Only 1.5 games back in the WildCard

[stlbirdlover]

What does it matter when you can't beat lousy teams like the Angels and Reds. The Cards are going nowhere!

[rightthinker4]

Get your playoff fever while you can!

Crazy that the team is in the exact same spot 3 months later.

A testament to the mediocrity of wild card baseball. MLB should never have let that horse out of the barn.

MLB allows less teams into its playoffs than any other American sport.

The NHL and NBA are the worst, where half the teams make the playoffs, rendering their regular seasons almost completely meaningless.

MLB will say it’s to support fan interest. But it’s about money.

[cardinalsfever44]

Get your playoff fever while you can!

Crazy that the team is in the exact same spot 3 months later.

A testament to the mediocrity of wild card baseball. MLB should never have let that horse out of the barn.

MLB allows less teams into its playoffs than any other American sport.

The NHL and NBA are the worst, where half the teams make the playoffs, rendering their regular seasons almost completely meaningless.

MLB will say it’s to support fan interest. But it’s about money.

So fan interest would be higher if less teams made the playoffs?

[Red Bird Classic]

Get your playoff fever while you can!

Crazy that the team is in the exact same spot 3 months later.

A testament to the mediocrity of wild card baseball. MLB should never have let that horse out of the barn.

The power of TV money and a testament to the mediocrity of many fans.

You know what would be great for the fans? Two teams from each league make the playoffs and 75% of the teams are out of the race by the end of June each year! Fans would be going crazy and watching and caring about their teams more than ever before!

As I noted in an earlier post on this thread, MLB still has the least # and % of teams in its league make the playoffs of any American sport. The setup is fine and keeps fans of most teams engaged throughout most of the season, which is good for the sport.

College football's far lower percentage of teams making the playoffs doesn't seem to hurt the sport's popularity with fans.

Baseball fans were fine when they had only 4 teams make the playoffs and also with 8 playoff teams. Additional playoff spots were not needed to keep fans interested but instead to increase profits.

There are many good reasons why baseball isn't like the NBA. Your analogy compares two things to argue they should be treated the same way. But the NBA and MLB are fundamentally different systems: While the NBA plays 82 games, and individual superstar players can dominate. The MLB plays a massive 162-game season specifically designed to let the long-term averages separate the truly great teams from the mediocre ones. Because the mechanics of baseball are different, what is "reasonable" for basketball cannot be copy-pasted onto baseball.

Your reasoning is also illogical.

If NBA decides to have 80% of their teams in the playoffs, this does not mean it's reasonable for baseball to have 75%. Such a claim is a logical fallacy: relative filth-- the idea that just because Bill jumped off a 100 foot tall building, it's okay for Steve to leap from a 50-foot one. Two wrongs do not make a right. Or being less wrong doesn't make Steve's jumping off a 50 foot building right.

So your argument is that if baseball were to roll it back to 4 playoff teams total, the sport would thrive because of it? I disagree.

And to feed off your lecturing of me, what worked 50-75 years ago for baseball doesn't necessarily means it's the best choice now. The world has changed. People have changed. There are so many more entertainment choices for people to make in 2026 as opposed to 1970 or even 1990.

Also, we're not talking about college sports, we're talking about professional sports.

College football, despite the history and connection to schools, is a professional sport, and has been at least since they started openly paying players.

You have presented zero evidence that baseball struggled because it had fewer playoff teams 30, 40, or 50 years ago.

I don't have the numbers here in front of me, but I'll willing to bet that baseball was at least as popular back then as it is today and probably more so. They added more playoffs because TV networks were willing to pay more money for more rounds. That was the reason plain and simple. It had nothing to do with fans losing interest or baseball losing popularity.

I don't really care how many playoff rounds baseball plays. What annoys me is CT fans adopting the idea that just making the playoffs is the goal.

"Get to the playoffs and anything can happen!"

While the statement is technically true, the odds on the last wild card team winning the WS are long. Not understanding this, some fans resist making trades that help the team in the future to preserve a miniscule chance of winning something now.

So is your argument that MLB would be more popular with fans in the year 2026 if playoff spots were eliminated?

I don't know.

In terms of popularity, I don't think it's a major factor one way or the other, but they've let the cash trap out of the bottle and we'll never go back. Instead they'll probably want to add even more playoff teams in the future.

I want to ask you something most people who talk about this never mention. They talk about how any team in the playoffs might win!!! And it's true..

