That Playoff Baseball Feel

It’s been a long 8 years. I say 8 years, because that stretch run in 2012 against the Tigers was the last time I have felt the rise and fall of every pitch in a baseball game in August, let alone, September. Although last night’s 1-0 back and forth matchup did not end in our favor, it was such a refreshing feeling to be invested and actually enjoy a White Sox baseball game rather than the apathetic feeling of, “This actually doesn’t matter, but is Yo progressing as a hitter?”

That is the one thing that I will take away from this once in a lifetime type of season, where half of the teams in the league will make the playoffs, is that these high pressure moments mean something. We all have this high expectation of “sustained success” for the next decade, and the biggest aspect that will loom large in this sprint season is the experience that this team will endure. Maybe this is me being a scorned, silver lining, optimist, but it just feels good and fresh to live and die with every pitch and have it actually mean something.

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vince

In the pandemic “after-times”, whenever those may be, I think the MLB should shorten the season by a few games and keep this playoff format.

John SF

I don’t want *this* playoff format, but I’m good with expanded play-offs in general and if we have to shave 5-13 games from the regular season to make that happen, that’s fine too.

The problem is that you can only switch things up periodically without losing legitimacy. So MLB needs to be extra careful that whatever playoff format they adopt in 2021 is here to stay a while.