MLB WHAT ARE YOU DOING? That is the biggest question I have right now for MLB leadership. As most of you know by now I love baseball. I would rather be playing it than writing about it, but alas I am not that talented. So then what prompted my question? Playoffs!? Playoffs?! We’re talking about playoffs? Yes, we are going to talk about the playoffs.
On August 17, 2015, Major League Baseball released the playoff schedule for this year. Now this is something I look forward to every year so I can mark it down on my calendar and see how many games are left in the season to see if my team is still in it.
This year, though, like some years in the past, the schedule has disappointed me. Why, you may ask? Well you see, games five through seven of the World Series will be in November. I can hear you all now: but games five through seven are the if-games, so there could be a sweep. Yes, this is true, there could be a sweep. Stats, on the other hand, say something completely different. There have been only 21 sweeps in 110 World Series. That is only 19%. So odds are they will be playing in November this year. Baseball in November just sucks. It is just way too cold. In my honest opinion the playoffs should start no later than the 1st of October and end no later than 29th of October.
So what does this all stem from? Well, a bad schedule. I have no problem with a 162-game season. What I do have a problem with is how the schedule is played out. A single game almost every day, some days are travel days, and then rain outs. Rain outs can and most likely will cause a doubleheader. I think baseball should bring back the doubleheader into its regular season. I think this would bring excitement back into a sport that is now trying to compete with football and the NFL. This would also give more rest days to the players so they wouldn’t have to go on the disabled list. Also when people go watch games they want to see the All-Star players not the guy they just called up to fill a roster spot.
And then there is interleague play. Interleague play is when teams from the American League play teams from the National League. Doing this a few years ago was a great fun idea. But it has become dull and takes away from the World Series. The World Series used to be where the best of one rule set was playing the best of the other rule set. It is not that way anymore. Well, it is, but it isn’t.
Now, we could get into the whole debate about lost revenue and whatnot, but I really don’t know enough to get into that side of the house. What I do know is professional athletes do get paid way too much, but who am I to say that? I know I would want as much money as I can get. But let’s back to my point.
Is the baseball season too long? Again, yes and no. It is long in the sense of how much of the year it takes up. It is not long in the number of games. I believe that 162 is a good number of games. So let’s get rid of Interleague play and put back in season doubleheaders. By doing this I believe we can make baseball great again.
Now on to my playoff predictions:
AL wild card: Orioles vs Blue Jays. Winner, Blue Jays. (Orioles can’t seem to get their hitting and pitching lined up so if they make it this far one will fail in the must-win game.)
NL wild card: Cubs vs St. Louis. Winner, Cubs. (St. Louis’s meltdown at the end of the season will continue into the playoffs and they won’t be able to stop the sinking ship.)
ALDS A: Blue Jays vs Kansas City. Winner, Kansas City in 4. (Kansas City will build on last year looking for back-to-back World Series appearances.)
ALDS B: NY Yankees vs Houston. Winner, Houston in 4. (Going with youth here, I just think NY is too old.)
NLDS A: Cubs vs LA Dodgers. Winner, Cubs in 3. (LA’s struggles in the playoffs will continue.)
NLDS B: NY Mets vs Pittsburgh. Winner, Pittsburgh in 4. (I just feel it is going to be Pittsburgh’s year.)
ALCS: Houston vs Kansas City. Winner, KC in 5. (KC has the pitching to take them back to the World Series.)
NLCS: Cubs vs Pittsburgh. Winner, Pittsburgh in 4 (Sorry, Cubs fans, you will have to wait yet another year to see your team break the curse.)
World Series: Pittsburgh vs Kansas City. Winner, Pittsburgh in 7. (Yet again, I just feel this is Pittsburgh’s year, and they have been flying under the radar and no one is talking about them at all.)
So there you have it. Playoffs, playoffs, and more playoffs. Oh, and a little bit on the schedule. So until next time, Ballgame fans, I’ll see you in the stands.