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Are the Major League Baseball playoffs broken?
That’s what fans of the Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles and Los Angeles Dodgers would have you believe.
Notably, all three teams currently trail their division league series’.
The argument goes something like this: The five day layoff for the top two teams in each league is more of a detriment than having to play a Wild Card round series.
Those fans support their argument by pointing out that lower seeds have won five of eight wild-card series the past two seasons, with that number on track to grow even more this season.
So, what’s the fix for this problem?
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic dove into that question in an article released on Monday morning.
“For more than four decades in the divisional era, the threat of rust from an extended layoff did not exist. From 1969 to ‘93, the division champions advanced directly to the League Championship Series. From 1995 to 2011, each league had only one wild card, and the Division Series started right away,” Rosenthal wrote.
“The trouble began with the addition of a second wild card in each league, which led to the creation of the wild-card game and a three-day layoff for the division champions from 2012 to ‘19, and again in ‘21. The current five-day layoff is longer than teams get at the All-Star break, amounting to an anomaly for an everyday sport.”
But we propose a much simpler fix: higher seeded teams should simply win more games if they don’t want to lose series’.
The higher-seeded teams have a number of clear advantages.
For one, they automatically reach the divisional round. That’s a big advantage compared to, say, not making the divisional round.
Higher-seeded teams can set their pitching rotation. As opposed to Wild Card teams who almost always throw their aces in those series’.
Teams with a bye can get players some much-needed rest. They enter the divisional round with a much better chance of being fully healthy.
The reality is simple. This argument only exists because the supposed “better” teams aren’t winning games.
literally every time the "better team" doesn't win, a bunch of softies find their voices and make hilarious excuses about why the format, not their team, is at fault.
this is what the playoffs are, and what they've been for decades. don't like it? find. another. sport. https://t.co/cQAx8Fw1We
— Liz Roscher (@lizroscher) October 9, 2023
Nobody has a principled opinion on the playoff format. It's all self-interest.
— Michael Baumann (@MichaelBaumann) October 9, 2023
So the determining factor of a good playoff format is the favorites win? https://t.co/PjB5KyCLj8
— Aram Leighton (@AramLeighton8) October 9, 2023
Oddly enough, Houston Astros fans don’t seem to be complaining. Could it be because the Astros have not lost as a higher-seeded team in the divisional round under this format?
Whomst can say?
But if the current playoff format has to be fixed, the way do to so is easy: don’t lose as the higher-seeded team with home field advantage.