So the Dodgers collapsed, giving up 5 runs in the bottom of the 7th, and losing 5-3 to the Padres. After winning 111 games in the regular season, the Dodgers are already eliminated. As are the Braves (101 wins) and Mets (101 wins). The Yankees (99 wins) have to win two straight games to survive. Houston is still alive, but only after a miracle comeback in Game One and an eighteen-inning battle in Game Three.
This is ludicrous, and I'm not going to spend any more time on it. I didn't pay attention to the regular season this year, because I knew it was meaningless. I was right. Nevertheless, I thought it was still possible that we could have meaningful playoff games. And maybe some years that will happen. But I have no interest in watching the Phillies (87 wins) and Padres (89 wins) battle for the National League pennant. As far as I'm concerned, they could just draw the winner out of a hat -- it would be as fair as anything they've done so far.
I know that lots of clever people will write articles claiming that the randomness is the point. But I don't watch sports to see random things happen. In fact, for me the whole point of watching sports is that the results aren't random -- that there is a correlation between excellence and success. If the results are just random, I'll go watch something else.
This completes my baseball coverage for this year. I hope Houston wins all the rest of their games, and that Dusty Baker finally gets a World Series trophy. And in the meantime, I have to decide if I want to spend any time on this sport next year, when they return with more silly rule changes.
Imagine promoting your sport as follows: "Hey, come see our sport! The results are random, so there's no relationship between how good you are and your chances of winning!"
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