Let's Check In on the Playoff Races

We are a small but passionate group, I would guess, those of us baseball fans who prefer pennant races to playoffs. We have been outvoted, to be sure, and I imagine the number of playoff teams will only continue to grow.

But, whew, for some of us, there is nothing in sports like a great pennant race.

As a reminder:

• From dawn of baseball to 1968: Two teams made the postseason.

• From 1969 to 1993: Four teams made the playoffs (with the exception of the strike year).

• From 1995 to 2011: Eight teams made the playoffs.

• From 2012 to 2021: Ten teams made the playoffs (with the exception of the COVID year).

• 2022-: Twelve teams make the playoffs.

This not-so-subtle shift has entirely changed the character of baseball; the game now is not about GETTING to the postseason but about WINNING in the postseason. This shift gives us a marvelous free-for-all in October and gives us must-win game after must-win game … and, at the same time, it makes Augusts and Septembers considerably less fun and important. I would guess most people are happy with that tradeoff. We are a playoff nation.

And I feel like a party pooper for saying that I preferred it the other way … but I did. There’s a wonderful shape and rhythm to a pennant race that I miss. A pennant race is like a book that stays with you. A playoff series is like a movie made from that book — it may be good and it may be thrilling but it can’t be as rich and engrossing and absorbing.

Or anyway, that’s what an old guy thinks.

But enough yelling at clouds. We’re entering September now, and so let’s look at what we have in each division:

American League East

— Pennant race: Baltimore has a 2½ game lead over Tampa Bay

— Playoff contenders: Orioles and Rays are in, they have the two best records in the league. The Blue Jays are 3½ games out of the last wild-card spot and, frankly, fading.

— Out of the playoffs: I guess the Red Sox are not technically out (they’re 6½ back) but, yeah, they’re out. The Yankees are having their first truly disastrous season in more than 30 years.

What to watch: