General 2022 MLB Postseason Thread

baseball is a weighted random number generator with fun personalities and noises attached

arguably the best team wins the World Series every year bc MLB defines the “best” as the team that wins the World Series. if the “best” team was the team with the best regular season record, there would be no need for a postseason

we could just have teams set their rosters and decide which is the best team on paper and then we wouldn’t need to have any of those pesky games at all

I'm fine with the way things are. Fact is, if an Astros/Yankees vs. Dodgers WS had been almost a sure thing, I probably wouldn't be watching now, and I'm getting quite caught up in the craziness.

I do think that, more years than not, you have to dispense with the idea that the WS winner is the best team.

i figured that was a joke, from NA. because if not, then we have to deal with the term "world series", which, despite toronto's proximity to the us border, doesn't seem to be accurate

Guardiac Kids!

Anyway - I wouldn't mind 7 game series for the second+ rounds along with a shorter season. Not sure it would make a difference as all these good teams would be down 3-1.

(xpost) 2032 Wild Card, Bracket G: Barcelona vs. Copenhagen.

For real though the World Baseball Classic was pretty outstanding fun to watch, last time around! I’m excited for the next one

i’m in favor of this new playoff format if it winds up getting aaron boone fired

as a fan of the Brewers I think this new format dramatically increases my team's chances of winning a WS and I think you could argue that it acts as a bit of a safeguard against high budget teams just buying their way to the playoffs (though how possible is this really? didn't the Cubs constantly trot out 75 win teams?) that said it does feel weird to see these insanely good teams just get eliminated over a weekend, particularly the Mets losing in a random 3 game series, you can't even really call it a "choke" because every 100+ win team still has a ton of 3-game stretches in which they went 1-2, that's just the nature of the beast. so I guess I'm on Posnanski's side - the regular season is kind of its own thing now, what's happening now is definitely a lot of fun, so who cares (sorry LA and NY)

dude stop jinxing Cleveland, they're not through yet

I don’t really know what my ideal postseason format would be. As I said above I think the division winners should start the postseason on equal footing instead of some of them playing a wild card team and others getting a bye. I suppose the fairest method would be to not have any wild card teams at all but I understand why they do it and I do like having the postseason last a little longer (more baseball = better).

The first round bye should be a huge advantage for the top seeds, although it hasn't appeared that way so far. Unless MLB goes back to four playoff teams to ensure the best teams play in the CS (which isn't happening) or they try some crazy format like spotting 100-win teams a 1-0 advantage before the series even starts, then the playoffs are always going to be "unfair" to some extent.

And in MLB, an astounding “best-of-75” series is needed to match the NBA’s better team advances rate.

This is not true for a 111 win team vs a 89 win team.

I don’t remember where I read it, but someone once floated the idea of every team making the postseason, with a series of one game playoffs until you get to the DS. Your record determines how much the odds are stacked against you. The worst teams have to win the most games, and the division winners go straight to the extended 7-game series. Despite how completely impractical it sounds, I still think about it a bunch.

I remember that article! Was this it?

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/23244608/radical-ideas-series-every-mlb-team-made-playoffs

Thanks for the link! That was it.

What in the hell kind of HR trot was that? Hilarious!

Apparently a reference to the pitcher being his “baby”

Yeah...Will have to check Josh Naylor's HBP totals.

Nothing to speak of--I wouldn't think pitchers would take to kindly to that.

Bob Costas and I, livin' in the past.

do pitchers really retaliate in elimination games?

No, I was thinking more in the regular season (if he indeed does that all time). Not in a playoff game, no.

Maybe it's a recent thing--his HBP did jump up this season.

Costas starting to look like a lesbian

Cole throwing 98 mph on his 107th pitch

I assume that anything off Judge's bat that looks like that is a HR.

There has been too much baseball so I cut the American Leauge but I love hearing Costas call baseball again

Anyone but Buck is ok with me

lol

even going back to single-division leagues playing each other in a 7-game WS is a crapshoot.

arguably the best team wins the World Series every year bc MLB defines the “best” as the team that wins the World Series. if the “best” team was the team with the best regular season record, there would be no need for a postseason

I do think that, more years than not, you have to dispense with the idea that the WS winner is the best team.

