MLB: Why the Expanded Playoffs will Ruin Baseball

In case you haven’t heard, the MLB will reportedly add an extra wild card team to the playoffs in both the National League and American League. According to Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig, the expanded playoffs could begin as early as next season, and it would result in the two wild card teams playing a one game playoff to determine who advances to the Division Series. Selig, and apparently the majority of owners, believe this to be a good idea to make the playoffs more exciting and popular. However, I disagree. 

While the expanded playoffs will no doubt help teams like the Toronto Blue Jays and Atlanta Braves, it will also diminish the September postseason runs. Do we all remember the epic collapses by the Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves this past fall? With an expanded playoffs, that would never have happened. While fans of those teams may be for the change, I think that fans are being robbed of entertainment. 

I believe that the September playoff races are what make baseball great, especially the collapses. When September and October roll around, many fans shift their attention to the NFL and college football and baseball is turned into an after thought. In fact, the only reason I checked the baseball scores in late September was to see how the last wild card spots were shaking up, and now that could all be lost. 

I understand that the races could be turned to the final wild card spots, but how often are we going to see two teams fighting for both spots, instead of two teams battling it out for the 6th seed in the playoffs. If the expanded playoffs were in effect last season, the races would not have been as entertaining. 

In the American League, the Red Sox would have earned the second wild card seed after falling behind the Tampa Bay Rays by one game. The closest team to the Red Sox  was the Anaheim Angels, who were four games behind Boston. If the rules had been in effect, the race for the second seed would not have even been a race, the Red Sox would have locked up a playoff berth before the last week of play even started. Tell me, where is the fun in that? 

In the National League, the same standings occured. The Atlanta Braves would have earned the second wild card seed by four games over the defending champion San Francisco Giants. Atlanta would have still made the playoffs despite a September collapse, playing a one game playoff against St. Louis. If the Braves had earned the playoff game and beaten the Cardinals, then we may not have seen one of the greatest World Series in history as we did last October. 

There possibility of a one game playoff between two wild card teams is intriguing, but for me and I’m sure many other fans, I would rather see two teams battle it out for only one wild card seed then two teams play a one game playoff. The only thing that we can do is wait and see how the September races shake up, perhaps teams that would usually be out of the playoff race will play harder knowing that there is a second spot open to them. But as for right now, I don’t agree with the expanded playoff system, but enjoy it Toronto, San Francisco, Atlanta and Los Angeles. 

MLB: Free Agency Predictions

I know were all neck deep in the NFL season, but for those of you who have forgotten, the baseball off-season has just started. Each and every year the league sees two or three prize free agents that are fought for and sold to the highest bidder. In 2008 it was C.C. Sabathia signing with the Yankees, and last year it was Carl Crawford going to the Red Sox (how much you love that signing now, Boston?). This year, we see three prize free agents that will yield the most money; Albert Pujols, Prince Fielder, and Jose Reyes. The three of them may not sign until much later in the winter, but let’s take a moment to try and predict where these three All-Stars will play next season. 

Albert Pujols (31 years old, .299 AVG, 37 HRs, 99 RBIs last season)

Among the free agent class, Albert Pujols is the most accomplished of the bunch. Fresh off his second world series victory, Pujols is looking for a huge payday this winter. It was reported today that the Miami Marlins had offered Pujols a 9-year deal worth $255 million, which should be around the contract that Pujols receives. A month ago I thought Pujols for sure would go back to St. Louis, his home for 10 seasons. However, with the retirement of Tony LaRussa and the fact that the Cardinals roster is not earth shattering, I’m wondering whether or not Pujols will return to St. Louis. Pujols is the best player in baseball, but buyer beware: Pujols is 31 and a 9-year contract will see the beginning of the end of his abilities. Much like Alex Rodriguez and Mark Texiera, whoever sings Pujols will be handcuffed by his contract in its later years. 

Prediction: Pujols will re-sign with the St. Louis Cardinals

Prince Fielder (27 years old, .299 AVG, 38 HRs, 120 RBIs last season)

Prince Fielder, in my eyes, is the best free agent of the bunch. Fielder put together an MVP-type season last year as apart of the Brewers playoff run. Fielder, who is only 27 years old, will give whichever team he signs with the majority of his prime years. Unlike Pujols, Fielder may not start to decline until the end of his new contract. Fielder is also a very good fielder despite his size, and is one of the only 275 pound person I’ve ever seen hit a triple. The market will heat up for Fielder once Pujols sets the standard, and look for teams like Texas, Baltimore, Washington and Miami to be in the mix. 

