Baseball is back! (Well, at least it is when I'm writing this on Monday evening. I've been seeing reports of quite a few postive test results from Miami, so we'll see if this lasts.) In the time leading up to baseball's return, I saw some murmurs on the internet that this season's champion wouldn't be legitimate because of the shortened season. (I've seen similar arguments leveled at the NBA's return. I would imagine that the NHL has these grumblings as well.) Some people are up in arms that the best team might not win because we'll lose 102 games (at least) that help separate the better teams from worse teams.
To these people I say: I'm not sure you understand the point of playoffs. Major American sports have playoffs so that the best team doesn't always win. We like it that way. If we wanted the best time to win every year, we'd skip the playoffs and just hand the trophy to the team with the best record at the end of the season. Sports actually used to work that way. We, the sports-loving people of America, decided we weren't crazy about that. So we instituted playoffs. Maybe the most talented team won't win the World Series this year. Good! (Side note: I don't think my beloved Brewers have ever been the most talented team in baseball [with the possible exception of 1982], so I'm all for giving other teams a chance.) If there were no upsets, we wouldn't watch sports. The regular season schedules are designed to be about as fair as they can be. Everybody plays the same number of games. If you want to be champion, you've got to win. Don't come crying to me about being more talented if you lose. Go out there and prove it on the field!
And as always, go Brewers!
Grace and peace,
BMH
P.S. Now if you want to complain about MLB expanding the playoffs this year, that's a different matter. I don't like that, but we don't have time for that right now….
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