Getting Excited for the "Worst" World Series of All-Time
People have..... feelings about a 90-win team meeting an 84-win team in the Fall Classic. Let's get into it!
Hi friends-
I’ll do a proper MLB World Series preview tomorrow for our free Friday newsletter, but before we get there, I feel like we need to address the elephant in the room:
Should the 12th-best team by regular-season record (out of 30) even be eligible for the World Series?
I’ve never done a poll in this newsletter, but I want to know how you feel:
And for those of you who like the 12-team playoff format (or are resigned to the idea that we’ll never be able to roll back the number of postseason teams now that we’ve crossed this threshold), here’s another poll:
Basically, here’s what I’m asking: Is the Diamondbacks’ making the World Series in a year when they won only 84 games a sign that baseball is on the right or wrong track?
I love underdogs. It has not bothered me in the past when wild-card teams have made the World Series. And let’s not forget these Diamondbacks had to knock off the Brewers, Dodgers and Phillies—who beat the mighty Braves—to punch their ticket to the Fall Classic.
But if this were 2019, Arizona would not have even made the playoffs to begin with. Is this new format of allowing 40% of all teams into the playoffs bad? Is it good? I ….don’t know how to feel about it! .
According to Opta Stats: “The Rangers & Diamondbacks combined for a .537 winning percentage in the regular season. It's the lowest winning percentage (or points percentage) by the teams reaching the finals in MLB, NBA, NFL or NHL since the 1991 Stanley Cup Final between the Penguins & North Stars (.488).”
This seems…. bad.
The counterpoint here, of course, is