But is that what we really want? To watch a six-month war—162 games, countless pitches, and thousands of exhausting diamond battles debated endlessly by fans—only to see the 12th-best team in the league win the title? A team closer to 20th place than first. A team that simply got lucky at the end. A team that, in years past, wouldn't have even sniffed the playoffs—now standing as champion.

Some people would like to see the team (or at least one of the teams) that won most of those battles -- a team that was consistently great all year long -- win the ring.

If not, where do we stop. Maybe we could have the whole league in the playoffs-play the entire season just for playoff seeding???

It wouldn't happen that first year, or maybe not in a hundred years, but sooner or later one of those bottom 3 or 4 teams is gonna win, a team that couldn't even play .460 baseball during the season take home the ring.

[cardinalsfever44]

Get your playoff fever while you can!

Crazy that the team is in the exact same spot 3 months later.

A testament to the mediocrity of wild card baseball. MLB should never have let that horse out of the barn.

The power of TV money and a testament to the mediocrity of many fans.

You know what would be great for the fans? Two teams from each league make the playoffs and 75% of the teams are out of the race by the end of June each year! Fans would be going crazy and watching and caring about their teams more than ever before!

As I noted in an earlier post on this thread, MLB still has the least # and % of teams in its league make the playoffs of any American sport. The setup is fine and keeps fans of most teams engaged throughout most of the season, which is good for the sport.

College football's far lower percentage of teams making the playoffs doesn't seem to hurt the sport's popularity with fans.

Baseball fans were fine when they had only 4 teams make the playoffs and also with 8 playoff teams. Additional playoff spots were not needed to keep fans interested but instead to increase profits.

There are many good reasons why baseball isn't like the NBA. Your analogy compares two things to argue they should be treated the same way. But the NBA and MLB are fundamentally different systems: While the NBA plays 82 games, and individual superstar players can dominate. The MLB plays a massive 162-game season specifically designed to let the long-term averages separate the truly great teams from the mediocre ones. Because the mechanics of baseball are different, what is "reasonable" for basketball cannot be copy-pasted onto baseball.

Your reasoning is also illogical.

If NBA decides to have 80% of their teams in the playoffs, this does not mean it's reasonable for baseball to have 75%. Such a claim is a logical fallacy: relative filth-- the idea that just because Bill jumped off a 100 foot tall building, it's okay for Steve to leap from a 50-foot one. Two wrongs do not make a right. Or being less wrong doesn't make Steve's jumping off a 50 foot building right.

So your argument is that if baseball were to roll it back to 4 playoff teams total, the sport would thrive because of it? I disagree.

And to feed off your lecturing of me, what worked 50-75 years ago for baseball doesn't necessarily means it's the best choice now. The world has changed. People have changed. There are so many more entertainment choices for people to make in 2026 as opposed to 1970 or even 1990.

Also, we're not talking about college sports, we're talking about professional sports.

College football, despite the history and connection to schools, is a professional sport, and has been at least since they started openly paying players.

You have presented zero evidence that baseball struggled because it had fewer playoff teams 30, 40, or 50 years ago.

I don't have the numbers here in front of me, but I'll willing to bet that baseball was at least as popular back then as it is today and probably more so. They added more playoffs because TV networks were willing to pay more money for more rounds. That was the reason plain and simple. It had nothing to do with fans losing interest or baseball losing popularity.

I don't really care how many playoff rounds baseball plays. What annoys me is CT fans adopting the idea that just making the playoffs is the goal.

"Get to the playoffs and anything can happen!"

While the statement is technically true, the odds on the last wild card team winning the WS are long. Not understanding this, some fans resist making trades that help the team in the future to preserve a miniscule chance of winning something now.

So is your argument that MLB would be more popular with fans in the year 2026 if playoff spots were eliminated?

I don't know.

In terms of popularity, I don't think it's a major factor one way or the other, but they've let the cash trap out of the bottle and we'll never go back. Instead they'll probably want to add even more playoff teams in the future.

I want to ask you something most people who talk about this never mention. They talk about how any team in the playoffs might win!!! And it's true..

But is that what we really want? To watch a six-month war—162 games, countless pitches, and thousands of exhausting diamond battles debated endlessly by fans—only to see the 12th-best team in the league win the title? A team closer to 20th place than first. A team that simply got lucky at the end. A team that, in years past, wouldn't have even sniffed the playoffs—now standing as champion.

Some people would like to see the team (or at least one of the teams) that won most of those battles -- a team that was consistently great all year long -- win the ring.

If not, where do we stop. Maybe we could have the whole league in the playoffs-play the entire season just for playoff seeding???

