If you are a sports fan, then you live for intense and heart stopping moments. Playoff baseball represents these feelings in the best way. With the declining popularity of baseball over the past decade, the MLB has been well underappreciated. What is more frustrating as both a baseball fan, and a sports fan, is how neglected the MLB postseason is. Out of the four major sports in the United States (football, basketball, baseball and hockey), baseball has the best postseason, and here’s why.
As many know, regular season baseball can feel prolonged, at many times boring. With 162 games, it’s hard to follow the success of a team, game by game. NFL teams play only 16 regular seasons games, and in the NBA and NHL, there are only 82 games in each regular season (which seems like a lot, but is only half of that of the MLB regular season). Unless you’re a religious baseball fan, it’s nearly impossible to watch every single game of your favorite team, unless that team happens to be the Orioles or the Nationals. However, this grueling regular season is imperative for having an intense playoff atmosphere, where series are short, and every game holds high significance.
The MLB playoffs start with the Wild Card game: a win or go home scenario in which one team advances to the Divisional Round, and the other team’s season comes to an abrupt end. A recent example of Wild Card game greatness was played out between the Chicago Cubs and the Colorado Rockies. It was a 2-1 victory for the Rockies, an intense thirteen inning battle in which Colorado shocked the Cubs on the road. This excitement never ceases at the Wild Card game. Each round of the playoffs offers an enticing match-up in which the slow pace of the game adds to the suspense and meaning of each play.
A play that fully encompasses this excitement is from 2012: Game 4 of the National League Divisional Series (NLDS) between the Washington Nationals and the St. Louis Cardinals. It was the ninth inning, and the Nationals were facing elimination. With two outs, the game was tied 1-1 when Nationals outfielder Jayson Werth came to the plate. Werth, who was batting 0 for 3 at the time, approached the plate and began to work. After two called strikes, three balls and seven foul balls, Werth finally smashed a home-run ball to left field to win the game, and saved the Nationals season.
The MLB postseason is loaded with games similar to that of the 2012 NLDS. Each game, each inning and each pitch are uniquely suspenseful, providing fun and dramatic live entertainment. 2018 looks primed to be another exciting postseason of baseball.
