Wild Card Round - Game Times

[Gwreck]

With 4 games scheduled for both Friday and Saturday, game times are going to be an interesting consideration. These of course haven't been announced yet (and won't be until matchups are final).



The good news is that between the New York TV market and a west coast opponent, the Mets are unlikely to get one of the crappy afternoon slots.



Expected matchups (ordered roughly in expected start order):



TB at CLE

PHI/MIL at STL

SEA at TOR

SD at NYM (most likely to get a primetime slot).

[bmfc1]

I checked the message board for 506.com and found this:

1, 4, and 8 for ESPN Friday; 2 for ABC Friday;

4 and 7:30 for ESPN Saturday; noon and 8:30 for ESPN2 Saturday;

1, 4, and 8 for ESPN Sunday; 2 for ABC Sunday.



For Friday, I'm GUESSING that 1 PM: TB@CLE; 2 PM PHI@STL (w/Kay and A. Rodriguez!!!); 4 PM SEA@TOR; and, 8 PM SD @NYM.

And then 7:30 on Saturday for the Mets.

[Ceetar]

Mets guaranteed 2 home games either way, and actually there are more potential home games via this path. Cohen must be happy.

[duan]

=Gwreck post_id=109732 time=1664770522 user_id=56]
.



The good news is that between the New York TV market and a west coast opponent, the Mets are unlikely to get one of the crappy afternoon slots.

[Gwreck]

=Ceetar post_id=109754 time=1664807234 user_id=102]Mets guaranteed 2 home games either way, and actually there are more potential home games via this path. Cohen must be happy.

[Ceetar]

it's the same amount of home games, what do you mean? one playoff game is worth like what, dozens of regular season games, plus you only have to pay the employees once.



plus 50-60 a car. Teams make bank on playoff games. They don't particularly care about regular season games though. most of that revenue comes from TV and such. But what's the average ticket price? 150? two WC home games is like $12m just in ticket sales.

[Gwreck]

Again, the majority of the money from playoff ticket sales does to the Players' pool, not ownership.



The Mets and Cohen would be much happier as division winners with better odds of going deep into the playoffs, full stop. The benefits they reap from that are far greater than a couple extra games' worth of parking and concession revenue.

[Ceetar]

Again, the majority of the money from playoff ticket sales does to the Players' pool, not ownership. The Mets and Cohen would be much happier as division winners with better odds of going deep into the playoffs, full stop. The benefits they reap from that are far greater than a couple extra games' worth of parking and concession revenue.

there's value in winning the World Series, sure, but i'm not sure there is a meaningful difference otherwise. The difference between losing in the NLDS and the NLCS for instance, is probably negligible in terms of 2023 projected attendance and advertising pitches. particularly if you let certain stars walk. This is why so many, most, teams are happy to just coast in, add playoff teams, not go big at the deadline, play the "this is a value move for the long term!" line for draft pick failures.



I don't think the majority of the revenue goes into the "players pool", you have a source for that?

[Gwreck]

Article X, Section A of the MLBPA Basic Agreement. Players pool is 60% of the gate for all guaranteed DS/LCS/WS games, plus 50% of gate for the the WC games.



There is also a guaranteed minimum provision that goes up if ticket prices go up.



(Note that this is from the 2017-21 Basic Agreement; I don't think the new CBA is publicly available).

[Edgy MD]

I find it very hard to believe that the league would add this extra round of playoffs, along with four byes, while creating a situation where the bye would be less profitable for the teams that attain them.



I believe the league routinely overlooks the unintended on-field consequences of the new rules they impose. I don't believe they overlook who gets the money.

[Ceetar]

net-more games. over all, you make the playoffs more, more games. And now there's that failsafe, which the Mets are using this year, of still getting 2+ home games but not winning the division, where previously Maybe it's 1 depending on record. And of course the residual boost of ticket sales for more teams still being "in it" and the associated TV revenue of more televised relevant games. I mean, that's most of it. They were pretty crystal clear that they were adding teams because someone was giving them money to air them. They were going to go further too, for even more money, if i recall, but i think the playoffs vetoed 14? for now.



Plus it makes the NLDS a "second round" meaning you can charge second round prices.

[Gwreck]

Plus it makes the NLDS a "second round" meaning you can charge second round prices.

Ticket prices are the same for WC and NLDS games.

[Benjamin Grimm]

MLB's site has the postseason schedule updated with the Wild Card matchups, but all game times are still listed as TBD. I expect that we'll find out today who plays when.

[Gwreck]

Confirmed:



Friday 8:07 PM

Saturday 7:37 PM

Sunday: 7:37 PM (if necessary)



If Tampa/Cleveland series ends in 2 games AND the Phillies/Cardinals series goes 3 games, the Sunday game shifts to 4 PM.

[Benjamin Grimm]

If the Cleveland vs Tampa series ends in two games, and all other series are still going, then Sunday's Mets Padres game will move to 4 pm.

[Edgy MD]

I'm glad I could never hope to afford post-season tickets, because late time-changes like that for TV would drive me up a wall and probably end my marriage.

