Have MLB’s revamped playoffs made the baseball season an unfair mockery?

Do you accept the results of the 2022 playoffs? This is not some obtuse political metaphor, it’s a conversation being had in some circles after three teams that won more than 100 games in the regular season fell to theoretically inferior squads in the first two rounds of the playoffs. It’s one heck of a debut for baseball’s brand-new postseason format that strikes many fans, particular of those eliminated teams, as essentially unfair.

MLB’s new playoff system is a train wreck. Division winners like the Dodgers, Braves, Cardinals, and Yankees should only be driven from the playoffs after losing a best-of-seven series. ALREADY OUTDodgers— 111 winsBraves— 101 winsMets— 101 wins

It started with the 101-win New York Mets, who didn’t even make the National League Division Series. Forced to play the San Diego Padres in a newly established three-game Wild Card series, the Mets managed to win just a single playoff game. The Atlanta Braves, despite earning a bye after just beating the Mets to the NL East title, didn’t fare much better. They managed to eke out the same number of postseason victories as the Mets, losing 3-1 in the NLDS to the Philadelphia Phillies, who finished 14 games below both teams in the NL East standings.

Yet even these flameouts don’t compare against the plight of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who wrapped up a 111-51 regular season (the fourth-highest total in MLB history) that placed them as the top seed in the National League. On a rare rain-drenched Saturday night in San Diego, the Padres pulled off a stunning come-from-behind victory over their heavily-favored foes to complete a 3-1 NLDS win. That’s the same Padres who finished 22 games behind the Dodgers in the NL West. In just four playoffs games, the