Prediction: Fielder goes to Texas where the Rangers make him a very expensive man 

Jose Reyes (28 years old, .377 AVG, 7 HRs, 44 RBIs last season)

Whoever signs Jose Reyes will be spending alot of money for an injury prone speedster who rack’s up a whole bunch of hits. Before a hamstring injury sidelined him, Reyes was on his way to a potential MVP season in New York last year. I don’t see Reyes returning to the Mets, where the financial trouble is too much to bear. I think its a forgone conclusion that Reyes goes to Miami to team up with Hanley Ramirez on the left side of the infield. 

Prediction: Reyes takes his talents to South Beach

Reyes, Fielder, and Pujols will not be the only prized free agents this winter. C.J. Wilson of the Rangers will most likely get a huge deal from Boston or the Yankees, while japanese hurler Yu Darvish might be the greatest steal of the frenzy. Mark Buerhle may join Reyes in Miami or Pujols in St. Louis. Be sure to stay tuned, because the MLB offseason is one of the only entertaining transaction periods in sports. 

MLB: The Greatest World Series I Barely Watched

 I won’t lie, I do carry somewhat of an east coast bias for baseball. If the Yankees aren’t playing, I lose interest. If the Red Sox aren’t on for me to root against, I’m probably not watching. That’s why, with apologies to the fans in the midwest, I hadn’t watched a single game of the World Series until last night. 

Before I go off about that epic game 6 Cardinals victory, lets talk about the first five games. I feel ashamed that I haven’t bothered to watch any of the games, games that included a three home-run night for arguably the greatest player of our generation, a shutout performance by a pitcher whose facial hair looks like mine in the 6th grade, and four games that have been decided by two runs or less. This series has had the greatest manager of the last 25 years make a bullpen phone blunder. The opposing manager has had the most excited reactions to run scoring plays that I’ve ever seen. Yeah, I’m only seeing what ESPN shows me of the games, but still. This has been the best World Series since the Diamondbacks beat the Yankees in seven games 10 years ago. Game 6 was the epitome of this series. 

The game was going awful for 7 innings. I wasn’t paying much attention, between shouting friends and games of mario cart, but I caught a couple of horrible blunders by the Cardinals. The Rangers seemed to have the game all locked up, Matt Holliday got picked off at third base with the bases loaded by catcher Mike Napoli....from his knees. This was in the inning after Holliday and Rafael Furcal let a fly ball land right in between them in left field. The score was 7-4 going into the eighth inning. After Allen Craig jacked a solo home run, the Cardinals were down two going into the bottom of the ninth, up against fireballer Neftali Feliz. Albert Pujols ripped a double with one out. Lance Berkman was walked on four straight pitches. Craig struck out swinging. Up came David Freese, the Cardinals last chance to (for now) to extend their season. Freese took a 2-2 pitch and lined it deep to right field. Rangers right fielder Nelson Cruz went back for the ball so casually, everyone thought it was going to be caught. As Cruz got closer to the wall, he leaped to make the catch.....and the ball nailed the wall and went rolling back towards the infield. Pujols scored, Berkman scored. Freese into third with a two out, two run triple. Tie ballgame, again. 

At this point the Cardinals held all the momentum in the world. A monumental collapse by the Rangers, who were one strike away from winning the first championship in their 50 year history. Nolan Ryan looked like a grandpa who just found out his grandson couldn’t throw a baseball, he was that mad. Then, in the top of the 10th inning, Josh Hamilton who had had an awful series, rocketed a two run home run to give the Rangers a 9-7 lead. The air seemed to be completely sucked out of Busch Stadium. I thought that the game was lost, that the cinderella Cardinals, who needed the very last game of the regular season to get into the playoffs, were finally at the end of the road. Darren Oliver, he who actually played with Nolan Ryan, came in to close the game out for the Rangers. Single to right, single to shallow left. Pitcher Edwin Jackson goes on deck to pinch hit for fellow pitcher Jason Motte, only to be pinch hit for another pitcher, Kyle Lohse. Lohse plays down the best sacrifice bunt I’d ever seen, all the way to the shortstop. Man on second and third, one out. Ryan Theriot comes up against Scot Feldman, grounding out to third but picking up an RBI along the way. 9-8, two outs, bottom of the 10th. Pujols gets intentionally walked for the fourth time in two games, setting the stage for Big Puma, Lance Berkman. The same Berkman who couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn last year with the Yankees. Berkman gets down to his final strike, and lines a single to center. John Jay scores, were all tied up (again). 