It wouldn't happen that first year, or maybe not in a hundred years, but sooner or later one of those bottom 3 or 4 teams is gonna win, a team that couldn't even play .460 baseball during the season take home the ring.

Why are you changing the subject? Are more or less people interested in a team if they have a chance or if they are eliminated from postseason contention?

I want what is healthy for the sport as a whole. I can almost guarantee you that is not having less teams make the playoffs.

Basically what you want is all teams in one big division and then the top team wins the title. Exciting for fans of a handful of teams and 4-5 months of meaningless baseball for the rest. MLB will thrive!

Playoffs in any sport are never the best way to crown the best team. So why then do all American sports have them? I guess it's just because MLB is greedy, right?

[butsir01]

Playoffs! Playoffs! - Jim Mora.

You forgot to add the 'question' marks to the exclamation marks PLAYOFFS ?! Playoffs ?! for the inflection he gave to the reply to the reporter.
One of the all-time classics.

Goes down in NFL lore like the Dennis Green comment following a Mon. night loss to the Bears when an irate Green said this (pounding the lecturn ):

"The Bears are who we thought they were! That's why we took the (drat) field! If you want to crown 'em, then crown their (donkey)! But they are who we thought they were, and we let 'em off the hook!" — Delivered after a Monday Night Football loss to Chicago in 2006.

I thought about the ? marks. I just remember him saying it. Nice to know Jim Mora is still with us at about 90 years old.

Also crazy marv levy is 100

Marv Levy was an assistant football coach way back in the 1950's at Country Day High School in Ladue just in case anybody is interested.

Good one, JDW!

[icon]

Some things never change.

[cardsfaninla]

What does it matter when you can't beat lousy teams like the Angels and Reds. The Cards are going nowhere!

Hard to argue with this. Would love to have an argument. Lots of building blocks lots of promise... but as is ... team is not good enough.

I will give the team props for playing above their heads in the first half. It was fun getting excited again. Last few years have been sad. Hopefully better things to come.

I still say open the store .... a buncha pitchers and some position players too. Sell sell and build that farm!

Would be nice to see a dramatic trade deadline.

[BrummerStealsHome]

Get your playoff fever while you can!

Crazy that the team is in the exact same spot 3 months later.

A testament to the mediocrity of wild card baseball. MLB should never have let that horse out of the barn.

The power of TV money and a testament to the mediocrity of many fans.

You know what would be great for the fans? Two teams from each league make the playoffs and 75% of the teams are out of the race by the end of June each year! Fans would be going crazy and watching and caring about their teams more than ever before!

As I noted in an earlier post on this thread, MLB still has the least # and % of teams in its league make the playoffs of any American sport. The setup is fine and keeps fans of most teams engaged throughout most of the season, which is good for the sport.

Hey snarky boy, MLB did really well with the champion from each league playing off in a World Series. It also did pretty well when separated into divisions and only division champions played it off. See the pattern here? A team actually had to win something to get into the playoffs (hence the term to play off). If you can't even finish first in some realistic division in the regular season you have no business playing for a championship. I'd be happy with four divisions and a two round playoff. Even expansion to 32 teams with eight 4-team divisions and three rounds would be better than allowing 2nd and 3rd place teams into the playoffs.

[cardinalsfever44]

Get your playoff fever while you can!

Crazy that the team is in the exact same spot 3 months later.

A testament to the mediocrity of wild card baseball. MLB should never have let that horse out of the barn.

The power of TV money and a testament to the mediocrity of many fans.

You know what would be great for the fans? Two teams from each league make the playoffs and 75% of the teams are out of the race by the end of June each year! Fans would be going crazy and watching and caring about their teams more than ever before!

As I noted in an earlier post on this thread, MLB still has the least # and % of teams in its league make the playoffs of any American sport. The setup is fine and keeps fans of most teams engaged throughout most of the season, which is good for the sport.

Hey snarky boy, MLB did really well with the champion from each league playing off in a World Series. It also did pretty well when separated into divisions and only division champions played it off. See the pattern here? A team actually had to win something to get into the playoffs (hence the term to play off). If you can't even finish first in some realistic division in the regular season you have no business playing for a championship. I'd be happy with four divisions and a two round playoff. Even expansion to 32 teams with eight 4-team divisions and three rounds would be better than allowing 2nd and 3rd place teams into the playoffs.

So your argument is that less playoff teams = more overall fan interest throughout the league? Got it.

No American sports league is run your way, but it's just that greedy MLB that's out to get us and ruin everything!

