How many games have you watched this season? How many highlights? How many games have you been to in person? Well now the 162 game regular season is almost over, and the road to the World series is being paved. I am sorry if the team you root for did not make the post-season, maybe next year. But for this year, there are 3 new rules for the post-season that are not in play for the regular season. This article will take a look into each one.

All Hail the Traditionalist

Are you one of those people who love extra baseball? 9 innings is just not enough? But with the new rule about the automatic, or some would call it the “ghost runner” on second base extra innings are almost a thing of the past. Well, until it comes to the post-season. Starting Tuesday night, baseball will be played without the automatic runner on second base.

I hope we get a 14 or 15 inning game. But, my luck it will happen on a Wednesday night in LA. The game will last until 1:00 on the West Coast, and the ratings will plumett because half the fans have to work in the morning on the east coast, and it will be 14 or 15 innings of 4:00am baseball there. Then all the talking heads will praise the automatic runner rule and we will never have bonus play-off baseball ever again.

I challenge your challenge

In the regular season, each manager only has one replay challenge, unless you win the challenge, and you get to keep it. Well, in the play-offs each manager starts off with 2 challenges.

I like this rule, and I expect this to make a real difference in the first 3 to 4 innings. Usually a manager is hesitant to ask for a replay review in the first few innings in fear of losing those challenges in the early innings of a game and then not having a challenge in your back pocket for late in the game. In the play-offs this season managers will have an extra weapon, a second challenge. If I were one of the post-season Managers I would manage it like I had a replay challenge in the first 4 innings and a bonus one in the latter innings.

But, answering my own question I asked in my opening paragraph, I have seen probably 150 game this season and countless highlights. And even with multiple camera angles and slow motion and all kinds of other advancements, the replay officials still get calls wrong. So, it doesn’t matter how many challenges you give the manager, if you get the reviews wrong, it doesn’t matter how many challenges you give the manager if you continually get the challenges wrong.

No more waiting around

We have all been caught waiting around for the next series to start. You know, both 7 games series end in 5 games and the play-offs kind of lose their momentum as you wait around for the play-offs to resume. Now, the dates are set in stone for the television networks so they can advertise when the big series will start on their network, and I certainly understand why they would want those dates set in stone.

However, there is a new wrinkle this year, which is that the start date of the World Series could change depending on what happens in the LCS round. Game 1 of the 2024 World Series is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 25, with a potential Game 7 on Nov. 2. However, if the ALCS and NLCS both finish on Oct. 19 or earlier. That would mean they both end in either Game 4 or Game 5. If they both do, the World Series Game 1 would then move up to Oct. 22. That would put a winner-take-all Game 7, if necessary, on Oct. 30.

Those are the 3 changes that MLB is implementing in the play-offs. Do you like the changes? Would you like to see MLB implement something additional in the post-season? Let me know in the comments below.

Photo Credit; True Blue LA, Defector, YouTube