This World Series could be earth-shattering for Dodgers fans. The National League is represented by the Philadelphia Phillies, a team that has won 24 fewer games than the Dodgers. The Phillies are a third-place team that achieved something they didn’t have last year: 12th and last place of the postseason.
“I don’t see it as a third place team,” union chief Tony Clark said Friday. “I see as if two of the teams that play the best baseball to reach the playoffs are playing in the World Series.”
If the Phillies win the World Series, their 87 regular season wins wouldn’t be the lowest point for a full-season champion. The 2006 St. Louis Cardinals won 83 games and then won the World Series.
Under the new collective bargaining agreement, the union and the owners have decided to expand the field from 10 to 12 teams after the season. The union opposed the request of the owners of 14 teams.
The owners resisted the union’s request to resow after the wildcard round and a seven-game divisional streak, a format that would mean the Dodgers would play for the Phillies instead of the San Diego Padres.
Commissioner Rob Manfred said he still believes in the merits of a 14-team pitch. Clark said the union would look into all proposals, but suggested that more teams could jeopardize what he called “the sanctity of playing the playoffs” and “the integrity of the regular season.”
Clark said: “Right now, 12 is about what we want to go.”
What would Clark Dodgers fans say, frustrated by the new post-season format?
“I think every baseball fan knows that sometimes the ball bounces weird, whether it’s a short or long streak,” he said. “Obviously the baseball played in Los Angeles this year was fantastic. The ball bounced hilariously for them this postseason.
