Month of MLB: Day 6

OK, I was traveling for most of this week, so let's catch up.

First, they had to play the Wild Card Series.  Here's what happened:

(5) Braves at (4) Padres:

San Diego 4, Atlanta 0

San Diego 5, Atlanta 4

If you are a Dodger fan, you knew that no force on earth would stop the Padres from getting a Divisional Series with Los Angeles, and such proved to be the case.

(6) Mets at (3) Brewers:

N.Y. Mets 8, Milwaukee 4

Milwaukee 5, N.Y. Mets 3

N.Y. Mets 4, Milwaukee 2

The key play here was a three-run homer in the top of the 9th in Game Three by Pete Alonso of the Mets, which took the Mets from 2-0 down to 3-2 ahead.  The 2016 Cubs were the last team from the NL Central to win the Senior Circuit, and that trend will continue.

(5) Royals at (4) Orioles:

Kansas City 1, Baltimore 0

Kansas City 2, Baltimore 1

The Orioles just can't hit in the post-season, and that wiped them out again.

(6) Tigers at (3) Astros:

Detroit 3, Houston 1

Detroit 5, Houston 2

This was a very dull series with a very significant support:  for the first time since 2016, Houston will not be in the American League Championship Series.  Also, for the first time since 2016, a team from the AL Central will reach the A.L.C.S.

So that set up the following Divisional Series:

(4) Padres at (1) Dodgers

(6) Mets at (2) Phillies

(5) Royals at (1) Yankees

(6) Tigers at (2) Guardians

Yesterday we had four games, which went as follows (home team listed first):

Los Angeles 7 - 5 San Diego

Philadelphia 2 - 6 N.Y. Mets

Cleveland 7 - 0 Detroit

N.Y. Yankees 6 - 5 Kansas City

Today, we've only had the National League teams.  The Phillies won a thriller, 7-6 over the Mets.  The Mets hit a two-run homer in the top of the 9th to tie the game, but the Phillies walked them off in the bottom of the ninth.  So that series is tied 1-1.

In the nightcap, the Padres are cruising, up 4-1 in the bottom of the sixth.  This will likely be the third year in a row in which the Dodgers won the National League West, only to be eliminated in the Divisional Series by a team from the National League West.  As you can see, the Dodgers have been terrible in these series:

10/11/22:  Los Angeles 5 - 3 San Diego

10/12/22:  Los Angeles 3 - 5 San Diego

10/14/22:  San Diego 2 - 1 Los Angeles

10/15/22:  San Diego 5 - 3 Los Angeles

10/07/23:  Los Angeles 2 - 11 Arizona

10/09/23:  Los Angeles 2 - 4 Arizona

10/11/23:  Arizona 4 - 2 Los Angeles

So the Dodgers had lost six playoff games in a row to their divisional rivals until last night, and now they are three runs down with only three innings left in this game.

Each year, I come up with a new proposal to salvage MLB.  This year, I have decided to give up on the idea of bringing back a meaningful regular season -- the owners have convinced me that they will never do that.  So instead, I now think MLB should go all in on the NHL model.  I would shorten the season to around 140 games.  I would start the season in the middle of April and end in the middle of September.  Then I would have sixteen teams -- eight in each league -- make the playoffs.  And then I would have all playoff series be best four out of seven, like they do in the NHL and the NBA.  Then I would promote the idea that regular season baseball is mainly for people who want to eat hot dogs and have a good time with their kids, while Playoff Baseball is for the purist.  Of course, you'd still have a lot of results that have no relation to what happens in the regular season, but fans would understand that Playoff Baseball is a totally different game -- which it is.  Managers and players would understand that they would be judged on their performance in the post-season.  The Moneyball people would be out of business, or at least would have to make significant adjustments, because even the Expanded Playoffs would not have enough games for their current methods to work.

Then, instead of seeing the Dodgers as a team that under-performs in the Playoffs, we would correctly categorize them as a team that is built for the Regular Season, but that lacks the type of ace starters and contact hitters you need to go deep into the playoffs.  And then, instead of loading up on more and more power hitters, the Dodgers would actually be incentivized to build a team that would be more competitive in the post-season.