Boehly is taught a valuable lesson
Todd Boehly had one of the greatest teams in the history of baseball. Actually, he probably still does — but sadly the 2022 los Angeles dodgers can’t be remembered that way. Still, it’s a valuable lesson for us all: this is what can happen if sport is clouded by matches for the sake of it. Chelsea owner Boehly (below) is an advocate of extra fixtures. he proposed the North versus South match between Premier league clubs, maybe an all-star game or two. he quite probably thought it was a good idea, also, when Major league Baseball expanded its post-season play-offs to feature 12 teams this season, rather than eight. The more the merrier is often the American way. Just because you’re mid-table doesn’t mean you don’t get a crack at the trophy. In pure sporting terms, however, it’s been a disaster. In the regular season, which features 162 games for each team and should really be adequate for sorting wheat from chaff, Boehly’s dodgers boasted the fourth-best record in MlB history. They ey won 111 games, losing 51. Now they’re out. Gone. Fallen at stage two of a bloated play-off, after a mini-series of five games against San diego Padres who, with 89 wins, were the fifth-best team in the National league and the 10th overall. Also gone, Atlanta Braves and New york Mets who both won 101 games. ames Instead, playing for the National league title and a place in the World Series will be the Padres and the Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillies won even fewer games than the Padres, just 87, making them the sixth-best team in the National league and the 11th overall.
It will be the first time in a full MlB season that two teams failing to muster 90 wins have contested a league championship final. The dodgers are the first team to have won more than 110 games and not reach the World Series. And it surely isn’t a coincidence that this happens the year the play-offs are bumped to 12. More teams, more random occurrences. The most successful had it all to lose, the wildcards got a free hit. True, that’s any play-off system, even the old one. The last time the bestperforming franchise in the regular season won the World Series was 2018, with the Boston Red Sox. It has only happened 13 times since 1969. yet at least league titles and the Fall Classic — as the World Series is known — get decided over seven matches.
To lose the mighty dodgers in just five cheapens the entire process. one wonders what Boehly thinks of play-offs and additional fixtures now. In sport, less is sometimes more.