That's MLB's problem. I'm just focused on the Astros. I do wonder though if the way this postseason played out will prompt immediate changes by Manfred and Co. The championship series were solid, but every other round was a disaster.
There's not really a lot of solutions other than less games/teams (which isn't going to happen). I do believe they ultimately value more teams being buyers as the year goes on, and now that any 84 win team can get hot and end up in a world series, its going to continue to encourage middling teams to stay the course or add. As far as ratings dwindling, these two markets have zero fans outside of their respective cities. Same could be said for the Astros... but apparently some markets do like to still hate-watch them. Only Arizona-Tampa would have been a worse matchup.
Its even more of a regional sport than ever now... with the Astros being the only team that could actually encourage other markets to group together to watch. While the ratings will never get back to a nation-wide audience, MLB has to have either super-huge markets or teams with slightly more than a regional following to not see ratings disasters such as this.
Yeah, I don't know what MLB can do about it. Maybe extend the ALDS to 7 games like the NBA did with their first round a couple decades ago. But that would push the season a week into November(unless they start it earlier in March). The sub-90 win total is deceptive. The Braves were terrific in the 2nd half of 2021 after going all in at the trade deadline. And the Phillies rebounded in 2022 after firing their manager. The D'Backs were the only real fluke team to get to the World Series in recent years. My guess is Manfred can't do much more than just roll the dice and pray that next season turns out different. I mean, they were only one win away from a World Series rematch between the Astros and Phillies. And if God forbid the Rangers wind up in the World Series again next year, maybe their lack of a fanbase is offset by their opponent being a big name team like the Braves or Dodgers. Or it just winds up being another nightmare matchup like Brewers vs Rays.
Congrats to them. Honestly feel happy for the fan base finally winning one. That feeling in 2017 after so much disappointment. Great for those fans to get to that same feeling. Sucks that it came at our expense, but all we had to do was win one game at home against them, and we couldn't do it with our best pitchers on the mound. I'll always wonder what if Diaz started in the postseason, but can't turn back the clock.
Yes, but it's a lesser degree of stupidity as Dusty playing Maldonado. Cole should've started the 7th inning and probably finished the game. Harris already had 4 appearances in the series. Five games is very dangerous territory for a reliever in a series, especially with the heart of the lineup due up.
The Rangers did in one season what the Yankees having been trying to do for years. They bought a championship. The difference, they spent wisely from top to bottom. Winning all the away games in the playoffs amazes me as much as the Astros losing all their home games in the ALCS.
I agree... no reliever should be pitching 5x let alone 4x in one 7 game set. Greinke was at sub 80 pitches entering that inning...
The ratings are similar to the Bucks Suns 2021 finals in the NBA. Ratings suffer when the California or New York bandwagon bois aren't engaged.
till that horrific 2-1 called ball 3 to soto. I know mlb won't put in the robot umps till this astros run is over but man, what could have been in 2019 and this year.
At least that was an entertaining series. The Bucks had a big comeback in Game 4 to tie it 2-2, Game 5 went down to the wire, and Game 6 was tied heading into the 4th.
Actually I just realized the absolute lowest was the 2020 Lakers bubble championship. That one was pretty bad. That whole bubble setup with the virtual fans and empty stands was so dystopian, too. What a weird thing. Feels like a bad dream.
It wasn't that long ago when the LCS was a best of 5. Leagues have been tinkering with playoff formats indefinitely throughout existence. I don't believe any system is ever truly "set" in its ways, especially when things like ratings/interest/TV money are always the driving forces when it comes to said decisions. Nothing will happen till the next round of TV deals or CBA's are being negotiated, but if we do get more of the variance-resulted matchups with no national interest (Miami vs. Tampa!... Arizona vs. Kansas City!...), then there could always be further adjustments to the format, especially when it comes to wild card teams. One suggestion was no home games for the wild card teams ever... and given that there wouldn't need to be travel days, that could allow them to expand some of the series to 7 games (and then that would favor teams that have true 4 or 5 man rotations, and cut out some of the variance that happens in post-season baseball).
