Major League Baseball's championship round, the World Series began last night. The San Francisco Giants and the Kansas City Royals are the two best teams after six months of regular season games and one month of postseason contests. The caveat is neither team were the best in their during the regular season.
Of the five playoff teams in the National League, San Francisco had the worst record. In the American League, Kansas City had the second worst record among playoff qualifiers. It isn't an insult toward the franchises or their respective fanbases. The Giants and Royals were in the top ten in wins during the season.
Ten out of thirty teams make the playoffs in Major League Baseball, one-third. To be exact, 33 percent of the league qualifies. This percentage is the lowest of the four major professional sports. In the National Football League, 37.5 percent are eligible for postseason play, 12 out of 32 clubs.
North America's two major professional indoor sports leagues, the NBA and NHL, are even worse in terms of separating good from bad (or mediocre). In both sports, 16 teams make the playoff rounds and 14 do not qualify. For those of you scoring at home, more teams are in then out, 53 percent of them play in the postseason.
The L.A. Kings have won the NHL's Stanley Cup in two of the last three seasons. In 2012, the Kings were the eight and last seed in the Western Conference and ranked 14th out of 16 playoff teams. In 2014, they had the sixth best record in their conference and tied for only tenth in the entire regular season but won the playoff rounds. Essentially, the regular seasons in the NHL are becoming more meaningless.
MLB is not at this stage yet but getting closer. Getting back to this year's World Series, neither league champion won 90 games during the 162-game regular season. San Francisco, champions of the National League, won 88 ballgames. Kansas City, champions of the American League, compiled 87 wins. It's the first time ever in the modern era of baseball.
Both teams won "wild-card" games before advancing through the division series and league championship series. Again, this isn't an indictment on the Giants or the Royals. The Giants eliminated the NL's best team, the Washington Nationals, 3 games to 1 in the division series round. Then, they beat the third-seeded St. Louis Cardinals, four games to one. The Royals completed a three-game sweep of the L.A. Angels, the team with the record in the AL and a four-game sweep of the second-seeded Baltimore Orioles.
The problem is the "wild-card" games are an extra round of playoffs added in because of one baseball event and one competing sport.
Thanks to St. Louis and Tampa Bay completing historical comebacks to win the single wild cards in each league on the last night of the 2011 regular season, MLB decided to add another wild card spot and a special game. 2011 was unique, STL and TB had to win their respective games while Atlanta and Boston had to lose. It was a once in a lifetime scenario. Now the new playoff game round seems out of place. It's only one game compared 5,7, and games for the following rounds.
Also, baseball wanted to take the spotlight away from the National Football League. To be fair, casual fans' minds shift from baseball to football beginning in August and right through September, baseball's ending to its regular season. There is too much football talk during baseball's homestretch. Football should be front and center starting in November for non-hardcore football fans and the general sports media.
Major League Baseball needs to be careful of trying too hard to make their end of season worthwhile and losing focus on the beginning and the middle. In addition, they should stop worrying about football. MLB must watch and act swiftly if the new playoff format starts to devalue the six months of regular season.
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