Every professional sports league has increased the number of playoff spots in recent years.

I would argue that is not a good thing.

The NHL Stanley Cup playoffs often find a David sitting in the seventh or eighth seed. Admittedly, early round upsets make for excitement. Who doesn’t root for David over Goliath? However, the regular season should mean something and that should show through in the playoffs. Regardless, the NHL almost always makes it work. They are the outlier of my complaint about playoffs.

The NBA added the silly play-in rounds that pit the 7-10 seeds in a battle for the seventh and eighth seeds in the playoffs. My God, the tenth best team in a conference has no business being in the playoffs. It was a plan by the league to hopefully prevent teams from “tanking” for a higher draft pick. A year ago, the Miami Heat went from the play in round to the NBA Finals, while Dallas chose to “tank” at the end of the season to avoid the playoffs and get a better draft choice. The Mavs made the NBA Finals this year.

That is called a failed plan.

Luckily, the best team —or at least one of the best— has won the championship almost every year in the NBA.

The NFL has gone from 5 playoff teams to 6 playoff teams to their current 7 team playoff format. I remember the Steelers winning the Super Bowl from the 6 seed, but usually one of the top seeded teams gets to the Super Bowl. The league has gone from two teams getting a bye to the current one team getting a bye. That whole scenario is really not a great benefit to the best teams. But again, most of the time a legitimate team who had a great regular season wins the Super Bowl.

Baseball, on the other hand, constantly places teams in the World Series who simply got hot at the right time. When baseball went to three divisions in each league, they added one wildcard team. It made perfect sense. Four teams —the three division winners and the non-division winning team with the best record— played two rounds of playoffs to reach the World Series.

17 years later, in 2012, baseball got greedy…and stupid. Not the first or last time for stupidity to overtake the sport. MLB added a second wildcard team, meaning the two wildcard teams would play an extremely random one game playoff to reach the divisional round. So after battling for 162 games, the entire postseason for these two teams came down to one game. A game where one team may have it lined up for their ace to pitch while the other team has to use a lesser pitcher. It was completely ridiculous.

It took baseball ten years to right this imbecilic wrong. But instead of returning to the four best teams making the playoffs, MLB decided to increase the amount of teams to six. It did fix one thing. Now the first round is a best of three played at the higher seeds home field. That was very smart. What isn’t so smart is allowing teams that have no business being playoff teams in the tournament —that is what it really is— and getting hot. The new system renders the 162 game regular season nearly inconsequential. The hot teams make the most of the situation, while teams who had the best regular seasons often struggle.

Is that really good for the sport?

Last year we watched upstart Arizona go from last team in the National League playoffs to World Series participant. The Diamondbacks lost to the American League fifth seed Texas Rangers in a World Series of little interest. Two years ago the Philadelphia Phillies did the exact same thing. The Phillies went from sixth seed to World Series participant.

I know the idea is to have more teams in the playoff chase. In the old system, as July turned to August and August to September only a few teams remained in contention. Other fan bases lost interest and turned their attention to football. In that respect, the new format is working.

As we near July and the half way point in the season, there are only seven teams that are NOT within 5 games of a playoff berth. Fans around the country are still paying attention to their teams.

However, being in playoff contention does not make you a playoff caliber team.

The National League has four playoff caliber teams, and due to injury Atlanta is just barely in that category. Yet, six teams will make the playoffs. I have seen a fair amount of games involving the Cardinals, Pirates, Cubs, Reds, and Nationals. I can confidently say, at this point, none of these teams are playoff caliber teams. I haven’t seen much of the Padres, but I would venture to guess I would say the same about them. Still, with the current system two of these teams will earn playoff spots. If one of those teams get hot, you will see a team that had a great regular season —Philly, Milwaukee, or LA—sent packing. Again, I am just not sure that is what is best for baseball.

Baseball has a 162 game regular season that lasts literally half the calendar year. Why diminish the accomplishments of teams over the course of half a year by allowing mediocre teams into your playoffs. Teams that are one hot pitcher or one hot hitting stretch away from knocking out the teams that shined for half a year.

I can hear the fans in cities with mediocre teams saying, “we are one hot streak away from being a legitimate contender.” Or one trade away from being a contender. I get it.

Why not be a contender for the division? Get excited about that rather than some sixth place wildcard spot.

Even in years with five or six quality teams, I am still in favor of four playoff teams. Throughout the history of baseball, many a quality team has been left out of the playoffs. But here is the thing. You have 162 games to put yourself in position to make the playoffs. All of those games count and should be approached as vitally important. If at the end of those 162 games your team didn’t win the division or have the next best record, well, too bad. 

Ah, but there is more money to be made if more teams are “in contention”. Sports leagues and their owners never get enough money. So what if the integrity of the sport is compromised. So what if we allow teams that were mediocre for most of the season crash the playoffs. There was money to be made.

Of all the professional sports leagues in America, Major League Baseball should value and protect its regular season the most. As fans we follow it from late March to the end of September. Six months. 162 games. That is a long time. Your favorite team has plenty of time to find itself in the top four positions.

