The winner goes to Houston and the loser goes home in Game 5 tonight between the Guardians and Yankees. The NLCS between the Phillies and Padres starts tomorrow night and I’ll have a preview of it up later this afternoon.
Before I get into Game 5, I want to talk a little more about all the playoff complaints with this format and how the Dodgers, Mets and Braves are gone and what to do about it. The answer – nothing. Absolutely nothing. Here’s the thing about baseball. Over 162 games, the best teams will be the best. Over three, four, five, six or seven games, anything can happen. Remember when the Pirates swept the Dodgers in Los Angeles earlier this season? Remember when the Braves started 3-4 against the Reds and Nationals? Remember when the Mets were swept by the Cubs in mid-September?
Baseball is a high-variance sport. The only thing that minimizes the variance is playing a lot of games, a luxury not afforded to teams in the playoffs. I understand the frustration and, believe me, MLB doesn’t want a Phillies/Padres NLCS. If they had their way, it would be Mets/Dodgers every year to tap into the two biggest media markets in the country. They’re sure as hell not rooting for Cleveland tonight.
There is no solution. Previously, the regular season wasn’t really incentivized at all besides home-field advantage. At least now the top two teams avoid the Wild Card Round and those teams have to tap into their rotations. It will take more than one postseason to argue the “rest vs. rust” point people have been making.