Do YOU Know How MLB Playoffs & Structure has Evolved Over the Decades?

It's that time of year again when the baseball season is winding down and the playoff bracket is being filled up with the teams you love or the teams you love to hate! To me, there's no better time than October. But have you noticed how crazy the baseball playoffs have gotten? How did it get this complicated, and what's the history behind how it all evolved? Check out this video, and I'll tell you all about how the league structure has changed over time, and how that has directly influenced the playoff picture over the years.
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[@brutusonbaseball]

Thanks everyone for watching! I just reached 500 subs...your views, likes and comments mean a lot, so keep 'em coming!

[@DanielLempicki]

Informative vid. Thanks man didn’t know about todays format. 🎉

[@brutusonbaseball]

Always happy to help!

[@arichster]

This is the kind of explanation about the history of baseball structure that I think I've ever heard. And I've been a Mets fan, a long time, since the time they announced its creation. One tiny little correction which is super technical. You mentioned about teams from opposing leagues never playing each other before interleague play and use the example of the Yankees and the mets. However the Yankees and the Mets had a very long tradition of playing what was called the Mayor's Trophy Game annually. As the name of the game My hint, the when was essentially ceremonial but it nonetheless was a form of the subway series and New Yorkers really loved it. I understand if you left it out since it actually did not count for statistical purposes in Major League baseball or even toward players stats. Keep up these great videos.

[@brutusonbaseball]

Thanks, glad you appreciated the video! And thanks for the tidbit about those Yanks vs Mets games, I wasn't aware of those!

[@amazingkook143]

Made it so that wildcard teams don't make it to the WS. Every year of the format the last pace wildcard team makes the WS. You can't prevent hot teams MLB. It also looks like it might be happening again this year.

[@brutusonbaseball]

Totally agree, I encourage you to watch my video linked here where I throw out my own ideas on how I would fix the playoffs kzbin.info/www/bejne/Zn2nf6mimJqsd7sfeature=shared

[@GhostInTheMeadows]

Thank you! Only helpful video I found that explained the new format well.

[@brutusonbaseball]

Thanks, glad you got something out of it!

[@big8dog887]

One thing that should be added is that the postseason wasn't always seeded in such a manner that the best teams played the worst teams with the best teams having homefield advantage. Homefield advantage in the World Series alternated between leagues every year from the beginning until 2002. This made sense until the advent of interleague play, because each participant played completely different schedules so comparing their records was apples and oranges. In 2003, World Series homefield was determined by which league won the All-Star Game, mostly to gin up interest in that exhibition contest. This lasted until 2017, when they decided to do what all other sports do and give homefield to the team with the best record. In the era from 1969-1993, homefield in the League Championship Series was alternated between East and West in each league, regardless of the records of the participants. The biggest reason for this was that the majority of MLB teams shared their stadium with an NFL team, so, to avoid scheduling conflicts, they wanted to know in advance which teams could potentially be playing on certain Sundays in October. This carried over into the early years of the wildcard era. From 1995 to 1997, playoff matchups and homefields were determined by division, not by win-loss record. 1995 is a great illustration: The AL divisional winners, in order of record were the Indians, Red Sox, and Mariners with the Yankees being the wildcard. But it was the top 2 seeds, the Indians and Red Sox playing each other in the divisional round with the 2nd seed Red Sox having homefield advantage, while the third seeded Mariners played the wildcard Yankees. The Indians and Mariners advanced to the ALCS, where the Mariners had homefield, even though they were the #3 playing against the #1. This was all because it was predetermined that East and West would be get Divisional Round homefield, and West had priority over Central for homefield in the ALCS. Last note: Up until 2020, there was a rule which said teams from the same division couldn't meet in the Divisional round, regardless of seeding. This lead to a number of memorable Yankees-Red Sox League Championship Series which would have taken place in the divisional round had this rule not been in place. Dang, that was a lot longer than I thought it would be, I can see why you didn't include it for purposes of video length. Still, it's good to have this info in the comment section to complete the picture, for those interested. Keep up the good work.

[@brutusonbaseball]

No kidding huh...such great details to add but just like you I tend to go into details that blow up the time commitment to watch (and make) the videos! As always, great additions to the conversation. It almost gives me an idea I could pursue for another stand alone video all on its own if you don't mind me lifting the idea!

