Does the World Series have a credibility problem?

[Marew]

Congrats rangers, you guys deserved it. Best team in the post season despite major faltering in august. We get debron Jacob back next year and add some more pieces, come back healthy and hope for a repeat.

[connorp]

This isn't the first warning of this nature this guy has received. I'd wager it's far past the point of warnings already.

 

Silence the dissenters, Max.

[John_Havok]

Silence the dissenters, Max.

 

Dissention is fine. Provide an argument backed up with facts that supports an alternate narrative. Nothing wrong with that

 

Being a complete contrarian douchebag "just because" is pointless and deserves to be flushed.

[DigitalRock]

With the Orioles, Rays, Braves, and Dodgers eliminated, we will have a World Series Champion that in no way represents the best baseball team in 2023

 

I know we can never go back to a single NL Champion playing a single AL champion in as 7 game series

 

But if we continue to add WC teams and short series, the World Series "champion" will become more and more irrelevant.

 

I think the redacted winning 101 games and redacted trumps this years WS pretend champion.

 

This is another stupid narrative

[John_Havok]

This is another stupid narrative

 

Wouldnt call it stupid, just.... misguided.

 

IF MLB wants the WS Champion to specifically represent the best team in MLB, they would award it to the team with the most wins at the end of the season and there would be a 100% balanced schedule.

 

But, since that is never going to happen for many many reasons... the WS winner should simply not be viewed as "the best team in MLB."

 

The WS winner should be viewed to be exactly what it is, the team that won a tournament at the end of the season *mostly* made up of the teams with the best records in their leagues, that *mostly* reflects being a top tier or 2nd tier team in the game of baseball.

[Brownie19]

Baseball (@mlbelites_) • Instagram photo

WWW.INSTAGRAM.COM

---

54K likes, 1,436 comments - mlbelites_ on October 31, 2023: "The 2023 World Series is on pace to be the least-watched of all time 👀 (via: @frontofficesports)".

 

Ratings over the past years...

[John_Havok]

Baseball (@mlbelites_) • Instagram photo

WWW.INSTAGRAM.COM

---

54K likes, 1,436 comments - mlbelites_ on October 31, 2023: "The 2023 World Series is on pace to be the least-watched of all time 👀 (via: @frontofficesports)".

 

Ratings over the past years...

 

TV ratings dont matter a whole lot anymore, more important is all the social media engagments. still a factor of course but...

 

super bowl ratings are down

 

nba finals ratings are down

 

nhl ratings are down.

 

yet every one of those leagues is arguably at its healthiest point ever. TV ratings are just not the major indicator of popularity now.

[Marew]

This is another stupid narrative

 

This post was on orioles hangout the day after they got knocked out. They, like the entitled braves fans, think it’s not fair if the 100 win teams don’t win it all. They were legitimately expecting to take home a championship. Even on that forum, I think only some people had a problem with it, most could understand that the World Series winner doesn’t have to be one of the top 2-3 regular season records.

[John_Havok]

This post was on orioles hangout the day after they got knocked out. They, like the entitled braves fans, think it’s not fair if the 100 win teams don’t win it all. They were legitimately expecting to take home a championship. Even on that forum, I think only some people had a problem with it, most could understand that the World Series winner doesn’t have to be one of the top 2-3 regular season records.

 

A lot of it is because of how the champs are presented in MLB and other sports. In every sport, the eventual champion is always crowned the best, the most dominant, etc etc. Fans are constantly fed the narratives that the post season tournaments and their SSS results are more important when judging a team. Winning titles is what gives fans erections, so its a natural thing to believe that your erection is caused by the best team. Metaphorically speaking.

 

Probably a slight majority of the time these days, that is actually correct. But sports have changed in the past half century and especially in the past 20 years. Parity in most leagues is at an all time high (maybe with the exception of the NBA?) and especially in baseball, the differences in the top pitchers, top 9 position players, top 3 relievers from a 100 win team, to a 90 win team, to even an 84 win team are not so massive that you can reasonably expect "upsets" every single year with regularity in the playoffs due to the nature of how the rosters get artificially restricted with all the off days.

[Dick_Pole]

At this point mods are just running up their thanks stats by threatening Dean with a ban but never actually doing it. s***, or get off the pot.

[Dick_Pole]

A lot of it is because of how the champs are presented in MLB and other sports. In every sport, the eventual champion is always crowned the best, the most dominant, etc etc. Fans are constantly fed the narratives that the post season tournaments and their SSS results are more important when judging a team. Winning titles is what gives fans erections, so its a natural thing to believe that your erection is caused by the best team. Metaphorically speaking.

 

Probably a slight majority of the time these days, that is actually correct. But sports have changed in the past half century and especially in the past 20 years. Parity in most leagues is at an all time high (maybe with the exception of the NBA?) and especially in baseball, the differences in the top pitchers, top 9 position players, top 3 relievers from a 100 win team, to a 90 win team, to even an 84 win team are not so massive that you can reasonably expect "upsets" every single year with regularity in the playoffs due to the nature of how the rosters get artificially restricted with all the off days.

