Yesterday I was reading a Major League Baseball preview article on ESPN, I was surprised to read that almost every “expert” didn’t have the Red Sox even making the playoffs. Am I underestimating the talent of the other teams in the American League? Can the Red Sox really not finish in the top five in the AL? That brings me to my first point: my thoughts on Bud Selig’s move to make two wildcard spots in each league with a one game playoff. Last year this rule would have been nice for the Sox, but I think overall it hurts the Sox. What I don’t understand is why they would boil a 162 game season down to one single game to decide who is the last seed. If the fourth seed has a better record than the other ten teams in the league for 162 games then what is the point of giving the fifth seed a chance at stealing the last spot. They say in football that any team can win on any Sunday. Of course that is true, but upsets are much less likely. In baseball that motto becomes very realistic. One player cannot win a baseball, besides maybe a pitcher.
When I first learned of this new rule I had to search for the motive behind this move. Did it have something to do with the epic collapses by both the Red Sox and Braves? What I found was that Baseball wanted to reward the division winners and in return sort of punish the team in the wildcard position. In my opinion, this would work if the Red Sox and Yankees weren’t in the same division. Baseball needs both these teams in the playoffs for maximum publicity, but this rule will make it much harder for that to happen. At best, either the Sox or Yankees will have to play a one game playoff before the playoffs even begin. So say this season the Red Sox and Rays end up finishing fourth and fifth in the AL. They play a one game playoff, but instead of having James Shields against Jon Lester you have Buchholz against Matt Moore because Shields and Lester just pitched because they were still battling for a chance at the division, essentially what becomes a bye. So then say the Sox win a thriller behind Buchholz and they play the Yankees in the ALDS. Instead of having their rotation ready to go they are forced to start Dubrount or Bard against Sabathia because they don’t get any days off between the playoff game. Baseball is putting the wildcard team at far to much of a disadvantage.
If they were going to change the structure of the playoffs I would have much rather seen them change the Division Series from a best of 5 to a best of 7 game series. If they want to give the top seeds the best chance of advancing give them a longer series equivalent to what it is in the Championship and World Series. The longer the season the more likely it is that the better team will come out on top. I am have never been a big fan of the Division Series in baseball. You have the longest season in sports by a factor of two and you are going to play a shorter series to start than both Basketball and Hockey. It just doesn’t make sense to me. If favors team that are dependent on their ace pitcher. If a team has to play the Tigers in the first series they will likely have to go against Justin Verlander twice. If he wins both his starts all they need is one win in the other three games. Where as him only going twice in a seven game series makes the Tigers have to win that Series as a team not behind the arm of Verlander.
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