When professional sports season reaches the playoffs, you can only hope for one thing, drama. And no other league delivers playoff drama like Major League Baseball. It’s like they have a switch at the front gate that venues flip on when October comes and their team made it. During the regular season, baseball games are about going out to the ballpark, having a hot dog and a cold beer, and watching Americas past time in a very uncomfortable and tiny plastic chair. But when playoffs roll around, the intensity is cranked up and you can literally feel the energy pu8sing through the air. Playoff baseball is different because at any moment, any pitch can change the trajectory of a game and a postseason. Fans are rarely sitting in those tiny, plastic, numbered seats because you are on your feet for every moment. Fans living and dying with each at-bat, each swing, each pitch. Playoff baseball is the absolute best.
Everyone loves an underdog story and we often get them in the MLB playoffs because the hottest teams usually come from the Wild Card positions. Wild Card teams are often fighting to the very last game to punch a playoff ticket, and once they get in they essentially start playing the very next day. Time and time again we see teams benefit from this consistency in play, rhythm within a ballclub is so crucially important and many believe that it is better to keep playing rather than have a week in between games like teams who won their division get. Look back at 2021 when the Braves won the World Series, that team won 86 games and barely squeaked themselves into the postseason. But they were playing well at the time and the hits became contagious. The hits stuck with the Braves all the way to Houston where Jorge Soler hit one of the most famous homeruns in Braves history to put Atlanta on their way to the clubs second world title. Owners and the league have even talked about ways to cut down on the time off for the division winners as almost all are in agreement that the break between series’ does more harm than good.
We are seeing this all play out once again in 2024. In all four series (2 ALDS & 2 NLDS) it is tied one a piece. All of these series are best-of-5 and heading back to the lower seeds ballpark. This is why it plays out perfectly for the Wild Card teams. All four have split games on the road and get to go home for two games in front of their home crowds. Just think how rowdy Detroit is going to be when they get their Tigers at home in the playoffs for the first time in more than a decade (10 years, 3 days to be exact). How about Royals fans whose last time seeing Kansas City in the playoffs at home was 2015 (KC went on to win WS that year). Look at the Mets who have one of the most hostile fanbases in professional sports getting their team back at home. All of these teams can advance to the Championship Series this week with two more wins. Now, you tell me, which side of the diamond would you would want to be on?
We got more postseason fireworks last night as a scoreless game into the 9th saw Kerry Carpenter for the Tigers send a three-run shot about 20 rows back to stun a Guardians crowd at home. The Mets and Phillies have been trading punches back and forth in their two games as the in-division disdain is palpable. The Padres and the Dodgers fighting to see whose cash cow will advance, and Dodgers fans showing their true colors by throwing baseballs at San Diego outfielders. Even Kansas City trying to earn a few pinstripes of their own by knocking out the most historic franchise in baseball. There is nothing quite like playoff baseball, and nothing comes close to the moments it delivers. Scores and schedule below:
