What happened to all that whining about how unfair the new playoff format is?

Remember how the teams that earned a bye in the Wildcard round were put in such a disadvantage because they had to sit out and get cold and it wasn’t fair?

This year, three of the four top teams are still standing. The two teams with the most wins in the American League, the Yankees (94) and the Guardians (92) face off in the American League Championship Series. And the team with the most wins in the National League, the Dodgers (96), is playing for the N.L. pennant. Only the 95-win Phillies was unable to join the winners party, being knocked off by an 89-win team in the Mets.

One of the beauties of this new format is a team can start slowly, make some adjustments, and still make the playoffs, which is what the Mets did. They deserve to be here as much as the Phillies who, if they really wanted to still be playing, should have won two more games against the Mets.

Even better is the notion that three of the four teams are in the two biggest media markets. A Yankees-Mets or Yankees-Dodgers World Series would be a real ratings bonanza, and that can only be good for baseball.

Cleveland will do everything it can to spoil that. 

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TODAY’S GAME: 

7:15, New York 0 @ Los Angeles 0, FOX