PORT ST. LUCIE — You identify as a baseball purist and you want the powers in charge to stop messing with the game.
Just a few questions:
What is your defining point for when the game was pure? Now, with two wild cards? Or when it was one? Or before there were three divisions? Or before there were two? Or before you ever heard the term designated hitter? Or before players of color were allowed to play? When is your starting point?
Because whenever it is the game has stopped being purely that version long ago. It is ever changing. So if you do not like the playoff format that the commissioner’s office is mulling please don’t hide behind purity, unless you also think players should stop using mechanical pitching machines because Ruth and Gehrig never had that and players should be forbidden from the best in modern medicine, nutrition and workout regimens because Cy Young never had an option for Tommy John surgery, Willie Mays never had protein powder in his smoothie and Ted Williams never did pilates.
I could see the case against going to 14 playoff teams, though the NBA and NHL have long had 16 and the expectation is that if the NFL goes to a 17-game schedule they will expand from 12 to 14 postseason teams.
I could see worry that if greatness is not needed to reach the postseason then why would teams spend on players? Except the Padres will have a record payroll this year and pretty much no chance to overtake the Dodgers in the NL West. My suspicion is that the carrot of the playoffs will motivate boldness from more teams, especially during the season.
Let’s get to the reality: The commissioner is proposing this because his office thinks it will be a big money-maker for the owners, which is the No. 1 responsibility of the job. The networks want more playoff content and clinching type games and that inventory rises dramatically with seven playoff teams in each league and six best-of-three series to open the postseason, plus the reality-type show in which the top seeds will get to pick their opponents. MLB already has received positive feedback from its broadcast partners.
If there were a way to go back to the old days in which at the end of 162 games the teams with the best records after the regular season just played in the World Series, great. But think about how many fan bases wouldn’t care about the length of the season then. So all that should matter to fans is not if this is a money grab — it is — but within finding a way to increase revenue is the commissioner serving the sport well. Because the playoffs can be rigged however you want. The structure is man-made.
Again, for those identifying as “purists,” no rule came down from a mountaintop, delivered by a deity. The original rules easily could have had the bases at 92 feet apart rather than 90, and if today the product were better to move it to 92, then that should be done. So do we get a better product with the format change being proposed? I think so because:
— You want to honor the regular season. I have heard the complaint that this minimizes the regular season. But the best teams will have to play until the end. The reward for having the best record in a league is a bye out of the best-of-three — which is substantial. Win a division and get all the games in the first round at home plus pick your opponent. Finish with the best wild-card record and get all the first-round games at home. That just brought greater meaning to more August/September games.
— The one-game wild card is dramatic, but unfair. The A’s won 97 games last year and their season ended in 3 hours, 18 minutes. At least a two-out-of-three provides opportunity to survive a single bad game.
— Too many teams are surrendering before or during the season. MLB attendance has been down for seven straight years and that surrender has been a central cause. More playoff spots should encourage organizations to try for the playoffs. More contenders should encourage better attendance. I can imagine the July trade deadline becoming less about selloffs from poor clubs and more teams trying to reach the postseason dealing with each other. The trickle down should be more clubs willing to spend, which should benefit players and potentially cultivate the union as a supporter of a plan that must be collectively bargained.
— Is the selection show hokey? It is. It is my least favorite part of this proposal. But I realize — are you listening purists? — that not everything is designed with me in mind. MLB is obsessed with recruiting younger fans and a reality-type show in which teams pick their playoff opponents has a chance to reach a generation raised on reality shows. The NCAA selection show was probably hokey at first, until it was around long enough to become part of Americana.
You could imagine going into that Sunday night broadcast (after the final regular-season game) all the segments on sports talk radio/TV and all the words written in newspapers and on social media about which teams should pick which and why. Then once the picks are made the breaking down of why and the trash talk that will begin — oh, you wanted Team X, you got it.
Again, not my thing. But if you run a sports league you will not satisfy all the people with any decision. So just do what you think is best for the bottom line and the sport. The “purists” will scream, then accept it as the way baseball is, then scream the next time an attempt is made at change. This is a familiar cycle.