Here’s today’s question.
Why do we watch the regular season in any sport?
Answer: Because it’s entertaining, live unscripted drama.
Here’s another question.
Do we watch the games to find out who the best teams are?
Answer: Apparently not, because the teams that wind up with the best record hardly ever emerge as champions.
That’s been the trend and we’re seeing it evolve before our very eyes.
How about the Major League Baseball playoffs?
In baseball, everyone knows that any team, even the worst in the league can win a short series.
But this year’s post session baseball derby has been ridiculous.
Take the National League, where the LA Dodgers romped by 22 games over the San Diego Padres in the NL West, winning a club-record 111 games, saying plenty for a team that has been dominant in the sport so many times.
Yet the Padres ousted the Dodgers 3 games to 1 in their playoff series.
The St. Louis Cardinals took the Central by 7. But they’re out as well.
And the Braves edged the Mets in a tie-breaker after both clubs won 101 games.
They wound up 14 ahead of the Phillies.
Both the Braves and Mets are gone.
So, the Padres and Phillies are battling to see who advances to the 2022 World Series.
The winner will face the survivor in the AL.
The Houston Astros, with 106 wins are still alive as the best in their league.
As of this writing, the NY Yankees and Cleveland Guardians were playing a deciding game to move on to a series with the Astros.
In this day and age in sports the name of the game is making the playoffs.
Just get in.
And go from there.
We’re seeing it every year.
Last season, the Tampa Bay Rays and the San Francisco Giants were baseball’s best in the regular campaign. But the Atlanta Braves won it all.
This season, the top ranking teams in the NBA were the Phoenix Suns and Miami Heat.
The Warriors beat the Celtics in the NBA Finals.
In the NFL, we’ve known for years that just earning a spot in post-season is enough to contend for the Super Bowl.
The Rams beat the Bengals to win last year.
Neither team was the top-seed in their conference playoffs.
So, what does it all mean?
It may be too simple to say that the teams who are hot at the end usually carry it over to the critical games leading to and including the championship.
Often we’ve seen those teams with supposed momentum stumble.
And out they go.
My view is that when teams play, it’s all about that particular day.
What transpires on that particular day is about execution, breaks, the ability to take advantage of opportunities, and the flow of the action.
I thought of that last weekend when the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs squared off in Arrowhead Stadium.
They engaged in a memorable struggle in last season’s AFC playoffs, with the Chiefs outlasting they Bills in overtime.
This time, Buffalo struck last and won 24-20.
In my mind, these were the best two teams in the NFL.
Only one of them will reach the Super Bowl……..but there’s no guarantee of that either.
Past performance is irrelevant.
It’s what you do “today” that counts.
Last Sunday’s battle could have gone either way.
That’s the case in most contests pairing evenly-matched teams.
Sometimes, a team opens up a big lead due to turnovers and other breaks.
The team that is trailing has to take more chances than it would like.
They backfire, and the score gets bigger.
The result appears to be a blowout, but often it’s deceiving.
A few plays here and there usually make the difference.
How about that thrilling college football showdown Saturday, when Tennessee finally beat Alabama after 15 years of Crimson Tide dominance?
The final score was 52-49.
It could have gone either way, yes, but the Vols were better that day.
To declare one team better than another, except when it’s an obvious situation, is not always accurate.
Back to the NFL,I don’t think the Pittsburgh Steelers are better than the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
But the Steelers beat them.
The Green Bay Packers look like they have lost their MoJo.
That’s after six weeks. The season is 18 weeks. Then, the post-season.
The Philadelphia Eagles are the only unbeaten team in the league.
That’s after six weeks. The season is 18. The playoffs follow.
I’m not saying the picture will definitely change for either the Pack or the Eagles. I’m saying there’s a lot of time.
The way I’ve always seen it, is that the true excitement of watching sports is that we are witnesses to the unfolding of live human drama, revealing how players respond to various circumstances.
Is there anything better?
It becomes more dramatic as teams who did not contend in the regular season edge their way into a post-season tournament, and can then win a championship by putting it all together.
Many, many, many years ago, there were fewer teams in the playoffs.
In fact, fewer teams period.
Believe it or not, in baseball, and the NFL, the teams that finished first played for the championship.
That was it.
It’s all changed.
The multitude of teams in every league, and the fact that more games equal more money for the owners, the playoffs are IT!
So, enjoy the regular season. The games are entertaining and fun to watch.
But expect the unexpected when the playoffs arrive.
For MLB, they have.
And the Philadelphia Phillies, or the San Diego Padres will be playing in the World Series.
During the season I’ll bet the players and their fans didn’t think they had a prayer.
But here they are.
All they’ve done is earn it.