The 2022 season has already begun. This season, there are several changes such as universal DH and nine-inning doubleheaders. Additionally, the playoff format has changed as well. This year, there will be 12 playoff teams.
So, there will be 6 playoff teams in each league this year. And, I’m just wondering whether there’s something interesting in this new format.
At first, let’s see what playoffs would have looked like under this new format in recent years.
Looking back at the 2021 season, the Toronto Blue Jays won 91 games and lost 71 times. They finished 4th in the AL East and didn’t clinch a playoff spot as they did in 2020. Additionally, the Cincinnati Reds finished the 2021 season with 83 wins and 79 losses. The Reds were in the 3rd place in the NL Central in 2021. However, if using the 12-team format, the Blue Jays and the Reds would have played in the postseason.
In addition, by applying this new format, I found something even more interesting.
There were 3 teams with 100+ wins in the 2021 season. However, back in 2014, no MLB teams had won at least 100 wins. The Los Angeles Angels finished 2014 with the best record in all of Major League Baseball. During the regular season, the Angels won 98 games. Moreover, the Orioles and the Tigers each won 90+ games in 2014. In the National League, the Nationals finished the season with the best record. Meanwhile, the Dodgers won 94 games and the Cardinals earned 90 wins.
At the same time, a very interesting thing is that the Mariners won 87 games in 2014 and finished 3rd in the AL West. If using the 12-team format, the Mariners would have clinched a playoff spot in 2014.
It’s the very beginning of the 2022 season and it’s still way too early to say which team will clinch a playoff spot. However, one more team is one more opportunity. The Seattle Mariners haven’t been in the postseason since 2001, which is the longest playoff drought in baseball now. They signed the 2021 AL Cy Young winner Robbie Ray and tried to enhance pitching depth. The Mariners won 90 games in 2021 and it’ll be worth watching whether they can win even more games or clinch a playoff spot in 2022. Furthermore, Mike Trout has only played in the postseason once so far in his career and Shohei Ohtani has never appeared in the postseason since he joined the Angels. Will the Angels benefit from this new format? Perhaps, we will see Trout and Ohtani play in this postseason.
Finally, in the new format, the third seed (lowest-seeded division winner) will host the sixth seed (third Wild Card team) for a three-game series, and the same with the fourth seed (top Wild Card team) hosting the fifth seed (second Wild Card team). The New York Mets have Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom in the rotation, well, two best pitchers in the MLB, playing against the Mets in the wild card round might not be easy.
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