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The championship series are set-in Major-League Baseball and out of the four teams to advance only one of them was a division winner.

In the National League the Philadelphia Phillies advanced by knocked out the Atlanta Braves for the second year in a row. The Phillies will face the upstart Arizona Diamondbacks who swept the Los Angels Dodgers out of the playoffs.

Over in the American League the only division winner left the Houston Astros moved on by beating the Minnesota Twins. The Astros will face the team that they actually tied for the American League West title the Texas Rangers.

There were three teams that won over 100 games in the Major League Baseball regular season the Braves, the Dodgers and the Baltimore Orioles. Those three teams combined to win 305 regular season games, but in the playoffs those same three teams combined for just one win.

While it was a surprise that the Orioles won as many games as they did the Braves, and the Dodgers were expected to be contenders coming into the regular season. It’s unclear why these three teams that should’ve been favorite went out so quickly and easily in the playoffs.

If I had to take a guess, I’d have to say that the five-day layoff these teams received for being division winners had something to do with their quick exits. I think in any other sport this wouldn’t be any type of an issue, but Major League Baseball teams aren’t used to that type of time off. Any momentum that teams had coming out of the regular season would have ended with having five days off.

I believe that the commissioner of Major League Baseball Rob Manferd has spoken on the time off issue for division winners and mentioned that there are no plans to change the playoff format. I can’t say that’s a surprise since the playoffs are still going on but will see if something comes up this off season.

If Major League Baseball was to change the playoff format, there’s really only one way they can do it and that would be to add two more teams. Obviously, they could just eliminate two wild card teams, but no sport is going to take away playoff teams and give away that television money. By adding two teams it would eliminate the 1st round byes and there would no longer be those periods of long time off for division winners.

This past season it might not have been such a big deal to add two more teams as there were multiple teams that stayed in the playoff race until the final game of the season. The problem down the line with adding two teams is it would increase the chance of a team that went under .500 in the regular might get into the playoffs.

I’m not sure how people would react if a team that went say 80-82 during the regular season got hot and ended up winning the World Series. Obviously, the fans of that team would be ecstatic, but I don’t think too many other people would be.

If Major League Baseball added two teams to the playoff format it wouldn’t change the setup of the 1st round at all. The 1st round could still be three game series if necessary hosted by the team with the better record. It would just be the process of adding two more teams to make this happen.

As we go back to focusing on the championship series. I have to say it’s really tough to say who the favorites are.

You’d have to think that the Phillies would be the National League favorite mostly because no expected the Diamondbacks to be here. Of course, that’s the thing that might play right into Arizona’s favor. At this point the Diamondbacks are playing with house money, so there shouldn’t be any pressure on them while Philadelphia will be expected to advance to the World Series for the second year in a row.

In the American League should the Astros be the favorite because they were technically the division winner? The Rangers might be the best hitting team left in the playoffs and while people have questioned their bullpen it’s done the job for them so far. It’s just really tough to say that one of these teams is better than the other one.

In all honesty I’d like to see the Diamondbacks win just because they’re not supposed to be here and it’s a good story. For that same reason I’d like to see Arizona go on and win the World Series, but sadly I probably just jinxed them.

I also wouldn’t mind seeing the Rangers advance just so we could have a couple of different teams in the World Series this season. Also, the Rangers have never won a World Series in the team’s history, so I wouldn’t mind seeing them win one for the first time.

So, let me know what you think about this. I want to know who you think will advance to the World Series and I’d also like to know if you think that Major League Baseball will change the playoff format.

Don’t forget to look for me on X, I’m @Burketime.