[@big8dog887]

@@brutusonbaseball No, I don't mind, by all means get the information out there. You do a good job of being interesting to diehard fans while still not going over the head of casuals, you're kind of like the Neil deGrasse-Tyson of baseball content.

[@brutusonbaseball]

@@big8dog887 awesome, I really appreciate that comment. I'm a huge fan of Neil!

[@ELExExCeEye]

Thank you so much for explaining this for the beginning

[@brutusonbaseball]

My pleasure!

[@Ryouski]

Incredibly interesting! Cool to learn about the history of the playoff format! Great video!

[@brutusonbaseball]

Thanks for watching and commenting, glad you enjoyed it!

[@joshuakemblebluegrass838]

Thanks for the video, very informative

[@brutusonbaseball]

Thanks, really glad to hear you got something out of it!

[@willmack5909]

Also with the 2022 format, they do not re-seed after the Wild Card round. In other words the winner of the 6 vs 3 seed Wildcard round plays the 2 seed, while the winner of the 5 vs 4 seed Wildcard round plays the number 1 seed. I think it should be re-seeded but it is what it is. Never been a huge fan of these changes (interleague play, wild cards, etc.) but I understand the reasons behind it.

[@brutusonbaseball]

Great point, and something I really wish MLB would look at changing. Overall I think it's just become too easy for the teams that barely make it into the playoffs to end up playing in the World Series

[@royakard8536]

I'm sure many younger fans will not agree here.. But.. I liked the game far better with the divisions being separate without playing each other all year long. It brought a whole unknown aspect to the world series. You also had very distinct playstyles that came crashing together for a unknown outcome. I liked old baseball better period lol.

[@brutusonbaseball]

I totally understand how you feel. There was just something so classic about hearing "these two teams have never faced each other before", or "this is the first meeting between these teams since 1932" or something like that whenever a good World Series matchup came along. The one thing I didn't like at all back then was when the AL pitchers suddenly had to learn how to hit for the World Series. Just seemed like such a silly thing to have to adjust to on the world's biggest stage for baseball. Of course, that would be done away with now with the universal DH rule...don't really need interleague play to solve that problem.

[@royakard8536]

@brutusonbaseball like wade boggs ( my favorite player) vs Dwight Gooden for the first time.. The new generation knows everything and nothing is magical. Pity I think..

[@brutusonbaseball]

@royakard8536 great choice for a favorite player!

[@willmack5909]

@@royakard8536 Exactly! Takes away from the specialness of the Fall Classic. That said, how sad that people in American League cities never got to see Roberto Clemente play for the Pirates unless it was in the World Series? As old school as I consider myself to be, I have warmed more toward interleague play too. MLB has become less unique and special putting both "leagues" under one umbrella thus making it one league in essence. I do find it more fair that all teams play everybody now in both leagues.

[@Michael-kt8gz]

The wild card game and series have not made it difficult for the wild card teams. From 2012-2019 & 2021, the wild cards won 9 of 18 division series. Last year, two wild cards won division series, and this year, three were victorious.

[@brutusonbaseball]

That is becoming more obvious now that the wild card teams haven't really had a disadvantage. I actually made a video recently about how I would change the current playoff format because of this issue...it was obviously MLB's intent to make it more difficult for the wild card but it hasn't looked that way at all

[@Michael-kt8gz]

You're going to have a very difficult time convincing me it was MLB's intent to make it more difficult for wild cards. Instead of only two wild cards playing in division series, there could be four. The frequency of wild cards playing in the LCS is only going to increase.

[@brutusonbaseball]

@Michael-kt8gz ok I think there's a difference in what we're talking about here. It was obviously MLB's intent to make it more difficult for an INDIVIDUAL wild card team to make the World Series. That's why they've put in an extra round with a bye for the best teams, and the wild card path must go through the best team's city. What you're trying to say is that MLB is making it easier for ANY wild card team to make the World Series simply because they keep adding more wild card teams. While this is true on the surface, don't think it was their intent. I think it was just an outcome they were willing to accept to get more teams into the playoffs to make more money.

[@Michael-kt8gz]

I don't think their intent was to make it easier or more difficult for an individual wild card to win the pennant. Their intent was simply to make more money. Obviously, with the way they structured the playoffs, they should have known they were making it easier for ANY wild card to win the pennant for the simple reason more wild cards can advance to the division series. As I pointed out, wild cards were winning 50% of their division series during the two-wild card format. Is playing a best of three that more difficult than playing one game? If wild cards were winning 50% of series before, I would expect them to win about the same now. This and the fact more wild cards can be in division series, it is not surprising there have been an overload of wild cards in the LCS and WS.

