Tim Benz: New MLB postseason proposal stinks so badly, it must be on purpose
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Is it too late for another “U mad, bro?” entry?
How about a celebrity nomination?
This one is from Cincinnati Reds pitcher Trevor Bauer. He’s obviously ticked at Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred because of potential plans to expand and overhaul the MLB postseason format.
No idea who made this new playoff format proposal, but Rob is responsible for releasing it, so I’ll direct this to you, Rob Manfred. Your proposal is absurd for too many reasons to type on twitter and proves you have absolutely no clue about baseball. You’re a joke.
— Trevor Bauer (@BauerOutage) February 11, 2020
A report from the New York Post suggests MLB is considering the following changes to its postseason bracket.
Please pardon the direct cut and paste here. But the alleged “concept” is so dense and convoluted, I’d probably mangle the explanation of what the league is trying to accomplish.
So here’s how writer Joel Sherman managed to translate the idea.
“In this concept, the team with the best record in each league would receive a bye to avoid the wild-card round and go directly to the Division Series.
The two other division winners and the wild card with the next-best record would each host all three games in a best-of-three wild-card round. So the bottom three wild cards would have no first-round home games.
The division winner with the second-best record in a league would then get the first pick of its opponent from those lower three wild cards, then the other division winner would pick, leaving the last two wild cards to play each other.”
You follow all that? Neither did I. Nor do I particularly want to.
But when it comes to the selection of opponents, here’s where it gets really good.
Uh, I mean, particularly awful.
“The plan is to have this all play out on a show on the Sunday night the regular season ends and have representatives picking teams on live TV .”
Bauer is right.
This stinks. Badly.
Like natural gas. Where odor is added to it on purpose so you notice how bad it smells.
I think that’s what is taking place here, too.
It’s an idea so rotten — so pungent — that when you recognize how terrible it is, whatever less extreme change is eventually implemented will seem less odorous and more palatable for our delicate baseball sensibilities.
Making teams shut down for a full round?
Expanding the playoffs so that more mediocre teams get in?
Separating the top division winner from each league’s second division winner to the irrational degree that one team gets a full-round bye while the other gets to play a full additional series?
No thanks.
Think about that. What if the National League East winner has the best record, with 100 wins in a weak division? And the NL West winner has 99, holding off the top wild-card winner who has 98?
Why should the NL West champ have to play a full extra series while the NL East winner gets a bye, based on a one-game differential?
It’s not one game like football. It’s a best of three. A full series. That’s too disproportionate.
And all that analysis is before we even get to the ludicrous idea of teams picking their own opponent on a reality TV show.
MLB is essentially trying to recreate “Selection Sunday.” The difference is Kentucky never gets to pick if they play Fairleigh Dickinson or North Dakota State.
A committee does that.
This is a test balloon on steroids. Nothing more.
This leak of information gets people talking about something more extreme than the Houston Astros cheating controversy. This is an idea so hyperbolic, fans and media will feel the need to shout it down and come up with their own, better solutions.
Well, I’m not going to bite. I think the playoff format is fine the way it is. In fact, if anything, I’d knock it back by a team and just start in with the Division Series.
But if they see the appeal of the wild-card elimination one-and-one format, that’s cool. Leave it be, then.
However, if Manfred is floating this information on purpose to get Twitter and blogs to essentially act as a free worldwide think tank on behalf of the league, I’m not going to try to help.
Figure it out on your own, Rob.
I don’t think you can. Because in the case of the MLB playoffs, more isn’t better. Especially if the regular season stays the same length.
Now I’ve gotta log off and check the gas line. It still smells in here.