Opinion: The Best Teams Do Not Go To The World Series
LOS ANGELES — Another season spent watching and critiquing generational talent just to get swept in the first round of playoffs. This is the latest trend if you claim yourself to be a Dodger fan.
The LA Dodgers played another historic season with a triple digit win column securing them an automatic slot in the first round of the playoffs, and skipping the wild card round. The playoffs are structured as follows (each league):
No. 1 seed: Best league record
No. 2 seed: Second-best division winner
No. 3 seed: Third-best division winner
No. 4 seed: Best record among Wild Card teams
No. 5 seed: Second-best record among Wild Card teams
No. 6 seed: Third-best record among Wild Card teams
The 1 and 2 seeds get a week off of real playing time while the 3 and 6 seeds matchup and the 4 and 5 seeds matchup in a best-of-3 series.
Most people would look at this as a positive reset to get your mind and body healthy before advancing into the Division series. However, baseball is a streaky game. The best teams go through slumps consistently throughout the 162 game season. A team can lose seven in a row and still be considered the best in the league.
When the Arizona Diamondbacks upset the Brewers in Milwaukee in the wild card round, the snakes entered the Chavez Ravine with all the momentum to hit LA where it hurts the most: scoring six runs in the first inning on LA’s most prized possession, Clayton Kershaw. Future Hall-of-Famer, Kershaw, has a track record of throwing meatballs over the plate in October, but no one expected the blow to be as detrimental as it was. After that first inning in Game 1, the Diamondbacks ripped the heart and soul out of this record-breaking team and swept through another round of the playoffs.
The Dodgers are not the only team to suffer this structure of playoff momentum. The best record in the National League was accomplished by the Atlanta Braves who ended up losing the series 3-1 in the same round as the Dodgers. In the American League, the No. 1 seeded Baltimore Orioles felt the same wrath as they were swept by the No. 5 seeded Texas Rangers. The only team to cheat the system and make it to the next round was the No. 2 seeded Houston Astros. I’m not sure how they cheated the system, but I’m sure MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred will come out with a statement in two years, and give them another slap on the wrist.
The playoffs did not used to be structured this way. They changed the postseason format in 2012 to this atrocious arrangement. A decade later and the postseason needs another revamp.