You would 100% kill MLB if you went to 4 divisions and 4 playoff teams. Over half the teams and its fans would have zero reason to care for about half the season. In the year 2026 with so many entertainment options, good luck with selling that. This isn't 1965 any more.

[icon]

Some degree of excellence should be required to earn a playoff berth. Mediocre teams (hovering about .500) do not pass that test. Participation trophies are a problem not just in sports, but metaphorically in society writ large.

[cardinalsfever44]

Some degree of excellence should be required to earn a playoff berth. Mediocre teams (hovering about .500) do not pass that test. Participation trophies are a problem not just in sports, but metaphorically in society writ large.

You should go around to all the pro sports leagues in this country then and show them your proposal. We can go back to the good old days of 2 playoff teams and see the league die.

MLB has the least # and % of teams make its playoff structure than any other pro league. Despite some old people crying about the glory days of 75 years ago, the current structure is just fine.

[BrummerStealsHome]

Get your playoff fever while you can!

Crazy that the team is in the exact same spot 3 months later.

A testament to the mediocrity of wild card baseball. MLB should never have let that horse out of the barn.

The power of TV money and a testament to the mediocrity of many fans.

You know what would be great for the fans? Two teams from each league make the playoffs and 75% of the teams are out of the race by the end of June each year! Fans would be going crazy and watching and caring about their teams more than ever before!

As I noted in an earlier post on this thread, MLB still has the least # and % of teams in its league make the playoffs of any American sport. The setup is fine and keeps fans of most teams engaged throughout most of the season, which is good for the sport.

Hey snarky boy, MLB did really well with the champion from each league playing off in a World Series. It also did pretty well when separated into divisions and only division champions played it off. See the pattern here? A team actually had to win something to get into the playoffs (hence the term to play off). If you can't even finish first in some realistic division in the regular season you have no business playing for a championship. I'd be happy with four divisions and a two round playoff. Even expansion to 32 teams with eight 4-team divisions and three rounds would be better than allowing 2nd and 3rd place teams into the playoffs.

So your argument is that less playoff teams = more overall fan interest throughout the league? Got it.

No American sports league is run your way, but it's just that greedy MLB that's out to get us and ruin everything!

You would 100% kill MLB if you went to 4 divisions and 4 playoff teams. Over half the teams and its fans would have zero reason to care for about half the season. In the year 2026 with so many entertainment options, good luck with selling that. This isn't 1965 any more.

My argument (clearly) is the baseball is better without the wildcard. What other sports leagues do or don't do is completely irrelevant. I think you're an example of the bad fan an earlier poster mentioned. You won't go to a baseball game if the team probably won't make the playoffs? What kind of fan is that? Most fans go the baseball game to see a good baseball game. What may or may not happen in October has no bearing on that.

[Red Bird Classic]

Get your playoff fever while you can!

Crazy that the team is in the exact same spot 3 months later.

A testament to the mediocrity of wild card baseball. MLB should never have let that horse out of the barn.

The power of TV money and a testament to the mediocrity of many fans.

You know what would be great for the fans? Two teams from each league make the playoffs and 75% of the teams are out of the race by the end of June each year! Fans would be going crazy and watching and caring about their teams more than ever before!

As I noted in an earlier post on this thread, MLB still has the least # and % of teams in its league make the playoffs of any American sport. The setup is fine and keeps fans of most teams engaged throughout most of the season, which is good for the sport.

College football's far lower percentage of teams making the playoffs doesn't seem to hurt the sport's popularity with fans.

Baseball fans were fine when they had only 4 teams make the playoffs and also with 8 playoff teams. Additional playoff spots were not needed to keep fans interested but instead to increase profits.

There are many good reasons why baseball isn't like the NBA. Your analogy compares two things to argue they should be treated the same way. But the NBA and MLB are fundamentally different systems: While the NBA plays 82 games, and individual superstar players can dominate. The MLB plays a massive 162-game season specifically designed to let the long-term averages separate the truly great teams from the mediocre ones. Because the mechanics of baseball are different, what is "reasonable" for basketball cannot be copy-pasted onto baseball.

Your reasoning is also illogical.

If NBA decides to have 80% of their teams in the playoffs, this does not mean it's reasonable for baseball to have 75%. Such a claim is a logical fallacy: relative filth-- the idea that just because Bill jumped off a 100 foot tall building, it's okay for Steve to leap from a 50-foot one. Two wrongs do not make a right. Or being less wrong doesn't make Steve's jumping off a 50 foot building right.

So your argument is that if baseball were to roll it back to 4 playoff teams total, the sport would thrive because of it? I disagree.

