I’m a fan of the Milwaukee Brewers. Have been for as long as I can remember (although they didn’t get to Milwaukee until a few years after I was born). 2022 was kind of a disappointment, and even more so because I learned something a few years ago – if the Brewers are out of it, I actually enjoy watching other teams. Unfortunately, this year they just kind of clung to the possibility of making he post-season (where I’m sure they would have lost anyway, but still…), so I didn’t get to enjoy any of the other teams as much.
But this year had a caveat for me: the Brewers traded away their all-star closer, Josh Hader, and then proceeded to blow 5 saves down the stretch – games that, if they’d won, may have put them in the playoffs and knocked the Phillies out. And here’s the problem. It was the Phillies. The team that is representing the National League in this year’s World Series.
And this is one of the things I don’t like so much about the current state of baseball – that it’s not about the best teams over the course of the year, it’s about what team gets hot at the right time. The Phillies — who just squeaked into the post season with the help of the inept Brewers — are in the World Series.
Now, while I’m not the biggest Astros fan, I like them enough. They’re a great team, and it seems that, after tonight’s game (a combined no-hitter against the Phillies…after getting their butts handed to them just last night in a 7-0 loss), balance is being restored. The Astros earned their spot by dominating the American League for a full season. They had the best record in baseball, and finished with 19 more wins than the Phillies – who were the last team in their league to get in to the post season. I was previously ambivalent about the Phillies, but for that reason, I really don’t like them much this year.
I suppose though that one of the positives of the current playoff format, where 6 teams from each league make the post season, does make for more exciting baseball near the end of the season. In the olden times, some of these teams would have been out of it with more than a month to go. Back the , there might have been a race at the top, but the rest of the leagues were just also-rans waiting for next year. Now, fans of teams like the Brewers, and the Phillies, and the Padres can still pay attention at the end of the year. They can still experience the excitement of a pennant race. But I’m not sure they should be in the World Series. There are 162 games in the year, and generally, the ones who survive that long at the top should be the ones we’re watching right now.
But right now is November, and if we’re going to let 87-game winners in, we may as well cut it off at 140 games and get it over in October like real baseball. At least then we might not have to face the prospect of the worst team to make it in actually winning it all. Thankfully, though, it looks like the Astros are making it right again…