Jason Westbrook, who I could have sworn had been retired for 12 years, came in for the Cardinals and got the Rangers to go down without giving up a run. Bottom of the 11th, up came Freese again. Freese digged in against Mark Lowe, a pitcher who struck out 42 batters in the regular season. I thought this game was going to go all night, it had already taken over four hours to play. Freese took a Lowe fastball and hit it deep to center field. Hamilton went back to the wall, but it was no use. Freese had just sent the Cardinals into tomorrow, with game 7 awaiting on Friday. As the grassy knoll in centerfield was bull rushed by St. Louis fans, Freese sprinted to home plate and got his jersey ripped by his teammates. The Rangers, 25 years after Bill Buckner, had just committed what may be the second worst collapse in World Series history. 

Tonight the Cardinals will send out ace Chris Carpenter, the man who led the team all the way to the series. Holliday is questionable to play with a bum finger, both bullpens are milked from last night. Is there any other way to have a game 7? I may have not watched the first five games of the series, but that’s the beauty of baseball, sometimes you can catch the final game without missing a beat. I’m going to watch game 7, no matter who I’m with or where I am. I suggest you should too. 

September Switch: Why Football has Overtaken Baseball as the Sport to Watch

September has historically been a popular month on both the sports and seasonal calendar. This is the time where kids go back to school, the weather begins to cool off, and sports kicks into high gear. The month of September represents the time of year where the Major League Baseball pennant races start to heat up and football (both Professional and Collegiate) starts its season. However, this September has shown an odd change. Recently, when September rolls around the attention of fans around the country completely switch from baseball to football. The change does not seem logical, in that the MLB season is heating up and speeding into the playoffs, while the NFL is only just starting its five-month long season. However, the change is abundantly clear, the only question is...why?

A simple reason for why this shift in attention has occurred is that fans of poor baseball teams are looking forward to the clean slate that is the start of the NFL season. This may very well be true for some fan bases, I’m sure Mets fans have been looking forward to watching the Jets or Giants since May. However, this shift has been evident in fans for baseball teams that are actually good this season too. Last night, the Yankees celebrated yet another American League East title, but I (a diehard Yankee fan) was too busy setting my Fantasy Football lineup to celebrate the accomplishment. In Detroit, the Tigers are experiencing a magical run behind Justin Verlander, yet its the Lions stealing the headlines every week. It does not matter if your team is in first or last place, as soon as September rolls around fans are flocking from the baseball diamond to the gridiron. 

Another, more in-depth reason for why this is happening is the culture of the two sports compared with the culture of today’s America. Football is the flashy, explosive culture; everything Football represents is the same as that of an action movie. The big hits, the violence, the possibility that at any moment anyone on the field could be knocked out cold. Football is popular for the same reason why Hollywood continues to employ Sylvester Stallone; American’s love the violent, explosive culture of things. 

Baseball, on the other hand, is “your father’s sport” or “the nerdy sport”. Baseball purists call it the more tactical, strategic sport, but the bottom line is that people think that baseball is too boring, both to talk about and to watch. Fans would rather sit around the water-cooler and discuss that 50-yard bomb Tom Brady threw on Monday night than things like VORP, WAR, OPS, and BsR. Have no idea what any of those things are? Exactly. Its easier and more engaging to sit around and discuss football then it is the complicated advanced stats of baseball, and fans like that. Baseball also does itself no favors with its lengthy, 162-game schedule. 

The baseball season starts (usually) on the first day of April, and runs all the way to mid-to-late October. A season that long and grueling is not attractive to fans in today’s America, a country where the attention span of the average person is similar to that of an intelligent squirrel. Football offers fans a way to dissect and discuss games for an entire week before moving on to the next one. In baseball, you have a morning to talk about the previous game before the team goes out again the next night. The baseball schedule does have its benefits for fans, there is nothing better than finishing a weekday of work or school and knowing that you can watch a baseball game that night, but in football Sundays (and sometimes Saturdays) are catered around the sport. Its not easy to watch every single baseball game of your team for an entire season, but missing a football Sunday is as close to a sin as anything else in sports. Football grasps the attention of fans because it has two days a week centered around the games. There are no doubleheaders, no 10 o’clock west coast games, its just an entire day dedicated to the sport. 

Baseball may be the sport to watch during the summer, but it is undeniable to say that come September and October that it is more popular than football. There is something about the falling leaves and the windbreaker jackets that just scream football for fans across the country. Baseball will always be the nations pastime, but football is the nations present.