revenue anyway.
After that, the winners get on planes to start the series against the next cede the very next day. That way, the top seeded teams only get one day off and they can stay hot. The wildcard teams would be heavily disadvantaged, as is proper, after all they didn’t win the division.
This bye week stuff ain’t working and it ain’t working in ANY of the other sports either.
The Dodgers have choked in the playoffs almost every year since the turn of the century. With the exception of their 2020 World Series 4-2 win against the Rays.
They have had one of the top five highest payrolls in MLB for twenty five years. Yet, like the METS they have had very little success in the playoffs.
This is because BASEBALL is not fair. Large market teams like NY & LA can afford to pay more for talent because of the revenue generated by their franchise owned TV stations.
Unlike the NFL, the Yankees, Dodgers, Red Sox own the broadcast rights to the game. Unless it is a nationally televised game on Fox. So, these large market teams can typically beat smaller market teams throughout the year and make the playoffs. This year in the AL East is an exception.
The Yankees and Sox were battling for last place.
This system makes it so that small market teams like Milwaukee & Pittsburgh can not compete with the Cubs or METS. That is why I think it is great when any smaller market team like the Rays or Oriels win the ALCS. FYI, I am a Red Sox fan.
Go DBacks.