I heard this quote that made pretty damn good sense. Only 40 games matter in baseball because everyone wins 60, and loses 60, it's what you do with the remaining 40.
If they played year round I'd be ecstatic. One reason I love the Summer so much is there's a baseball game virtually every day.
And yet, the first game of the season until the last game of the World Series, takes less time than the NBA season.
You need that many games to separate the haves from the have nots. Just see how many races come down to the LAST day of the season. In a sport where so few teams make the playoffs, you need the large sample size to determine which teams are truly deserving.
Actually, there aren't enough. Major-league baseball teams play 162 games in the regular season. While that may sound like a lot, it isn't nearly enough to ensure that the best team in the league ends the season with the best record. For the 16-team National League, that would require teams to play 256 games per season, a pair of physicists from the Los Alamos National Laboratory calculated. Their statistical analysis indicates that for the best team of any league to be assured of having the best win-loss record, the number of games on the schedule should be roughly the number of teams cubed. A schedule with that many games overcomes the randomness that permits a lesser team to prevail in any given matchup, according to the physicists. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39446333/from/toolbar?GT1=43001
That's what makes baseball boring. By the last 1/3 of the season, only 10-15 teams are even in contention. If you're a fan of those other teams, that just sucks. Baseball is like the exact opposite of college basketball. Almost no chance for a Cinderella team to catch fire and capture the hearts of a nation. Baseball more so than other sports is dominated by the 'haves' or what you appear to refer to as the 'deserving'. How exciting would it be if the Astros somehow got the 16th seed (hypothetical) in the baseball playoffs with their mediocre record and then went on one of their ridiculous runs? Clearly they're not a good team, but they have things going they're very fun to watch.
The Astros have been out of it since May, but that didn't stop me from following them. As far as no chance to catch fire, that's exactly what the Astros did in 2004 and 2005. The Colorado Rockies did it in 2007.
You basically proved the point of why baseball SHOULD have a long (if not longer season). Because in baseball, on any given day, any team can beat anybody. The Pirates could sweep the Yankees. Sure, if they play each other for 30 games, the Yankees likely win most of them.... but in a 5 or 7 game series, ANYTHING can happen. Making the baseball playoffs is the REWARD for surviving the long season and coming out on top. Once you're in the playoffs, like you said, anything can happen. Seeds and HFA don't really matter all that much in baseball. Its all about pitching matchups and which hitters happen to be in a groove at the right time. In fact, baseball is such a quirky sport... these guys slave over 162 games to determine which are in-fact the best teams... then they determine the "champion" by playing a paltry 19 games (at most). You don't need to water down a playoff system that is already watered down as it is. The regular season IS the true test. Plenty of "cindarella" teams have a chance to prove it over the long haul. If they can't, then they aren't deserving enough to get a chance to play for the championship. Getting hot at the right time and winning in the playoffs lends itself to flukes... but if they proved it in the regular season, they have the right to be there.
In baseball, the most talented teams usually make the playoffs. Some people might find that exciting, some people might not. For instance: in college basketball routinely low seeds/ less talented teams travel several rounds past where they should. This is really exciting to watch. Baseball, most of the time the most talented/ highest salaried teams make the playoffs. Is it exciting when the Yankees make the playoffs? Meh. I'll grant that the Rangers making the playoffs on 27th highest payroll is interesting but considering they pretty much were in control of their division all season it wasn't terribly exciting imho.
That's because it's not nearly as physically demanding to play baseball every day as it would be to play basketball every day.
I'm sorry... I don't think a league where talenteless and flukeish teams get to play for a "championship" is all that exciting. Hell, I don't think the NBA is all that exicitng, which allows more teams in the playoffs than not. The college basketball tourney is a unique spectacle... large pool, one game and out. In the end, the tournament IS the star of the college basketball post-season, not necessarily the teams themselves. It works better in college basketball, where nearly all the teams are somewhat low profile till tournament time. But, note that this format is not used ANYWHERE else, in any other sport. In the end, the best teams should be the ones who make the playoffs... end of story.
I meant the NBA "season". I like the NBA itself, but you have to aknowledge that unlike any of the other pro sports, the NBA possesses the most MEANINGLESS regular season.
