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Early postseason exits by the Baltimore Orioles and Los Angeles Dodgers, who mixed for over 200 regular-season wins, have not led MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred to query the league’s playoff format.
“It has been two years,” Manfred mentioned, per the Washington Submit‘s Chelsea Janes.
The 12-team postseason instituted in 2022 leaves high seeds with a first-round bye, necessitating a five-day break between the tip of the common season and the playoffs for groups just like the NL’s No. 2-seeded Dodgers and the AL’s No. 1-seeded Orioles.
Chelsea Janes @chelsea_janes
Rob Manfred mentioned he does not have main considerations in regards to the playoff format as a result of “it has been two years.” Identified that a few of the high seeds who had misplaced had different contributing components past the five-day layoff.
Manfred famous that any adjustments to this format would have to be collectively bargained. The league’s present CBA is about to run out on December 1, 2026.
Chelsea Janes @chelsea_janes
However he did say he expects that if each league and union determine they need a change earlier than that, union can be receptive to the dialog. Mentioned either side are normally very keen to speak about issues that make aggressive product higher. Once more, he’s not saying that is coming.
That is the second 12 months in a row the Dodgers have been knocked out of the postseason following the first-round bye. After struggling a 3-1 NLDS loss to the San Diego Padres in 2022, the Dodgers had been swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks Wednesday.
Supervisor Dave Roberts had mentioned the five-day break as an impediment for the Dodgers, however a superb factor for the league, previous to the postseason.
“It is exhausting,” Roberts mentioned in regards to the upcoming bye on the tail finish of the common season, per the Los Angeles Occasions‘ Jack Harris. “5 days is completely different than what we’re used to. The All-Star break is three, perhaps 4 days, and that is lengthy. The format works for baseball. The fanfare, the groups concerned, it is nice for baseball. However while you’re residing it, it is an adjustment.”
This wasn’t the primary time in recent times a dominant regular-season Dodgers group has suffered a shock first-round loss. The 2019 Dodgers, who received 106 video games within the common season, had been eradicated by a 3-2 division sequence loss to the Washington Nationals.
There are many causes to select as to why the Dodgers misplaced in 2023, with the obvious being an absence of pitching attributable to the absences of 4 starters and reliance on a struggling Clayton Kershaw.
However the simultaneous sweep of Orioles by the Texas Rangers, in addition to the sequence deficit confronted by the title favourite Atlanta Braves to the Philadelphia Phillies, will name consideration to the league’s playoff format and the way it impacts these high groups. It stays to be seen if that shall be sufficient to name for a CBA replace over the subsequent three years.
