MLB PLAYOFFS
The Division Series have been terrific. Every single series has gone or is going five games. The Tigers and the Giants wrapped up their series today with wins over the Athletics and Reds, respectively. The Athletics fought back from 3-1 down in the ninth inning Wednesday night to force a fifth game but could not stir up any more magic Thursday night at home. The Giants, meanwhile, won their last three games all at Cincinnati while the Reds won the first two games on the road in San Francisco. Tonight, the Nationals host the Cardinals in Game 5 after a Jayson Werth home run won it in the ninth Thursday. And in the other series, the Orioles downed the Yankees in New York in 13 innings. They'll have to win a second game in three contests in the Big Apple tonight to get to the ALCS.
The Division Series are helping MLB kick off the postseason in a great way but there was a shaky beginning. In the first wild card game in history, the Braves lost to the Cardinals 6-3 and a controversial play hurt Atlanta's chances of a making a comeback late in the game. In the eigthth inning, down 6-3, a shallow pop fly hit by Andrelton Simmons landed in between the Cardinals left fielder and shortstop, who both seemed to think the other was going to catch the ball. The bases would have been loaded with one out but an umpire ruled Simmons out because of the infield fly rule. He called it as the ball was almost ready to hit the ground and the ball was pretty deep into the outfield, too far out of the outfield, in my opinion, to call infield fly. Angry Braves fans littered the field with garbage and the game was delayed 19 minutes while field crew cleaned up the mess. The Braves also filed a formal protest with the league but it was denied and the Cardinals went on to the victory.
Besides that, the wild card games, the way they are constructed, is just weird. The wild card games are one-off games. Seems unfair if the team that finishes with 94 regular-season wins gets just one game to try to beat the underdog which finished with say, 87 wins. You could say the better team, perhaps the team with 94 wins, should just win the game. Maybe true. But still. Baseball's entire season is based on three and four-game series. Now all of a sudden, we are doing a winner-take-all one-game playoff? I just feel like that changes the way the game is played, changes the very essence of baseball.
The other strange thing about the beginning of the playoffs was that the road teams actually started at home. The better teams were said to still have home field advantage but they had to start on the road for two games, then finish up at home with three games. I think the team with the better record should always start at home, though. Baseball finally changed a little this season, but I think they could make these wild card games better by making them a best-of-three series and then also always have the team with the better record start series at home.
The Division Series have been terrific. Every single series has gone or is going five games. The Tigers and the Giants wrapped up their series today with wins over the Athletics and Reds, respectively. The Athletics fought back from 3-1 down in the ninth inning Wednesday night to force a fifth game but could not stir up any more magic Thursday night at home. The Giants, meanwhile, won their last three games all at Cincinnati while the Reds won the first two games on the road in San Francisco. Tonight, the Nationals host the Cardinals in Game 5 after a Jayson Werth home run won it in the ninth Thursday. And in the other series, the Orioles downed the Yankees in New York in 13 innings. They'll have to win a second game in three contests in the Big Apple tonight to get to the ALCS.
The Division Series are helping MLB kick off the postseason in a great way but there was a shaky beginning. In the first wild card game in history, the Braves lost to the Cardinals 6-3 and a controversial play hurt Atlanta's chances of a making a comeback late in the game. In the eigthth inning, down 6-3, a shallow pop fly hit by Andrelton Simmons landed in between the Cardinals left fielder and shortstop, who both seemed to think the other was going to catch the ball. The bases would have been loaded with one out but an umpire ruled Simmons out because of the infield fly rule. He called it as the ball was almost ready to hit the ground and the ball was pretty deep into the outfield, too far out of the outfield, in my opinion, to call infield fly. Angry Braves fans littered the field with garbage and the game was delayed 19 minutes while field crew cleaned up the mess. The Braves also filed a formal protest with the league but it was denied and the Cardinals went on to the victory.
Besides that, the wild card games, the way they are constructed, is just weird. The wild card games are one-off games. Seems unfair if the team that finishes with 94 regular-season wins gets just one game to try to beat the underdog which finished with say, 87 wins. You could say the better team, perhaps the team with 94 wins, should just win the game. Maybe true. But still. Baseball's entire season is based on three and four-game series. Now all of a sudden, we are doing a winner-take-all one-game playoff? I just feel like that changes the way the game is played, changes the very essence of baseball.
The other strange thing about the beginning of the playoffs was that the road teams actually started at home. The better teams were said to still have home field advantage but they had to start on the road for two games, then finish up at home with three games. I think the team with the better record should always start at home, though. Baseball finally changed a little this season, but I think they could make these wild card games better by making them a best-of-three series and then also always have the team with the better record start series at home.
I agree on both counts and have been saying this for awhile. No baseball playoff should come down to one game, it's just odd. One team has a bad day, and it's over. If the underdog advances, they should prove they belong by at least winning more than one game. Course, that would drag out the playoffs even more potentially.
ReplyDelete