[stevejrogers]

Granted after last weekend I would not be filled with as much Kahnfidence as I'd hope to have in an NLCS matchup, but are 163rd games a thing of the past, or only if the loser goes home (ie if the Phillies and Brewers wound up flat footed tonight)?



Granted they have to cram three games into three days, and two across the country flights in a situation like the Mets vs Padres would be no bueno, but it is a little interesting that the lower seed has no home games.

[Benjamin Grimm]

There are no Game 163s under any circumstances. A team can indeed miss the postseason due to an off-field tiebreaker.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Granted after last weekend I would not be filled with as much Kahnfidence as I'd hope to have in an NLCS matchup, but are 163rd games a thing of the past, or only if the loser goes home (ie if the Phillies and Brewers wound up flat footed tonight)?

I have no idea what your parenthetical i.e. or "loser goes home" means, but there are no more regular season 163rd games. Every regular season tie with playoff consequences is now broken by pre determined mathematical formulas.

[stevejrogers]

Granted after last weekend I would not be filled with as much Kahnfidence as I'd hope to have in an NLCS matchup, but are 163rd games a thing of the past, or only if the loser goes home (ie if the Phillies and Brewers wound up flat footed tonight)? I have no idea what your parenthetical i.e. or "loser goes home" means, but there are no more regular season 163rd games. Every regular season tie with playoff consequences is now broken by pre determined mathematical formulas.

Under last season's rules, had the Phillies and Brewers finished with the same record, the loser would not have gone into the postseason.



In the case of the Mets and Braves, the loser would still have entered the postseason as the top seeded Wild Card team.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Granted after last weekend I would not be filled with as much Kahnfidence as I'd hope to have in an NLCS matchup, but are 163rd games a thing of the past, or only if the loser goes home (ie if the Phillies and Brewers wound up flat footed tonight)? I have no idea what your parenthetical i.e. or "loser goes home" means, but there are no more regular season 163rd games. Every regular season tie with playoff consequences is now broken by pre determined mathematical formulas. Under last season's rules, had the Phillies and Brewers finished with the same record, the loser would not have gone into the postseason. In the case of the Mets and Braves, the loser would still have entered the postseason as the top seeded Wild Card team.

Who, between the Phillies and Brewersz would be the loser? Loser of what? You seem to be saying that if the Brewers and Phils end up tied, one of those teams is a loser (of something, what, I dunno) and goes home. So if one of those teams goes home, there's no need for a tiebreaker game. So why do you ask if there's gonna be a tiebreaker if one of those teams goes home?

Edited October 5, 2022 by Guest

[Benjamin Grimm]

Under last seasons' rules, if the Phillies and Brewers had finished tied for the last Wild Card spot, they would have had to play a Game 163, and the loser would have gone home.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Under last seasons' rules, if the Phillies and Brewers had finished tied for the last Wild Card spot, they would have had to play a Game 163, and the loser would have gone home.

This makes sense. Rogers wrote it up as if the going home part happens before the 163rd game.

Plus, the loser always goes home after a tiebreaker. So it also makes no sense to ask if the tiebreaker applies only if the loser goes home, either.

[batmagadanleadoff]

I I think I figured out what Rogers was trying to ask. I think he meant to ask if there'd be a tiebreaker game to settle a two-way tie, implying that three-way ties would take too many days to resolve and so, accepting that three-way ties would be broken by formula.

[Benjamin Grimm]

No, I think he was asking if there would be a Game 163 if one of the two teams, unlike with the Mets and the Braves, wasn't already guaranteed a playoff spot anyway. And the answer is no.

[Gwreck]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: If the Cleveland vs Tampa series ends in two games, and all other series are still going, then Sunday's Mets Padres game will move to 4 pm.

I don't think this is quite right. If, for example, the Tampa/Cleveland AND Seattle/Toronto series both end in two games (but not Philadelphia/St. Louis), the Mets game still moves to 4 PM.



Put another way, the game moves if:

(1) Tampa/Cleveland ends in two games AND

(2) Philadelphia/St. Louis goes 3.



The full scenario list is out there via Twitter, eg.

[Ceetar]

=Gwreck post_id=110024 time=1664989494 user_id=56]
Confirmed:



Friday 8:07 PM

Saturday 7:37 PM

Sunday: 7:37 PM (if necessary)



If Tampa/Cleveland series ends in 2 games AND the Phillies/Cardinals series goes 3 games, the Sunday game shifts to 4 PM.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: No, I think he was asking if there would be a Game 163 if one of the two teams, unlike with the Mets and the Braves, wasn't already guaranteed a playoff spot anyway. And the answer is no.

This makes more sense to me than my own take. Maybe Rogers will eventually chime in here.

[Frayed Knot]

So was there a reason given why MLB opted to Not re-seed after each round?



You'd think that the Dodgers had 'earned' the right to face the lowest ranked surviving team (in this case the Phillies) after Round #1 but that's apparently not the case as SDP will head to the top-ranked Dodgers while the Braves, with 9 fewer regular season wins, get the (slightly) worse Phillies.