~2024 MLB Thread~

[FearlessF]

[Cincydawg]

I have this notion the Braves are going to set a lot of regular season records and get eliminated in the NLCS.

[ELA]

I think Kyle Tucker is the most underrated player in the league

[MarqHusker]

I have this notion the Braves are going to set a lot of regular season records and get eliminated in the NLCS.

Wouldn't be an MLB postseason in the bloated era w/o somebody going home early 

[OrangeAfroMan]

I have this notion the Braves are going to set a lot of regular season records and get eliminated in the NLCS.

Welcome to my world the last decade.

It's a coin flip.  

[ELA]

Throwing a foul ball back into play at a player, is dumb. But for the TBS announcer to say that that 17-year-old should never come to another baseball game for his life is even dumber.

[GopherRock]

Wouldn't be an MLB postseason in the bloated era w/o somebody going home early

At least they're getting there. Before the bloated age, a 100+ win Dodgers team would be in line for elimination tomorrow, and 3 of the 4 LCS teams would already be locked in. 

[MarqHusker]

Lest we have a pennant race.   Pick your poison.   Giants win 103 games in '93 and stay home.  Or we flip coins and let the 87 win Astros have a chance.

[FearlessF]

[MarqHusker]

On w the tournament. 

[OrangeAfroMan]

Lest we have a pennant race.  Pick your poison.  Giants win 103 games in '93 and stay home.  Or we flip coins and let the 87 win Astros have a chance.

I'll never understand wanting a more inclusive postseason in any sport, especially baseball.  Total sellout for the causal fan.  No interest in determining the best team.

Baseball is special in that it literally created the World Series to see which "best team" from each league was actually better, and it was a best-of-9 series.
Now we have barely-over .500 teams in short series duking it out.  It's a joke.

[ELA]

Because it's entertainment?  We aren't solving world hunger here.

Granted I've always said to end the regular season at Labor Day, and then set a ladder bracket from there.  The bottom 2 teams play a best of 3 at the home site of the better team, and the winner advances, and plays the next team up, and so on

[OrangeAfroMan]

But it's only entertaining if it's great baseball.  
There's a reason MLB averages 30K fans per game, AAA 4K, and college something like 1K.  

The more 85 win teams you allow into the playoffs, the worse your average champ is going to be.  Over time, that matters.  


The better the teams are in the end, the better competition it is, and that's what makes it entertaining.  
Interleague play, expanded playoffs, etc are to get more fans, not to improve the competition on the field.  

I'm not saying it should be far at either end of the competition vs entertainment spectrum, but EVERY change has it going one way.

[ELA]

I mean, I've never heard of any fan care less because their team only won 90 games.  MLB still has the most restrictive playoff