Dodgers win Division by 22 games but it comes down to 5 games
 

The Los Angeles Dodgers had a record of 111–51 play the
San Diego Padres who had a record of 89–73.

The Dodgers won the Division by 22 games but after 162 games, it comes down to a best of 5 playoff.

Not sure if there is a solution but it seems a bit unfair. The only advantage is that the Dodgers have 3 home games and Padres have 2.

Well it's the same in everysport's playoffs. Dodgers SHOULD win, but.... that's why they play.

That is how professional sports are played today. That way more fans stay interested in their teams down the stretch.

Or do you like the good old days win your league and go right to world series?

I recall some teams going all the way to the World Series even though they did not have best records.

The Biggest MLB Long Shots to Win the World Series Since 2000 | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors | Bleacher Report

I lived in Minneapolis from 1986 to late 1991 and remember the Twins' wins. Minnesota Twins - Wikipedia

SD playing very well right now. They easily took care of the Metamucils. Meanwhile, LA has been off for a week. Gonna be a good series, but LA is really loaded. They have to be the favorite to go all the way.

For game 1 LA is -225.

How about like they do in the golf FedEx playoffs? The player with the most points during the year starts the tournament at 10 under par; player with the second most points starts at 8 under, etc.

We should be able to do that in baseball. You should get some advantage for playing well all year - except for a one game home advantage.

If your regular season record has you 10 games up on the opponent, the opponent has to win one more game (for a best two out of three series, the team that is 10 back or more during the regular series would have to win 3 games instead of 2). In the case of the Mets, they would have to win 2 and the Padres would have to win 3 games to move on since the Mets regular season record has them 12 games ahead of the Padres.

This would apply to the playoffs but not to the World Series - that is best out of 7 no matter the regular season record.

There's no crying in boston, err baseball
 

exactly right. Time to put your big boy pants on imho

like good old days

Bye
 

Dodgers did get an advantage in that they had a bye while Padres had to play 3 games and use pitchers while LA is well rested. Are you going to complain when the warm city teams have to play in World Series in New York(hopefully) and it's 40 degrees?

Dodgers
 

If my Dodgers don't win in a sweep, then they could be in trouble. GO DODGERS!!!

Oh man, both California teams!

You "remember the Twins" winning - do you recall also the scandal of the air conditioning blowers being turned on and off depending on which team was at bat?

go padres!!

Had not heard that. Ericson admits to adjusting ventilation system

The first game of the World Series starts on Friday, October 28, 2022.

The last real World Series (before they started adding all of the extra playoff games) was the 1968 World Series - won by Detroit in seven games. The seventh game was on October 10, 1968.

If it goes seven games this year, it will be played on November 5, 2022.

Unless it is in a northern city that gets an early blizzard

Yes, go Padras!

This year, MLB teams played 20 interleague games.

Next year, teams will play 46 interleague games.

Do not understand why they want to have less rivalry games

The good teams raise to the challenge when it counts the most.

I’m those good old days there were fewer teams and no divisions.

Here is an article that says since 1969 - when playoffs started - only 12 teams with the best record have gone on to win the World Series.

Since the article - which is from 2018, you can add the Red Sox in 2018 and the Dodgers in 2020.

In 2019, the Nationals, a wildcard team with a record of 93-69, won the World Series.
In 2021, the Atlanta Braves, who would have finished 19 games behind the Giants, won the World Series.

How many teams with season's best record won the World Series? - Sports Illustrated

The only way to change that is to get rid of the divisions and have every team play the same schedule. As it is, there is no way to tell if the team with the best record is actually the best team. It possible that a team with a worse record has played better teams. If a team is in a division with a lot of weak teams, they might have a better record because they played a lot of weak opponents.

As an outsider the way I see it, it all comes down to $$$$ keep them playing as long as possible to keep the. $$$$ flowing.

Money
 

With many 100 million dollar player contracts it has to be about the money. Bingo! Poor families can’t afford to see a game in person without a benevolent gift of tickets.

In a 5 or even a 7 game series anything can happen. Ace starting pitcher can go 3 games and take it all even with a weak overall team

Unless the Braves and Dodgers win two in a row, we will have the Padres and the Phillies in the National League Championship Series - and one of them in the World Series. Of the six teams that made the NL playoffs, they were the two worst teams.

