Instead of 1 “win or go home” recreation between the two wild-card groups, the three wild-card groups and the division winner with the worst common season file will play in best-of-three-game collection. The two division winners with the finest common season information will wait to play the winners in a best-of-five-game collection.
The people at MLB say this technique is extra truthful. It was powerful for a wild-card workforce that had a terrific file to have their season come down to 1 all-or-nothing recreation.
But the MLB playoffs will not be designed to be truthful. After all, the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers have spent the 162-game season proving they’re the finest groups in the American and National leagues.
After Tuesday’s video games, the Astros had received 105 video games, six greater than some other American League workforce. The Dodgers have received a tremendous 110 video games and outscored their opponents by an unimaginable 329 runs.
If they needed to be truthful, MLB would simply place the Astros and the Dodgers in the World Series and allow them to play seven video games. The MLB playoffs, nonetheless, are designed to be fun with a number of dramatic video games the place one hit or one pitch may make all the distinction.
The finest groups don’t at all times win in a brief collection. In the 9 seasons since MLB expanded the playoffs to incorporate a wild-card recreation (I didn’t depend the pandemic-shortened 2020 season), the workforce with the finest common season file in its league has gone to the World Series lower than half of the time (7 out of 18).
Washington baseball followers know that. The Nationals had the finest file in the National League in 2012 and 2014 however didn’t make the World Series. In 2019, the Nats certified for the playoffs as a wild card and received all of it.
Any workforce can have a streak by which they win or lose a number of video games in a row. The Dodgers received 110 video games this season, however even that they had some dropping streaks. Five instances throughout their spectacular 2022 season, the Dodgers misplaced a minimum of three video games in a row. One time, they misplaced 4 in a row.
So watch as many playoff video games as you possibly can. The Astros and Dodgers will not be assured to make the World Series. Anything can occur in the MLB playoffs. And often does.