This year making that look kinda silly.
The postseason is unpredictable, but the bye teams are 6-6 in the division series in this new format, meaning there’s no real evidence that it harms them in a statistically significant way.
The format is still a bit jenky, don’t get me wrong.
One complaint is that it opens the doors for more teams to go on playoff runs. And those 6-seed teams aren’t interesting, as evidenced by last years’ World Series ratings.
But I’m sure if the small-market 6-seed New York Mets make the World Series it will get super low ratings, right? 😉