And to feed off your lecturing of me, what worked 50-75 years ago for baseball doesn't necessarily means it's the best choice now. The world has changed. People have changed. There are so many more entertainment choices for people to make in 2026 as opposed to 1970 or even 1990.

Also, we're not talking about college sports, we're talking about professional sports.

College football, despite the history and connection to schools, is a professional sport, and has been at least since they started openly paying players.

You have presented zero evidence that baseball struggled because it had fewer playoff teams 30, 40, or 50 years ago.

I don't have the numbers here in front of me, but I'll willing to bet that baseball was at least as popular back then as it is today and probably more so. They added more playoffs because TV networks were willing to pay more money for more rounds. That was the reason plain and simple. It had nothing to do with fans losing interest or baseball losing popularity.

I don't really care how many playoff rounds baseball plays. What annoys me is CT fans adopting the idea that just making the playoffs is the goal.

"Get to the playoffs and anything can happen!"

While the statement is technically true, the odds on the last wild card team winning the WS are long. Not understanding this, some fans resist making trades that help the team in the future to preserve a miniscule chance of winning something now.

So is your argument that MLB would be more popular with fans in the year 2026 if playoff spots were eliminated?

I don't know.

In terms of popularity, I don't think it's a major factor one way or the other, but they've let the cash trap out of the bottle and we'll never go back. Instead they'll probably want to add even more playoff teams in the future.

I want to ask you something most people who talk about this never mention. They talk about how any team in the playoffs might win!!! And it's true..

But is that what we really want? To watch a six-month war—162 games, countless pitches, and thousands of exhausting diamond battles debated endlessly by fans—only to see the 12th-best team in the league win the title? A team closer to 20th place than first. A team that simply got lucky at the end. A team that, in years past, wouldn't have even sniffed the playoffs—now standing as champion.

Some people would like to see the team (or at least one of the teams) that won most of those battles -- a team that was consistently great all year long -- win the ring.

If not, where do we stop. Maybe we could have the whole league in the playoffs-play the entire season just for playoff seeding???

It wouldn't happen that first year, or maybe not in a hundred years, but sooner or later one of those bottom 3 or 4 teams is gonna win, a team that couldn't even play .460 baseball during the season take home the ring.

Why are you changing the subject? Are more or less people interested in a team if they have a chance or if they are eliminated from postseason contention?

I want what is healthy for the sport as a whole. I can almost guarantee you that is not having less teams make the playoffs.

Basically what you want is all teams in one big division and then the top team wins the title. Exciting for fans of a handful of teams and 4-5 months of meaningless baseball for the rest. MLB will thrive!

Playoffs in any sport are never the best way to crown the best team. So why then do all American sports have them? I guess it's just because MLB is greedy, right?

It's not just Major League Baseball.

Playoff contests generate far more cash than regular-season games in any sport. Coaches, GMs, and athletic directors all talk about it. There is a financial bonanza waiting in high-stakes playoff expansion—driven by television ratings, spiked ad rates, and millions of eyeballs on screens. It is irresistible to management who prioritize dollars over wins, sportsmanship, player health, or the integrity of the game itself. You can't even watch a game these days without being bombarded by betting ads, even though leagues know (bleep) well that snuggling up to gambling will inevitably corrupt the very sports they manage.

Expanded playoffs is undoubtedly about greed.

[icon]

Some degree of excellence should be required to earn a playoff berth. Mediocre teams (hovering about .500) do not pass that test. Participation trophies are a problem not just in sports, but metaphorically in society writ large.

You should go around to all the pro sports leagues in this country then and show them your proposal. We can go back to the good old days of 2 playoff teams and see the league die.

MLB has the least # and % of teams make its playoff structure than any other pro league. Despite some old people crying about the glory days of 75 years ago, the current structure is just fine.

There is a reason diamonds and gold have great value -- their scarcity. How much value is there in a playoff spot claimed by 15 other teams as per the NHL? Teams should be encouraged to aim higher. And please don't tar me with that broad brush about "glory days." I'd be happy with 3 division winners and 1 or 2 WCs in the current setup. 3 gets you what you have now -- a bunch of mediocre teams trying squeeze into the playoffs. Mediocrity should not be rewarded.

There's a great quote from the Alec Baldwin character in the movie Glengarry Glen Ross in which he's coming down on a group of downtrodden real estate boiler room salesmen. "First prize is a Cadillac Eldorado. Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third prize is you're fired." Yes, hyperbolic, but it makes a point about competition.