There’s Almost No Such Thing as an Upset in the 2024 MLB Playoffs

AP Images/Ringer illustration The postseason's inherent randomness hasn't changed, but the strength of the teams at the top of the field has. Welcome to baseball's parity playoffs, which are even more of a crapshoot than usual. Ever since 2012, when MLB wild-card winners first faced off for the privilege of advancing to the division series, the early days of the sport's October tournament have been a bit of a guilty pleasure. On the one hand, the stakes in a single-elimination matchup, or even a best-of-three series, are so high that every pitch is important. On the other hand, sending a team home after one or two losses feels more than a tad premature, given the 162 games it takes to get there. Deciding clubs' playoff fortunes that quickly—in an era when October results have come to define fans' perceptions of success—feels foreign to baseball, which is both the most tantalizing and the most dismaying thing about this blink-and-you'll-be-eliminated stage. In a sense, though, this year's playoffs offer the best of both worlds: all the pleasure of the baseball bacchanal, without the hellacious hangover. The back-to-back, all-day four-game frenzies that kicked off the postseason...