 

Even by NBA standards, there's parity. Last year there were a good 7-8 contenders with a decent shot and one of the teams in the finals wasn't one of them. Gone are the days of the dynasty, for now. Raptors killed that trend. Partially because the stars are aging out and all the hyped up players over the last several years have either been busts or injury prone. Remember when Zion Williamson was supposed to be the next big thing?

[deanmike]

At this point mods are just running up their thanks stats by threatening Dean with a ban but never actually doing it. s***, or get off the pot.

 

Are thanks stats something people care about on this board?

[John_Havok]

Even by NBA standards, there's parity. Last year there were a good 7-8 contenders with a decent shot and one of the teams in the finals wasn't one of them. Gone are the days of the dynasty, for now. Raptors killed that trend. Partially because the stars are aging out and all the hyped up players over the last several years have either been busts or injury prone. Remember when Zion Williamson was supposed to be the next big thing?

 

Who?

[Spanky__99]

No.

 

...

[Spanky__99]

All of Shatkins' bootlicker cucks will swarm this thread to gleefully agree with this participation trophy premise.

 

My answer is f*** no it doesn't have a credibility problem.

 

If the Jays were still in the playoffs right now, this thread would have been laughed at and instantly locked. Every participation trophy loving Atkins fangirl in here supporting the idea of this thread cannot deny this.

 

It's only lucky when it's not their beloved Atkins built Blue Jays teams doing the winning.

 

The next time the Jays make it to the ALCS or further I will bump this thread and agree with the OP's premise. Let's see what happens to this thread then.

 

Unless of course, it was the Jays vs DBacks in this year's World Series. Then it would be "What credibility problem? We just got lucky enough to draw the sub-500 pythag record DBacks in the World Series. That's baseball!"

 

Or unless, the Jays were on a Cinderella World Series run like the DBacks with a s*** pythag record and run differential. Then it would be "We love the new wild card format! It gave our Cinderella Jays their chance in October!"

 

I guess I'm confused as to what is considered repetitive at this point. Because the only other infractions I've received so far are a temp ban for apparently going too far with a Vlad post, and a warning on a post I made about Shatkins. What does me disagreeing with the premise of this thread have to do with the other 2 things?

 

Dude???

 

This was the only post that had merit...

 

I ain't a fan of either Atkins or Schneider and wanted both gone. Before the unfortunate Shapiro presser which confirmed that this organization values people who throw the people they work with under the bus, I had said IMO Shapiro should fire both Atkins and Schneider (who proved himself to be a beta that is okay with getting thrown under the bus), promote World Series winning GM James Click to take Atkins' place, and let Click decide who he wants his Schneider replacement to be.

 

Unfortunate things didn't play out this way, but a silver lining is, at least Shatkins' snake-like nature produced a public calling out of the replacement level DH Vlad Jr. I also straight up loved how they played hardball with Manoah's whining (Atkins basically said f*** your fake injuries fatass you don't deserve major league pay on IL).

[wamco]

This isn't the first warning of this nature this guy has received. I'd wager it's far past the point of warnings already.

 

Sadly, that’s not the way it works. Cough…spanky

[Spanky__99]

Sadly, that’s not the way it works. Cough…spanky *lives in your head*

 

...

[jaysblue]

Last year in the NHL and NBA Playoffs, we saw two teams make it all the way to the Finals in each league respectively that probably shouldn't have gone that far. Both the Florida Panthers and Miami Heat were like the 7th/8th place team in their conferences. Both teams lost to the superior teams in the Finals (Las Vegas Golden Knights and the Denver Nuggets). You are starting to see more parity across all sports since more teams do make the Playoffs and you are seeing lower playoff seeded teams going on runs for a couple of rounds knocking out the top seeded teams. Owners and the Leagues want more teams to make the Playoffs because that means more money. It happens in any sport, whether it's hockey, basketball and even soccer like at a World Cup. Only sport where you don't see that too often is in the NFL Playoffs.

 

Since 2000 in baseball, World Series winners who were the WC teams were the Anaheim Angels (2002), Florida Marlins (2003), Boston Red Sox (2004), St. Louis Cardinals (2011), San Francisco Giants (2014), Washington Nationals (2019) and the Texas Rangers (2023). 7 in 23 years. Those earlier WC teams were the 4th best teams in their leagues, so definitely a lot closer to the elite division winners. Even when the one game WC was announced in 2012, only the Giants and Nats were the two teams to go all the way.

 

The difference now in baseball is that more teams are allowed in, so you will have weaker borderline WC teams sometimes in the World Series. You likely will have a team like the D'Backs every so often go on a run, knock out a couple top teams and make it to the World Series. Same happens in the NHL and NBA with 8 teams making it. That's what happens when you allow more teams in to compete in the Postseason.