Instead baseball decided to fix the idiotic one game playoff format by adding another team instead of going back to four teams. Four teams works. Four teams better ensures the participants are deserving. It makes sure the regular season has value.

By pushing the number of teams to six, it allows for mediocrity to slip into the playoffs. It allows for the Braves to win 101 games and best the THIRD place Phillies by 14 games in 2022  only to be knocked off by the Phillies in the playoffs. It allows for the Diamondbacks to only win 84 games and finish 16 games out of first place to get hot and get lucky while advancing to the World Series.

Not to mention, it ensures November baseball. I start thinking Christmas in November, not baseball.

Money rules the day while common sense and integrity gets pushed out of the way.

162 games should mean more. Mediocrity has no place in the playoffs. Being great over the course of six months should put you in the catbird seat, not just one of the seats in a game of musical chairs.

More isn’t better.

Maybe I will reconsider when the Pirates reach mediocrity.

Two Cent Takes

MLB

~Tom Rinaldi at his best memorializing Willie Mays.

 

 

~With Willie Mays passing, I’ve got bad news for the steroid era haters. Barry Bonds is now the greatest living baseball player.

~Very cool move here by FOX.

 

 

~Reggie Jackson spit truth at the Rickwood game celebrating the Negro League last week. I know Jackson rubbed a lot of people wrong during his playing days, but good for him for not letting us forget how bad things were not that awfully long ago.

 

 

~Tis the season to start watching the injured lists. Not only will it have an effect on contenders but also teams looking to trade.

~Bryce Harper keeping it real with the ol’ “Hawk Tuah” celebration. This is what legends are made of.

 


~This man was found guilty of nothing but stupidity. Oh, and he can be an ass. Trevor Bauer is wasting his time in the Mexican League. Why on Earth will nobody give this man another chance? Last time I checked the Pirates need a fifth starter, and Bauer will play for the league minimum.

 

 

NHL

~Okay, so it turns out Connor McDavid managed to lead Edmonton back from down 3-0 in the Stanley Cup Finals. He forced people to tune in to an otherwise “meh” Finals. And Edmonton fans were on fire.

 

 

Good for them for making people like me eat my words.

~Game 7 of the Stanley Cup is a must watch. Especially after one team was up 3-0, then lost 3 straight. The Oilers trying to pull off the near impossible comeback from down 3-0. The Panthers trying not to choke and lose two straight Stanley Cup finals. Florida home ice, but Edmonton with the best player in the world. Canada hasn’t hoisted the Cup since 1993. Florida has never hoisted the Cup. This game 7 did not disappoint. A 2-1 white knuckle special that went Florida’s way. Connor McDavid just could not sneak one by Sergei Bobrovsky, despite being in the Panthers end almost the entire third period. The toughest title to win is the two month long grueling dogfight that is the Stanley Cup playoffs, and Florida’s 2-1 game seven win was proof of that and was echoed by every Panthers player.

~Connor McDavid became the first player since 2003 to win the Conn Smythe trophy. The trophy represents the entire playoff MVP, and you can’t really argue that he deserved it after scoring the fourth most points in playoff history.

~Sean McDonough is the best play by play voice in sports, and he will go down as one of the best of all time. He always captures the moment, tells the story in just the right amount of words, is accurate, and gives the biggest moments all his emotion.

 

 

College Football

~USC is losing recruits at an alarming rate. Penn State lost a recruit. The current recruiting landscape is a cesspool created by the adults whose greed brought this on. It truly takes a lot of the fun out of following the sport. Check out both of my podcasts —Musings of a Sports Fanatic and Wall2WallFootball— to hear me rant about the whole thing.

NBA

~The Celtics put this year’s Finals out of its misery and one of the cool plays in the final game showed perfectly what is wrong with the game. Tell me how many steps this is, please.

 

 

~The NBA Draft is tomorrow, and literally nobody cares. There are no impact players coming into the league. One of the most interesting tidbits is how low USC’s Isaiah Collier is predicted to be taken. At the start of last college basketball season, Collier was at worst a lottery pick and possibly the number one pick. We will call that the Andy Enfield effect.

NFL

~After hearing Tom Brady on Colin Cowherd’s show, I must admit he will be fantastic on TV.

Golf

~Scottie Scheffler won for the sixth time this year, and all but one are either a major or an elevated tournament. Plus he had to avoid a Valhalla flashback when cops charged the 18th green to take down some silly protestors.

 

 

~Scheffler beat one of his best friends in a playoff in Tom Kim. Kim is one of the most happy-go-lucky kids on Tour. He is very good, too. At only 22, Kim has some big wins in his future.

~So tell me again that Jon Rahm doesn’t regret going to LIV.

 

 

The Weekly Shiny Penny

So, despite the Hawk Tuah girl making a strong run at this week’s Penny, I went with a double whammy from the same family.

First, Scottie Scheffler’s dad was seen passing out water bottles Thursday in the stifling heat to thirsty fans. He had a simple message, “Be good to one another. Pass it on.” Yea, I like that. Good for him.

