MLB Post Season Changes: A Step In The Wrong Direction

MLB playoff picture might be getting a little bigger. With a story out of NYPost.com, the MLB has a new set of rules proposed to expand the playoff teams to 14 teams. In a season that’s already 162 games before the playoffs happen, the expansion would just be a bland attempt at livening things up.

While in most sports, adding more teams to the playoffs helps keep competitiveness at its peak. More teams mean more chances at an upset. Unfortunately for Major League Baseball, this more than likely won’t be the case. With 162 game season, divisional rivals often play each other upwards of 18-20 times a season.

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Conceding anything can happen in professional sports, you have to consider how little the series is split. While the top-tier, playoff-ready teams eat their competition alive, the lower end teams that squeak into the playoffs rarely go on a run. Playoff teams tend to eat wildcard teams alive. Do fans really expect a wildcard team barely above .500 win % will take on 90-100 game-winners in a seven-game series?

Only 15 teams last season won more games than they lost. Letting in those teams gives false hope to fans that expect their team to upset. The lowest win total of 2019 playoff teams was 89. Last year’s World Series matchup had the Washing Nationals (93 wins) vs the Houston Astros(107 wins). Does anyone really believe that an 81-83 win team will overcome those odds? Yes, it can happen and while 12-26 wins don’t seem like a long shot, but playoffs are a whole different story.

Unlike the MLB regular season, players aren’t getting days rest as frequently. With everything all on the line, players play on short rest and starters get bumped up for a shot at a win. If the MLB had a way for athletes to play every game, the winning margin with their stars would be much larger. Adding 14 teams to the playoffs would more often than not end in disaster. The MLB is more than likely looking to push that one feel-good story of the postseason that might happen every 10 years. Nothing about this expansion adds to the overall quality of the playoffs and strongly needs to be reconsidered.