alkeiper
Welcoming our new insect overlords
I don't know if it translates to baseball success or failure, but the Atlanta Braves and their fans have been ridiculously easy to clown this series.
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Texas: Good baseball, bad reproductive rights…the 2023 MLB Postseason thread
- Thread starter Cackling Co Pilot Kamala
- Start date
Lmao based on my experience I’ll probably blow a call and let some kid pass interfere all the way down the field like I saw on tape once. Couldn’t believe I blew the call that bad either.
That being said I didn’t watch any of this series cause I just don’t have time anymore. Between football and basketball, the meetings, studying the rulebook the only days I have time now are Saturday and Sunday.
Cackling Co Pilot Kamala
Integral Poster
I saw so many fans of eliminated (or nearly eliminated) fans post “IF THE BEST TEAMS DON’T GET TO PLAY IN THE WORLD SERIES, WHAT’S THE POINT!?”
Reactionary baseball fandom. MAKE THE WORLD SERIES BETWEEN THE TEAM IN EACH LEAGUE WITH THE BEST RECORD AGAIN.
alkeiper
Welcoming our new insect overlords
If you create a system where the twelvth best team can win a championship, eventually the twelvth best team will win a championship. I don't like it and if it were any other team taking advantage of it I would complain louder.
alkeiper
Welcoming our new insect overlords
Cackling Co Pilot Kamala
Integral Poster
Rangers/Diamondbacks is my pick.
Cackling Co Pilot Kamala
Integral Poster
@alkeiper , do you think MLB fans are overreacting to a 6 seed making it to the NLCS for a second year in a row?
New format is two years old. If we are five or six years in and it always ends with the top seeds getting eliminated early in then maybe reconsider it but I lean towards overreaction. Teams that are middling in the regular season make deep playoff runs fairly often in the other three sports and I don’t see a ton of fans complain.
I do like the idea of making the wild card a one game series and the division series seven game series.
New format is two years old. If we are five or six years in and it always ends with the top seeds getting eliminated early in then maybe reconsider it but I lean towards overreaction. Teams that are middling in the regular season make deep playoff runs fairly often in the other three sports and I don’t see a ton of fans complain.
I do like the idea of making the wild card a one game series and the division series seven game series.
alkeiper
Welcoming our new insect overlords
Take a step back and think about the odds. You've got a team that wins 52% of the time against a team that wins 57% of the time in a sport where home field changes the odds about 3%. Then the format sends the lower team to a 62% winning team in a best of five and while the better team has an advantage, it's not substantial. This is really a format designed to create chaos.
The mistake is thinking the higher seeds are at a disadvantage. The format produces a seemingly random underdog. The advantage is that a team gets to bypass that pothole. So you're still better off being the Braves than the Phillies (or Dodgers than Diamondbacks) going in. But even two years is far too small a sample size to draw any conclusions.
The mistake is thinking the higher seeds are at a disadvantage. The format produces a seemingly random underdog. The advantage is that a team gets to bypass that pothole. So you're still better off being the Braves than the Phillies (or Dodgers than Diamondbacks) going in. But even two years is far too small a sample size to draw any conclusions.
alkeiper
Welcoming our new insect overlords
Yeah, '77-78. Those were dark times.
Cackling Co Pilot Kamala
Integral Poster
This is the first year since the League Championship Series format was introduced in 1969 that all four teams had less than 95 wins.
Mickey Massuco
wipeoff
I don’t really buy this because I don’t care about winning percentages against basement dwellers. The best teams should be able to do it against the other best teams and the playoffs is the best way to weed them all out.
Mickey Massuco
wipeoff
I also agree with this.
Cackling Co Pilot Kamala
Integral Poster
They have to do a better job with scheduling next year. It just doesn’t feel right that there was a Friday and Saturday night in mid October with no baseball.
sfaJack
Integral Poster
I don't like the 12-team format but I also don't agree that the higher seeds are at a disadvantage because of the days off.