Then his son did this…on his birthday.

 

 

A Penny For My Final Thought…

Last week Pirates owner Bob Nutting came out from under his bridge and briefly spoke to the media. Any time this man speaks all Pirates fans hear is:

 

 

I will translate for you. Nutting knows the issues, knows they need fixed, and has everything under control.

The fact of the matter is that Pirates fans should all be concerned when Nutting puts on his “let’s make the fans happy by going for it” hat.

The last time he did that, Neal HuntIngton was coerced into trading lots of good things for Chris Archer, a very washed up thing. Not only did it not help the Pirates win that year —and they weren’t truly in contention— but it helped deplete the limited talent the was in the system.

Everybody is clamoring for the Pirates to make a move before the deadline because the team is within striking distance of the mediocre teams in contention for the last two wildcard spots. It is the same situation. The Pirates are not close right now. They are being carried by three superior starting pitchers. On most teams that would be enough to propel a team into contender status. But let’s look at how many holes the Pirates still have.

  • Catcher: This should be Henry Davis and Joey Bart. Bart is injured but will return soon. He is one of the rare good acquisitions by Ben Cherington. Davis is in concussion protocol and might be hid there until he figures things out. I want him to be good because he is so easy to root for. It may not happen. They seem to have messed this kid up beyond belief. Every day Yasmani Grandal catches is another wasted day at the position. He is terrible, and that is being generous.
  • First base: Rowdy Tellez has picked it up of late, but still only has 2 home runs and a .227 average. He is poor in the field. Connor Joe is a fine backup player at first and other positions. He plays hard. He got off to a great start. He has found his level, and that is backup level. First base continues to be a black hole in Pittsburgh.
  • Third base: Ke’Bryan Hayes just isn’t good enough. Not even close. Even his defense has not been as good this year. That bat just doesn’t play. The guy had two good months. He was pedestrian his first two seasons, but ant least improved most of his numbers. Then last year he made the jump to legitimate major league hitter. This year the bottom has dropped out. With his friendly long term contract Hayes isn’t going anywhere, so pray he has another awakening.
  • Right field and center field: Michael Taylor and Edward Olivares were scrap heap pickups that have proven why they were on the scrap heap. Ji Hwan Bae ain’t it. Connor Joe ain’t it. Jack Suwinski was supposed to be it, but his performance is somewhere between awful and abhorrent. Much like Davis, I root hard for this kid. He looks completely lost.
  • Fifth starter: Doing the bullpen game every fifth day with this bullpen isn’t a recipe for success.
  • Bullpen: I know every team has some weak links in the pen, but the Pirates can’t even develop their own bad middle relievers. They go pick up other team’s castoffs. Dennis Santana, Justin Bruihl, Josh Fleming, Kyle Nicolas, and Daulton Jeffries can’t get major league hitters out consistently.

That isn’t the look of a team that is one bat away from contending.

Of the positions I didn’t mention, second base is being manned by Nick Gonzales, who has slumped to .269 after last night’s 0-5. He is average on defense. I still have hope for 23 year old Liover Peguero, who has been so-so in AAA.

Oneil Cruz can be dynamic as a shortstop and moreso as a hitter. However, consistency will be required both offensively and defensively.

Left field is where the Pirates all star resides. Bryan Reynolds is in the midst of a 21 game hitting streak. His stat line of .278, 12 HR, 44 RBI is all star worthy from a guy carrying his team on offense.

Designated hitter has been covered nicely by Andrew McCutchen. As a matter of fact, Cutch has been the team’s second most productive hitter. At 37, that should not be the case. He still leads by example as seen by the hustle on his 50th career triple the other day.

 

 

Does anyone think acquiring a guy like White Sox Luis Roberts would suddenly make the Pirates offense satisfactory? How do we know this questionable coaching staff wouldn’t screw up a new acquisition? 

Certainly getting another bat would help, but at what cost?

I am not suggesting to never trade prospects. I am not advocating hoarding prospects. At the same time, you have to be in a position to truly contend. The Pirates seem more like they are in position to pretend contend. That could change in the next month. There are certainly a lot of players on the current roster who could improve greatly. If a couple do that, then I would be more willing to part with some prospects to add another bat.

I know I just complained in my main column about average teams like last year’s Diamondbacks getting in these expanded playoffs and making a run. I understand Pirates fans thinking that could be the Buccos this year. I certainly understand and feel the pain of a 45 year World Series drought.

I just don’t trust the people in charge to make the correct moves. If the owner gave a damn about winning, the offseason would have brought more than Tellez, Taylor, and a not so grand Grandal. Instead, they played it cheap like always.

Now they feel like they are close?

That makes me nervous because I saw this movie before.

This is an organization who hasn’t even had the wherewithal to fire the hitting coach, even if just for appearance sake. Now you want me to believe they will do the right thing for a team that feels like only a pseudo contender?

I want the Pirates in the playoffs as much as anyone.

I just don’t know if they are ready.

I do know I don’t trust Bottom Line Bob and his crew to do the right thing.

Just my two cents…