Online wagering for the Major League Baseball postseason will have a slight change. The day off between Games 4 and 5 of the League Championship Series has been eliminated. That does not mean the playoffs will be shortened though or fewer wagering online opportunities because MLB added a day off in between the division series and the start of the LCS.
Online wagering will still have the first round of the baseball playoffs being a best of five. The change in the MLB schedule is just one of many that need to be made. Baseball is a sport that favors the teams with money and it is dominated by what the TV networks want. Last season the Yankees were able to pretty much go through the playoffs with only three starting pitchers because of so many off-days.
“At our executive board meeting in Scottsdale, a number of players, both players who participated in the postseason and those who didn’t, said it’s no longer like baseball. Union head Michael Weiner said, “There’s just too many off-days,” Major League Baseball has simply given in to the TV networks and the playoffs have dragged on. MLB has said that more changes could be in store for 2011. “The goal for 2011 would be to try to compress the number of days in which the postseason is played,” Weiner said.
Just how bad was it last year in the MLB playoffs? The Angels played only eight games in 20 days. During the online wagering regular season teams are playing every single day. Los Angeles manager Mike Scioscia was very critical of the schedule and for good reason. While MLB made a minor tweak, they didn’t do nearly enough. Commissioner Bud Selig is a puppet of the owners and only makes changes that benefit the big money teams and the networks.
It won’t be long before baseball goes to a best-of-seven format in the first round of the playoffs. It won’t happen this season but it could happen soon. It is simply a way to make more money for the owners and assure that the best teams win. Those wagering online will notice that the division series in the baseball playoffs begin on October 6th. The ALCS starts on October 15th while the NLCS begins the next day. The World Series starts on Wednesday, Oct. 27th. If the series goes seven games it will stretch into November.