I'm fine with the way things are. Fact is, if an Astros/Yankees vs. Dodgers WS had been almost a sure thing, I probably wouldn't be watching now, and I'm getting quite caught up in the craziness.

or they try some crazy format like spotting 100-win teams a 1-0 advantage before the series even starts

This is not true for a 111 win team vs a 89 win team.

As they've been saying all night, the Guardians should have the edge in a bullpen game tomorrow night, maybe even a big edge. All they have to overcome is Yankee Stadium, history, inexperience, and a few other things.

When I wrote "if an Astros/Yankees vs. Dodgers WS had been almost a sure thing," I wasn't talking about any kind of a weighting scheme; I was talking about baseball vs. basketball or hockey, where sure-thing teams usually win with great predictability.

(that is not at all the case with playoff hockey)

i mean basketball is odd because you can literally have lebron shoot every shot if you really want to, but mike trout can never get more than four or five at-bats

in between is the hot hockey goalie, which has absolutely long been a factor

Obviously, I'll defer to you on hockey, but hasn't the best team (or close) won the last three? I know St. Louis pulled a big upset the year before.

that's fair. but the fate of president's trophy winners (for best regular-season record) is pretty ugly

also basketball is very much an offense vs. defense game whereas defense in the MLB doesn't really vary a whole lot. so a guy like LeBron & Giannis can literally affect every possession

They asked Cole about Naylor in the post-game conference. "Yeah (long pause; no actual eye-roll, but the pause achieved the same effect)...whatever."

As I said above, nobody's throwing at anybody right now, but I'd bet money someone on the Yankees filed that away for future reference.

When you’re making a million per game or whatever, just smile, shut up, and take your paycheck

naylor's homer resulted in them still being down one run

at the risk of being a hater . . . at least save that until you're ahead

Speaking as an avid Cleveland fan: the two main sports traumas of my childhood could have been avoided if the 1995 and 1996 Indians teams been awarded the championship after having had the best record in either league. (What a team 1995 was!) I harbored resentment for years. But clearly now the only way small-market teams can compete with big money is through a playoff system.

The Indians/Guardians are just completely allergic to winning playoff series at home, failing to clinch when they were up and had shots in the 1999 ALDS, 2007 ALCS, 2016 WS, and yesterday. A firm tradition of crapping the bed.

This is not true for a 111 win team vs a 89 win team.

i don't get what you mean by this
― ✖, Monday, 17 October 2022 05:09 (eleven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

I meant that if both teams play to their talent level (based on their win totals) then it would take far less than 75 games to establish (with high probability) which team is better.

Winning the WS is unlikely for any team, no matter how good they are, because of the number of rounds and teams. The Dodgers had maybe a 30 percent chance of winning the WS at the start of the playoffs, and the Astros 20-25 percent? So you have to take the field winning vs either of them, although their chances of winning were much higher than just about any other team.

I wouldn't want to overly manipulate the postseason to give the best teams more advantages. If the point is to game the system to crown the best regular season team most of the time then I don't see the point of having a playoff round. Just base it on regular season only, like European soccer.

What a night for an extended rain delay...Will probably still be watching at 1:30 a.m.

well there goes Cleveland’s supposed bullpen advantage

That was three hours well spent.

will the guardians start bieber?

also, tonight's tickets are good for tomorrow's game only, no refunds or exchanges, so if you sat in the rain for three hours tonight and don't have tomorrow afternoon off, you're screwed. (MLB makes these calls for postseason games, btw, not NYY)

Gates opened to fans at 5 pm. The Yankees and MLB announced at 6:20 pm that the scheduled 7pm game would start in a delay. There were no official updates between the announcement of the delay and the announcement of the postponement at 9:35 pm. Awful.

— Lindsey Adler (@lindseyadler) October 18, 2022

Didn’t the same thing Happen thurs / Fri? I guess it’s easier to take off Friday than Tuesday

will the guardians start bieber?

Checked his splits and he's never started on three days rest; also, better on five days rest than four by three-quarters of a run.

Doesn't mean they won't, though.