(I’m not a big fan of asking playoff-related questions, but that’s usually all that happens in the MLB, so here we are.)
The Tigers did something exciting by putting pressure on the Mariners yesterday, forcing a decisive Game 5. However, since that requires a change of venue to Seattle, there will be an off-day before the said crucial match will take place. There are also days off for each other, changing locations, and not to mention between rounds And the arbitrary scheduling-oriented day off in the NLDS to meet MLB’s scheduling purposes.
For some time now, MLB’s marketing materials and strategies have been obsessed with using the best players, especially starting pitchers. Off days make it possible to throw your dominant starters more often in a short series. The same goes for relievers, and studies have indicated for some time that this results in a situation where teams are largely willing and able to use their few “trusted” relievers given the built-in rest days.
A series without days off would test the strength and depth of the selection a little more. That’s likely at odds with what MLB wants to show in the playoffs, but would at least add some more continuity between the regular season and the playoff tournament.
To me, this issue seems like a smaller problem than all the other issues with the current playoff format. My biggest complaint, even though I only follow the postseason casually, is that even though I’m a big fan of delayed gratification, it’s just kind of boring. Having to wait for a deciding match, having strange scheduled non-game days while the tournament is running, having to flip-flop between which series will and won’t go ahead… having the tournament take way longer than it would take to just play four rounds are all things I don’t like about it. But maybe if I cared more, I would appreciate the suspense and the brief respite from the tension.
#playoff #series #days