Are Divisional Series Too Short?

Bring yourself back to opening night for your favorite Major League Baseball team this season. Where were you? How was your life looking? I'll give you my situation. I remember exactly where I was, because I was waiting all day long for that night game against the New York Yankees. I was in my dorm room at the University of Rhode Island when this baseball season started. On that night, chances are I had absolutely no idea where I'd be going to school the following year. I'd still never owned a pet my entire life. The Boston Bruins were in the midst of a playoff push. Adalius Thomas and Randy Moss were Patriots. Rasheed Wallace was still hated league-wide, but he was helping the Celtics make a run at another NBA title. I don't know about your life and your perspective, but things have changed a hell of a lot since opening night. It's a long season each year for an MLB team. 162 games, never more than one day off at a time. Think about all the things you've done since that night. You may have even had different jobs. You may have introduced a new person to the world, or God forbid, you may have lost someone. But every one of those days that has passed since then, these players have maintained the same task of winning ball games. If you ask me, that's a pretty large investment of time, effort, and passion.

Tonight, the Minnesota Twins opened their eyes and saw their season end. Over four days -- barely enough time to blink an eye on the scale of the entire season -- their magical, promising, meant-to-be journey once again shattered to pieces. 3-0 sweep by the Yankees, and they're on to the ALCS. Now, let's understand one thing first. I obviously hate the Yankees and I obviously wanted the Twins to win. You can bet that I wouldn't be writing this article if the Yankees had been the ones getting swept. But still, I've always kind of wondered this in the back of my mind. Why are the divisional series in the MLB playoffs only a best-of-five format?

Only four teams make the playoffs in each league. Every other sport that uses a series format in the postseason goes with best-of-sevens throughout. Those sports have even more teams competing in that playoff tourney. Why can't baseball just step up to the standard? To me, it's nonsensical to decide a series so quickly after such a long, hard-fought season. Think about 162 games. What does it all mean if your season is ended with the equivalent of a weekend sweep during the regular season? I'm not even saying the better team gets robbed very often. The Yankees would have won this series even if it were a seven-game series. But at least there would be that ray of hope. And most of all -- there's no reason not to. Two extra games in baseball is an additional three days, maximum. Hell, your season is already 162 games long. Why can't you at least give the four teams lucky enough to qualify for the playoffs the luxury of having 7 games to fight it out?

There are a lot of things wrong with Major League Baseball in comparison to the other major sports corporations, but messing up your playoffs (don't even get me started with the missed calls so far this year) is the cardinal sin of any league. The playoffs are your bread and butter. They're the ultimate stage of every season. It's about time the MLB rightens their path.