Fans of specific MLB teams have had a rough week or couple of weeks, depending on each case.
The Atlanta Braves, who won 101 games over the regular season and have a $200 million payroll, were eliminated in just four games and didn’t make it to the National League Championship Series.
The New York Mets had it even worse: they, and their $282 million payroll, won the same number of games, 101, but didn’t even make it to the Division Series, losing the Wild Card round to the San Diego Padres.
The Los Angeles Dodgers ($275 million payroll) won 111 games (!) and were left behind in the first round of their playoff stint, the Division Series.
The $265 million 2022 New York Yankees risk elimination if they lose tonight against the Cleveland Guardians and their $82 million payroll.
Fans, therefore, have been complaining about MLB’s format.
They say it’s not fair for such a good regular season team to risk elimination in a best-of-five series and, in some cases, in a best-of-three matchup.
Some Fans Are Complaining About MLB’s Playoff Format
An MLB writer who covers the Pittsburgh Pirates made a hilarious joke about the complaining fans.
“Excuse me, please, while I swim several laps in the sea of tears of the fans of any $300 million baseball team complaining about the unfairness of any system,” Dejan Kovacevic tweeted.
Excuse me, please, while I swim several laps in the sea of tears of the fans of any $300 million baseball team complaining about the unfairness of any system.
— Dejan Kovacevic (@Dejan_Kovacevic) October 17, 2022
The reality is that the playoffs have always included a considerable luck and randomness element that boosts underdog’s chances and somewhat affects those teams seen as the “favorites.”
You could say that the small sample size levels the playing field somewhat.
That has always been the case.
To eliminate, or mitigate, that luck factor, MLB would have to create a bigger tournament in October and November and that simply wouldn’t be possible.
There will always be fans complaining, though.
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