How expanded playoff plan might affect Giants, A’s
The A’s have exactly nothing to show for their backtoback fruitful regular seasons. They won 97 games in both 2018 and 2019, grinding through 162game, sixmonth schedules only to have their seasons come crashing down.
In a matter of hours. To be exact, 3:25 in 2018 and 3:18 in 2019.
That is the drawback of a winorgohome wildcard game. Both times, the A’s went home.
These scenarios wouldn’t unfold if Major League Baseball gets its proposed playoff format, which would include seven teams in each league (instead of five) and allow wildcard teams to play a bestofthree series.
The Giants? Well, maybe contending wouldn’t be as unrealistic as it appears now. Last year, the seventhbest National League team, the Diamondbacks, won 85 games. The seventh best in the American League, the Red Sox, won 84.
That number shouldn’t be out of reach for any team capable of .500 ball into August. Last year, the Giants were a .500 team as late as Aug. 25. In 2018, they were .500 entering September.
These changes would come no sooner than 2022 when the Giants should be benefiting from their current rebuild, when Joey Bart, Heliot Ramos, Marco Luciano and the gang usher in the next era — and when Jesus Luzardo and A.J. Puk could be highlighting a dynamic A’s rotation.
The format would need approval from the players’ union. The current collective bargaining agreement runs through the 2021 season, and the union has complained that teams curtail spending, refuse to be all in on winning and, in too many cases, tank during their rebuilds.
Playoff expansion could be sold as a deterrent to tanking because more teams would (should) be more interested in competing, which means a better product, spiked attendance and perhaps a new wave of fans.
The plan would include a televised selection show in which the top seeds in each league get a firstround bye — with the second and third seeds choosing their firstround foes — and perhaps a more balanced season schedule and universal designated hitter, a bummer from this corner.
Two years from now, it’s anyone’s guess which teams the format would benefit, but for the here and now, the Giants and A’s probably wouldn’t mind such a setup.