Playoffs 2020: (Almost) everybody's a winner
The Rubicon is crossed. Major League Baseball is following the suit of all of the other major American sports and expanding their playoffs to an unprecedented level. Like the NBA and NHL, MLB will have more than half of the teams in the league fighting it out for the final championship. Who would have thought that the league that gave us the concept of the wild card (NFL) would have the fewest teams (14) participate in the postseason?
So far, the fallout across social media has been predictable. Fans have voiced their disdain (to put it mildly) for the new plan. The screams of "Tradition!" are already echoing across the land. At this point, Bock and Harnick should get royalties every time that argument gets made.
There is something to it, especially with regards to baseball, where the past means much more than any other sport. It is also widely believed that this format will become the norm going forward. The players approved it, the owners most certainly will and the fans have all the pull of U.S. Territories in a presidential election. Once this toothpaste is out of the tube, it’s hard to believe that it will go back.
If this is the new normal, it will make the regular season even more meaningless, something that MLB might want to rethink. Fans don’t watch when their team is out of the running, but if the running becomes an almost foregone conclusion, will they tune out until the postseason? More than likely, they will. And if a team is truly awful, fans will look away in even greater numbers. Though the drive always seems to be focused on attracting younger fans, at some point alienating all of the middle-aged and older fans is going to backfire. Though diluted, the regular season meant something in baseball. The long haul …
Also, though a majority of teams making the playoffs is standard across most sports, it is such a lackluster format. It is rewarding mediocrity, which even with the 10-team playoff format since 2012 baseball was able to avoid. Generally speaking, since the second wild card was created, 90 wins was good for a playoff berth, while the high-80s was on the bubble. By having such a large expansion it’s only a matter of time before a .500 team (or worse) makes the baseball postseason. John McGraw is spinning in his grave.
The only thing about this new format that gives pause is the simple fact that when the season comes to an end, most fans will be happy if their team gets to play a little longer. In this most unusual of seasons in this most unusual of years, extra baseball will be very welcome. There will be more grumbling. Surely there are stories already being run about fans who are quitting baseball for good.
Most of us, though, will stick around. If the White Sox make the playoffs, whether as a top seed or an eighth, those of us who support the South Siders will cheer until the final out — hopefully sometime in November.