[Brownie19]

Last year in the NHL and NBA Playoffs, we saw two teams make it all the way to the Finals in each league respectively that probably shouldn't have gone that far. Both the Florida Panthers and Miami Heat were like the 7th/8th place team in their conferences. Both teams lost to the superior teams in the Finals (Las Vegas Golden Knights and the Denver Nuggets). You are starting to see more parity across all sports since more teams do make the Playoffs and you are seeing lower playoff seeded teams going on runs for a couple of rounds knocking out the top seeded teams. Owners and the Leagues want more teams to make the Playoffs because that means more money. It happens in any sport, whether it's hockey, basketball and even soccer like at a World Cup. Only sport where you don't see that too often is in the NFL Playoffs.

 

Since 2000 in baseball, World Series winners who were the WC teams were the Anaheim Angels (2002), Florida Marlins (2003), Boston Red Sox (2004), St. Louis Cardinals (2011), San Francisco Giants (2014), Washington Nationals (2019) and the Texas Rangers (2023). 7 in 23 years. Those earlier WC teams were the 4th best teams in their leagues, so definitely a lot closer to the elite division winners. Even when the one game WC was announced in 2012, only the Giants and Nats were the two teams to go all the way.

 

The difference now in baseball is that more teams are allowed in, so you will have weaker borderline WC teams sometimes in the World Series. You likely will have a team like the D'Backs every so often go on a run, knock out a couple top teams and make it to the World Series. Same happens in the NHL and NBA with 8 teams making it. That's what happens when you allow more teams in to compete in the Postseason.

 

And I think this is exactly what MLB wants. This encourages more teams to be buyers and to try and field strong, competitive teams. It wasn't so long ago that like half the teams in the league started the season with no intent on contending for the playoffs. That's no longer the case thankfully.

[Marew]

A lot of it is because of how the champs are presented in MLB and other sports. In every sport, the eventual champion is always crowned the best, the most dominant, etc etc. Fans are constantly fed the narratives that the post season tournaments and their SSS results are more important when judging a team. Winning titles is what gives fans erections, so its a natural thing to believe that your erection is caused by the best team. Metaphorically speaking.

 

Probably a slight majority of the time these days, that is actually correct. But sports have changed in the past half century and especially in the past 20 years. Parity in most leagues is at an all time high (maybe with the exception of the NBA?) and especially in baseball, the differences in the top pitchers, top 9 position players, top 3 relievers from a 100 win team, to a 90 win team, to even an 84 win team are not so massive that you can reasonably expect "upsets" every single year with regularity in the playoffs due to the nature of how the rosters get artificially restricted with all the off days.

 

Yes I agree, i mentioned that a few pages back. There were 3 100 plus win teams and they will all be forgotten.

 

I think you can argue any team getting through those 3-4 rounds is more impressive than winning 10 or so games more than an average playoff teams over 162 games. Especially the orioles, f*** those guys. Wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t get a wildcard next year, wouldn’t be surprised if they get in.

[jaysblue]

And I think this is exactly what MLB wants. This encourages more teams to be buyers and to try and field strong, competitive teams. It wasn't so long ago that like half the teams in the league started the season with no intent on contending for the playoffs. That's no longer the case thankfully.

 

Yeah exactly. As well, most of the WC teams are different teams from the beginning of the season depending on if they've added at the trade deadline.

 

Blue Jays during the JPR years had no chance of contending for the Postseason. If there was an expanded WC format, who knows if one of those Jays teams like in 2003 or 2006 make a push at the trade deadline to upgrade their roster, get into the Postseason and go on a run.

[Jonn]

Not gonna lie that was a pretty dog s*** World Series. I honestly feel Texas wasn't even that good.

[Laika]

Texas was legit. They did beat three really good AL teams to get there

[L54]

Texas was one of the best teams in the league for a large part of the season. Elite offense

[connorp]

I think the issue becomes when the percentages and teams become where series feel forced. I think 8 teams per league starts pushing it. I know the NBA team just saw an 8 seed get to the finals, but I think it’s been at a rate of 6 out of 60, 1 to 8 matchups. At that point, I’m not sure if it’s too much

 

I think it you play Detroit vs ATL 100 series, probably Detroit wins 3 or 4, but who wants to see it. Idk

[connorp]

I like the best teams getting a bye.

[Marew]

The teams the dbacks faced other than the Phillies, were trash. Even the dodgers. I just can’t believe Philadelphia blew it. The dbacks and especially Carol/moreno/gallon/walker , as others have pointed out, are scrubs.

[Joltin Joe]

I never watched the playoffs but heard people say WS worst ever

[Brownie19]

I never watched the playoffs but heard people say WS worst ever

 

I'll never understand people like this. Not a fan enough to even bother watching. Sourcing opinions from horrendous places like Facebook, yet still compelled to spend time spreading those opinions to others.

[Marew]

A surprising amount of people will stop watching once their team is out. A cool thing about baseball is the drama and narratives throughout such a long season. It is a bit odd to like baseball enough to follow one team but have zero interest in other games. I can watch any game that affects the blue jays or a different tight playoff race in the regular season and it’s just as interesting.

 

I do prefer watching meaningful games though so I’d rather watch dodgers and brewers mid season than angels/white Sox just to see ohtani get walked and maybe hit a triple.