That said, if the perception is that they are at a disadvantage I would suggest these changes:
1. ALL seeding is done based on record only. Division titles get you a spot in the tournament but that's it. If the Orioles and Rays can finish 1/2 in the league in that meat grinder division, then by God they get the byes. Random geographical groupings of teams prove nothing about who the best teams are, especially when a schedule is still unbalanced.
2. Wild card can remain a best of 3 but the travel day before the Division series starts is eliminated. (I'd prefer the one game playoff though.)
3. Division series becomes best-of-7 with game 1 at the lower seed's ballpark, and the other 6 games are at the higher seed's ballpark. The only travel day would be between games 1 and 2.
I'm also ok with ditching the tiebreaker crap and bringing back the Game 163 playoffs but that isn't a hill I would die on.
MLB would never do any of these so this post is irrelevant.
That said, if the perception is that they are at a disadvantage I would suggest these changes:
1. ALL seeding is done based on record only. Division titles get you a spot in the tournament but that's it. If the Orioles and Rays can finish 1/2 in the league in that meat grinder division, then by God they get the byes. Random geographical groupings of teams prove nothing about who the best teams are, especially when a schedule is still unbalanced.
2. Wild card can remain a best of 3 but the travel day before the Division series starts is eliminated. (I'd prefer the one game playoff though.)
3. Division series becomes best-of-7 with game 1 at the lower seed's ballpark, and the other 6 games are at the higher seed's ballpark. The only travel day would be between games 1 and 2.
I'm also ok with ditching the tiebreaker crap and bringing back the Game 163 playoffs but that isn't a hill I would die on.
MLB would never do any of these so this post is irrelevant.
sfaJack
Integral Poster
It is feasible if the wild card goes back to the one game scenario.
alkeiper
Welcoming our new insect overlords
The playoffs feel gimmicky enough. It shouldn't take more than 30 seconds to explain how a playoff format works. I'll throw out some suggestions though.
-Realign to two divisions per league. Your division winners get their byes and you keep four wild cards per league. That way you don't have this business of sending a division winner to a wild card series. Maybe make the wild card series 1 away 2 home.
-Bring back tiebreaker games. Figuring out tiebreaking scenarios based on head-to-head records is EXHAUSTING.
-Worried about too many games with tiebreakers back? Think the wild card should be best of five instead of three? Shorten the league championship series to a best-of-five. If we're going to make the playoffs unpredictable there's no reason fans need to sit through extra Diamondbacks games.
-Realign to two divisions per league. Your division winners get their byes and you keep four wild cards per league. That way you don't have this business of sending a division winner to a wild card series. Maybe make the wild card series 1 away 2 home.
-Bring back tiebreaker games. Figuring out tiebreaking scenarios based on head-to-head records is EXHAUSTING.
-Worried about too many games with tiebreakers back? Think the wild card should be best of five instead of three? Shorten the league championship series to a best-of-five. If we're going to make the playoffs unpredictable there's no reason fans need to sit through extra Diamondbacks games.
Mickey Massuco
wipeoff
Also worth noting that since the opening round, the losing teams of all the series have only won two games total. Not the most competitive playoffs.
alkeiper
Welcoming our new insect overlords
Yeah, I'm really enjoying the Phillies run. But so far the biggest moment of the postseason was Austin Riley's home run in game 2 of the Phillies/Braves series.
Cackling Co Pilot Kamala
Integral Poster
It is little bit of a bummer that this lopsided postseason has nullified a lot of the momentum of the regular season.
alkeiper
Welcoming our new insect overlords
I imagine quite a bit of this is due to a 2pm local start, but tickets for tomorrow's Phillies/D'Backs game are selling for as low as $12.
Mickey Massuco
wipeoff
That is insane in this economy, in a good way.
sfaJack
Integral Poster
You Phillies fans are on another level:
alkeiper
Welcoming our new insect overlords
Some fans had the idea to buy up tickets to give to local charities but the logistics of getting people there are just too challenging.
alkeiper
Welcoming our new insect overlords
Phillies throwing away their collective goodwill tonight. If they don’t come back tomorrow’s game seven will be the first game seven the team has played in their 140 year history.