The MLB Postseason: Tradition won't do

America’s pastime, full of lore, needs a change. Yes I said it. Light me up. As someone who has played baseball and been a fan since I could swing a bat, I am cognizant of the tradition. But even the most storied institutions must move with the times.

Recently, Rob Manfred and Major League Baseball proposed a revamping of the postseason structure. The change will expand the playoffs to a total of 14 teams, 7 from each league. These 7 teams will be made up of 3 division winners as per usual, and 4 wild card teams. The top record in each league, respectively, will receive a first round bye and the other two division winners will be able to choose their opponent out of the wild card teams. The two other wild card teams will be matched up. For more detail, you can read up here. 

Whew, now that the specifics are out there. I will admit, I do not agree with all of the proposal. But I’m going to start with what I love, and what baseball needs. Expanding the playoff bracket from 10 total teams to 14 teams allows for more competition for meaningful games in September. Often, we see mid-level clubs with little to nothing to play for. What’s worse than watching the San Diego Padres linger around .500 baseball to have no chance at the playoffs and get a mediocre draft pick? This will put more juice into the already grueling and, admittedly, boring regular season schedule. 

Another part of the proposal (that is not mentioned above) is the changing of the garbage that is the current wild card round. In the new format, the wild card round will be a best of 3 rather than the one game, winner takes all format. This new format gets rid of a dominant pitching performance determining a wild card win, but showcases a club’s full roster, while being short enough to not be an eyesore. 

Now, the MLB should entirely bypass the “choose your opponent” nonsense. This an unneeded and utterly useless gimmick that the MLB should avoid at all costs. The playoffs, in all sports, are beautiful because of the unpredictability of it all and “fate” driven matchups that come out of it. There’s a reason why this has never been done in professional sports. Enough said. 

At the end of the day, baseball has been a sport renowned for tradition. But along with tradition comes complacency and stagnancy. If anything, away from the specific rule changes, the question is, does Major League Baseball want to evolve or sink away into tradition? I hope it’s not the latter.