[@brutusonbaseball]

@@Michael-kt8gz great points, and exactly why I think it needs to be made harder. I enjoy the World Series every year, but not nearly as much when it's 85 win teams playing

[@montanam5831]

dope!

[@brutusonbaseball]

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it!

[@williamhild1793]

I was able to "justify", in my own mind, having a league championship series, but I have NEVER been on board with a Wild-card team. If you don't finish first, you DON'T belong in playoffs. Two leagues, each with two divisions. That's all you need.

[@brutusonbaseball]

The traditionalist in me totally agrees with you...if you can't win the division you shouldn't make the playoffs. I didn't mind the concept of introducing one wild card to fix what happened in 1993 to the Giants...but that's the slippery slope! The realist in me knows that it's a business though, and once the traditional fans accepted the first wild card, it was just a matter of time before MLB wanted all the $ that comes with more playoff teams. At this point it seems we have to accept mediocre teams sneaking into the playoffs with the last spot and getting hot at the right time to run the table. I loathe seeing that happen...

[@joewasowski6373]

Does anyone else still not understand how it works now?

[@brutusonbaseball]

It has gotten really complicated, hasn't it? It's there something specific you're stuck on?

[@joshuakemblebluegrass838]

They tried to make it harder for wildcard teams to go all the way and yet both teams in the World Series ended up being wildcards lol

[@brutusonbaseball]

That's true, and it's not that uncommon either. Something is obviously not right

[@joshuakemblebluegrass838]

@@brutusonbaseball I’m just glad my Rangers played so well

[@Mike-hf8kq]

Didnt mention the added wrinkle that the wild card series is played exclusively at the home field of the higher ranked team.

[@brutusonbaseball]

Yeah I didn't really touch at all on home field advantage, but that's a really good point that makes it even tougher for the lower placed wild card teams to win all the way through. Winning in the regular season has never been more important, which I think is great for the game

[@Mike-hf8kq]

@@brutusonbaseball oh the other big change now too in current structure you didn't touch on, no game 163 to break any ties. I don't remember exact order of tiebreakers but similar to the other leagues for seeding(head to head, intradivision, intraleague, etc). Though I think there should be an exception for the last wild card spot. In case of a tie for last wild card spot, that should go to a game 163. If 3 teams tied for last two wc or 4 teams all tied for wc...use the 162 game tie breakers to determine seeding for all but last spot and have just one game 163

[@brutusonbaseball]

@Mike-hf8kq very true, tie breaker games are very exciting, but I think they did away with them just because of how long the postseason has gotten. Adding another game and potential travel day to the schedule could be problematic. They would have to reduce the number of regular season games again, which the owners are not very likely to do

[@ricogomez4020]

Playing 162 should mean you don't need Wild Card teams to see who is best to go to World Series. That's why we don't have the best teams of 2023 in the World Series.

[@brutusonbaseball]

I tend to agree with you, but that time has come and gone and now the playoffs will not be reduced because the owners get more money this way. That's more important to them I think than if the best teams end up in the World Series. What I'm trying to propose in this video is how to keep the same number of teams in the playoffs, but make it much harder for the lowest teams to win through

[@ricogomez4020]

I wonder what the tv ratings of 2023 WS is so far.@@brutusonbaseball

[@JohnBrady-w4e]

There are 2,430 baseball games in a season. It’s ridiculous to have 30% of the teams make the playoffs. It dilutes the significance of the regular season. Hell if the goal is profits and end of season fan interest, why not have the teams make the playoffs? Add a couple more tiers of playoff games and the World Series could become a Thanksgiving tradition. Lol

[@brutusonbaseball]

Don't say these things too loud... there might be MLB spies watching and they'll likely think that's a great idea! I hear they aren't able to detect sarcasm very well...

[@Michael-kt8gz]

I do disagree moving to three divisions made more sense. There were 28 teams at the time so why not keep 4 divisions of 7? The American League had two divisions of 7 for 17 seasons without problems. Fay Vincent wanted to move the Cubs and Cardinals to the west and move the Braves and Reds to the east.

[@brutusonbaseball]

Great point and question. I imagine it was to support more travel for an imbalanced schedule, but it is a good question as to why four divisions weren't considered more.