The Thrill of the Wild Card Series Casts A Shadow on the League’s Larger Issues
Three months ago, the 2020 MLB season was a distant, unattainable reality.; When the league decided to postpone the start of the season in March, there was plenty of speculation on the future of the sport.Both the MLB and the Player’s Association received criticism for how poorly they conducted the negotiations, but in the face of all the non-believers, baseball returned seemingly overnight.
And now in October playoff baseball is here, albeit with a new look, and it has been a wild ride so far. Most fans would have taken any sort of baseball competition this season, and credit to the league for salvaging what seemed like a lost cause. While any baseball is a positive for the fans this year, there are still some glaring issues that continue to characterize the MLB’s largest problem: growing the game of baseball.
The first week of the postseason was, to say the least, insanity.
In the new-look Wild Card round, 16 teams competed in three game series to determine who would move on to the next stage. A packed schedule of games pitted division winners against organizations who normally would have been eliminated from a playoff spot weeks ago.The format may only be a temporary solution for the shortened season, but it provided fans with a week of riveting entertainment.
For the first time in history two teams who finished under .500, the Houston Astros (29-31) and the Milwaukee Brewers (29-31), secured a playoff spot.
The Astros went on to beat the AL Central Champion Minnesota Twins 2-0 and now have a shot to prove to the entire league they can win without trash cans in the dugout. The perennial cellar dwelling Miami Marlins clinched a playoff spot for the first time in 17 years and went on to upset the Chicago Cubs 2-0, continuing their incredible undefeated postseason streak dating back to 2003.
This more inclusive playoff format gives underdog teams like the Marlins a chance to wreak havoc in the postseason and play on a national stage.Small market teams depend on national coverage to grow their brand and continue to compete, which is why the MLB may employ a similar strategy going forward, though it’s doubtful they’ll include half the league in coming seasons.
Putting all of the excitement of the Wild Card round aside, the MLB still failed to capitalize on an opportunity to build hype by marketing their teams and star players. If the season was not already rushed enough, it quickly melted into the first round of playoffs with almost no build up whatsoever.
Yes, the Wild Card round usually starts without skipping a beat. In 2019, the season ended on September 29, and two days later the playoffs commenced. But that was with four teams playing a single, win or go home game.There were 16 teams this past week competing to move on. The games started as early as 12 p.m. EST, in the middle of the week spanning Tuesday-Friday. On Wednesday October 1, there were eight games, four of which were elimination games.
Trying to cram this many playoff games into one week amid unprecedented circumstances is difficult, no doubt. But the schedule put out made sure that half of the country would miss the most exciting week of baseball of the season while they were grinding away at their day jobs. Cincinatti Reds’ electrifying starter and outspoken critic of the league Trevor Bauer, twirled a 7.2 inning gem striking out 12 Braves batters on Wednesday. If it weren’t for the game stretching 13 innings, breaking the postseason record of a total of 12 scoreless frames, nobody would have seen it. Bauer, who led the NL in ERA+ (267) and WHIP (.795), is exactly the type of player the MLB should be putting on the national stage for fans across the country to witness. Performances like this are exactly what the fans wait for all year.
The scheduling is the least of the league’s problems when it comes to coverage. Perhaps the largest criticism of the MLB is their arcane blackout policy. The MLB owned paid streaming service MLB.tv is simultaneously their largest asset and most obvious problem. Fans can pay a one time fee to have access to every single game for every team during the regular season, but regional blackouts leave some fans in total darkness. If you are one of the unfortunate souls who live in Iowa, MLB.tv prevents you from seeing the Twins, Brewers, Royals, Cardinals, Cubs and White Sox. That is six teams, all of which excluding the Royals, that made the playoffs in 2020.
Most of these teams aren’t covered by local networks, so fans here are at a total loss. One would think that in a year as chaotic as this one, when the future of baseball is already murky, the MLB would find a way to make this exhilarating week of Wild Card games available to fans.All of these teams were broadcast on the national stage in the playoffs, but in a modern world where more people are cutting the cable cord, fans depend on streaming services to watch sports. The MLB needs to brush the cobwebs off its cleats and use the convenience of modern technology to its advantage.
At the core of these swirling issues, though, is the lack of emphasis on the incredibly talented young generation of players in the league. This season especially, the MLB has focused on stoking the chaos of it all. They tout the 16-team field and wild storylines (see: Marlins in the NLDS), but these facets are specific to the 2020 season. Players like the aforementioned Trevor Bauer, the electric duo of Fernando Tatis and Manny Machado in San Diego, budding White Sox stars Tim Anderson and Luis Robert; the way they play the game is the future of the sport. They are a departure from the straight-laced, no-nonsense, follow the “unwritten rules” type of personalities that characterize the history of the league. They make baseball exciting. In the modern era where the MLB is competing with the action filled fast pace of the NBA and NFL, the passion and thrill these players bring to the field is their most important asset.By blacking out entire markets during the season and taking the spotlight away from dynamic superstars in the playoffs, the only thing the league restricts is itself.
Major League Baseball must invest in their star players. Not just with their checkbooks, it’s no secret the players are well compensated given the massive contracts that break records year after year, but with attention. Get the young guys on the national stage and make them more accessible to fans. The decisions made around this playoff format were lateral steps, which is the path Commissioner Rob Manfred seems to be taking.Stagnancy is the real enemy, not mound visits, and while they may have paved the way for an exciting October, the MLB owes the future of baseball more than that.
