Greetings from Phoenix, Arizona, home of the Cactus League where fifteen MLB teams have their spring training. It seems fitting to write a baseball post from this location, so that is what follows.
There is little question that, of the four major professional sports, the NFL is the most popular league in the country. There are several reasons for this, such as the time of the year in which football games are played, the popularity of fantasy football, the ability of the league to keep fan interest up even during the off-season with things such as the February combine and the April draft, the ease of following teams which play only once a week, and the omni-present television cameras. One very important feature of the NFL is that, unlike the NBA and the NHL which both admit sixteen out of their respective thirty teams into the post-season playoffs (53%), the NFL's playoff structure makes room for only twelve of its thirty-two teams (38%). One quite obvious upshot of this arrangement is that it makes the regular season games much more important. You have to have a fairly decent record during the sixteen game regular season to qualify for the playoffs. There have been times when even a team with a regular season record of ten wins and six losses does not qualify for post-season play. Any team which encounters a three game losing streak really has an uphill climb.
Major league baseball, once (still?) our "National Passtime," announced last week that it is expanding the number of its playoff participants from eight to ten out of its thirty teams. For all you "numbers" peeps out there, that's a jump from 27% to 33%, still the lowest percentage among the pros. Starting this season, the baseball qualifiers will be the three division champs plus the two best non-champs (i.e., wild card teams) from each of the American League and the National League. Each league's wild card teams can come from within the same division (e.g., the American League East Division), so it's quite possible that a team which finishes third in its division can still make the playoffs. Is this good for the game of baseball?
As someone who attends many regular season games and watches way too many on TV, I am generally against any movement which dilutes the importance of those games. Attending a Twins game, for example, usually entails an expenditure in the neighborhood of $150 to $175, when you consider the cost of the tickets, parking, the requisite beers at the Bullfrog and inside Target Field, and of course a couple of Tony O's Cubano sandwiches. Although there's a lot to enjoy in connection with attending a game, including simply socializing in the great outdoors, I'd like to think that the primary reason for going is to see a baseball game which has some impact on the overall season. If that were not true, why would most teams' attendance figures sag when their success on the field diminishes? The fewer number of teams allowed to qualify for the playoffs, the more important each individual regular season game becomes, and accordingly, the more bang each paying fan is getting for her buck.
Notwithstanding all of the reasons why I should not favor the new expansion of the playoffs to include two (instead of one) playoff teams from each league, I hereby submit that the change is a good one. The new format will call for the two wildcard teams in each league to square off in a one (ONE!) game series (if, indeed, you can call it a "series") at the higher seed's home park. Whoever loses that game is one and done. The winner goes on to play the division champ with the best record in a five game series, while the other two division champs play each other in a five game set. The rest of the playoffs continue using the same format as in most recent years.
The one game wildcard series is fascinating. Does a manager start his # 1 pitching ace on the theory that there is no tomorrow if his team loses, or does the manager save his # 1 ace for the division series opponent because that team will be tougher to beat than the wild card opponent? The manager will look pretty silly saving his best pitcher for a game that may not ever happen. Some managers might choose not to manipulate their rotation at all; whoever's turn it is to pitch on the day of the wild card game gets the call.
I also like the fact that teams won't be able to semi-intentionally "tank" the last few weeks of the season, realizing that they will be in the playoffs anyway, so why not rest their regulars. Under the old format, the league's division champions had no real benefit over the wild card team, other than a home field advantage (which, of course, would be wiped out if the division champ lost the first game of the division series). If a playoff spot was assured, there was no compelling need to try to overtake the division leader. Under the new format, there is a tremendous difference between being one of the league's three division champs and being one of the two wild cards, because the wild cards have to win that one game series to stay alive, while the division champs are idle, better able to set up their rotations and rest their position players.
Already, some managers, such as the Twins' Ron Gardenhire, are complaining that a one game wild card series is too short and unfair to the team that loses. Although I like Gardy a lot, my response to his whine is this: You'd better go out and win your division; then you won't have to cope with the one game wild card series.
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Very interesting. I knew it had changed, but this is the first time hearing how it's going down.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't seem like Gardy has much clout here, but I could see how someone like Maddon, Girardi, or Francona (now Valentine, right?) would have a serious problem. They could do a best of three series? It seems like that would be fairer, and short enough where people would maintain interest throughout.
Either way, I like the change. It definitely makes that one game one of the most exciting games of the playoffs.