With the three most storied franchises in baseball-the Yankees, Red Sox and Cubs-in a League Championship Series, it would appear that nothing could be better. Yet something is inherently wrong with this year's postseason, and one has to look no further than the National League.
For the past six months, the Atlanta Braves and San Francisco Giants dominated the National League and cruised into the postseason. Both teams finished with at least 100 victories, and recorded at least nine more wins than either of the other two NL playoff teams.
The Giants and Braves clinched their respective divisions (which were no doubt more difficult than the Cubs' NL Central) almost two full weeks before the Cubs were able to knock the second-place Astros out of contention.
As for the NL East, it was the Braves that clinched their division by Sept. 18 and left the rest of their division in their dust. Who was it, you might ask, that finished a disappointing 10 games out of first place? Well, be prepared to cringe, because it was none other than the Florida Marlins. The same Florida Marlins team that secured the wild card and now finds itself four wins away from the World Series.
While the Giants and Braves continued to pile up victories throughout the year, the Cubs managed only 88 wins, the Marlins only 91. So why is it that the Braves and Giants are scheduling tee times in October while the Marlins and Cubs get ready for the \most unlikely NLCS of all-time?""
Well, there are two main reasons and neither has to do directly with the talented pitching staff of the Cubs or the ""get 'em on, get 'em, get 'em in"" attitude of the Florida Marlins.
It is instead the ridiculous fact that after six months and 162 games the season comes down to a single five-game series. Not only is it absurd that a team that wins 88 games is playing for a chance to play in the October Classic, but even worse is that everything the Giants and Braves did all season was washed away in a short seven-game series.
Doesn't anyone remember when the two best teams played for the LCS and there was never the worry that the fourth or fifth best team could be playing for the World Championship?
I mean come on now, this is not college basketball. This is not March Madness; when the most unlikely Cinderella makes for the best story. This is baseball. It is a grueling 162-game schedule that measures talent, performance and execution over a sixth-month period.
Plain and simple, Major League Baseball needs to do something to ensure that the two best teams are playing for the World Series.