Dodgers 111-51
Braves 101-61
Cardinals 93-69

Mets 101-61
Padres 89-73
Phillies 87-75

I've used the various on-line resellers of tickets to buy "same day" Nationals game tickets very reasonably...

15-20 rows behind the 3rd base dugout for $20...

Outfield and upper deck tix even cheaper...

Happens in all sports. Always thought baseball should have 7 game series in this round but they don’t. One more win for SD and it is by by LA.

Absolutely true.

But it's also true that during the season a lesser team may catch a better team when their better team's star player is out injured or in a slump. Or it could be that their ace has a bad outing. Then there's the fact that some teams peak early and go into a slump at the end of the season and another team that hasn't played all that well suddenly surges toward the end of the season and through the playoffs.

As I said, the only way to have solve the problem is to have no divisions and to have every team in the league play the same opponents the same number of time at home and away. But even that would be perfection because of factors that I just mentioned.

The bottom line is that none of this is going to happen. As B-Flat says, it's all about money. The league and the owners want to have as many games as possible. They want fans of as many teams as possible to think that their team has a chance. That's why there are divisions and that's why the regular season has been lengthened. That's why there are more teams in the playoffs and that's why there are more playoffs games.

The same thing is happening in the NFL with only four teams in each division and now the season being lengthened to seventeen games. I suspect that we'll see eighteen games soon.

The other thing about that has changed is that although the Dodgers won their division by 22 games, there are only four other teams in their division. Three of those teams have a .500 record or worse. Before expansion you had to beat more teams to win the pennant and all of the teams in each leagued played the same opponents the same number of times at home and away.

We live in a different era now. Nothing in sports is that same as it used to be. Was it better back then? It was certainly simpler. It seems that it might have been more equitable but was it as entertaining? I think everyone has to decide for themselves.

But think about this. For most of the people that are alive today, this is the way sports has always been. They simply accept it as it is and are happy to follow their favorite team.

As for me, I root for two baseball teams, The Red Sox and whoever is playing The Yankees. :)

And the Padres play the Phillies for the National League Championship.

I wonder if having the two worst teams in the NLC will hurt the television ratings.

Two worst teams in the the NLC? They beat the other teams.

As I've said, you can't always judge which is the better team by their regular season record. Some teams play weaker schedules than others. Some teams peak early and some peak late. There are many factors on determining which is the better team.

Usually, only the majority of people that watch the LCS and the World Series are fans of the teams that are involved. I'm from Boston and unless the Red Sox are in, I couldn't care less. If you're from L.A. you probably won't be watching any longer.

True baseball fans do exist but they are few and far between. It's not like the Super Bowl. It was at one time, but those days like a league without divisions are gone. High school kids no longer ask to bring transistor radios to school to keep track of the World Series between classes.

Six teams made the National League playoffs. Of those six teams, the team with the worst record is in the World Series. The Phillies had a regular season record of 87-75. That is just the team I wanted to see in the World Series.

At least the American League has the teams with the best regular season record in the ALCS - New York and Houston.

Watching World Series.

The Astros are playing the Phillies. According to the regular season records, the Astros (106-56) finished 19 games ahead of the Phillies (87-75).

The 19-win disparity between the teams is the largest among World Series participants since 1906, when the 93-win Chicago White Sox stunned the Chicago Cubs, who won a major league record 116 games.

In a short series anything can and will happen

The Phillies now lead 2 games to 1 in the World Series. They were the last team to qualify for the expanded playoffs this year. Last year 10 teams qualified - this year 12 teams qualified.

Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said “And I was a fan of expanded playoffs. They’re good for the game of baseball.”'

If expanded playoffs are good for the game, should we keep expanding them? We should have every team with a regular season record above .500 in the playoffs. This year, twelve teams qualified for the playoffs. However, there were 14 teams that finished above .500 - the Orioles and the Brewers missed out. (Two teams finished at .500.) Adding teams that finished above .500 would only add two more teams to the 12 teams that qualified this year - and it is "good for the game."

Makes 0 sense to me. Play 162 games and then need to win a series of 5. In other words teams need to concentrate on 5 of the 167 games that they play to get to the playoffs or 5/167 games which is .0059. Season is too long. Remenber Mr. October, Reggie Jackson?