It is time we took a serious look at baseball celebrations.
The practices of holding beer and champagne filled celebrations seems a little redundant.
Take the Toronto Blue Jays for instance.
They lead their division with a month to go in the season and proceeded to scuffle down the stretch losing series after series to the point where they needed a series win against the division rival Boston Red Sox, which is originally penciled in to be a battle for the division title.
The Jays did manage to win two of three games against the Red Sox and clinch not only a wildcard berth but the number one wildcard berth thanks to their tiebreaker advantage over the Baltimore Orioles but it should have never come down to that last game or even that last weekend.
What followed was a wild celebration in their clubhouse with champagne and beer flying everywhere.
Admittedly it was fun to watch as a fan but was it really necessary?
The Jays are not the only team to do this obviously as it is a part of the Major League Baseball culture.
Every team who makes the playoffs celebrates with beer and champagne.
Then, for the two teams who not only make the wildcard game but win do it all over again.
Then the four teams who win the Division Series do it again, and the two who win the Championship Series again, and the World Series winner again.
By the time they are finished if a team who played in the wildcard game happens to win the World Series like the San Francisco Giants did two seasons ago they will have celebrated with wild beer and champagne filled parties in the clubhouse five times, in a little over a one month span.
It is excessive.
They are the only one of the four major sports leagues including the National Hockey League, National Basketball Association, and National Football League to do it.
So why do they do it?
Is it because they play 162 games in 183 days?
Maybe.
But these players are well compensated for their playing time.
Take the Jays for instance. Their starters played an average of just 133 games, with one of those players just hitting on a given day.
Is it because only a little over one quarter of the teams make the playoffs?
Well maybe.
That might be the best excuse they have because in comparison to the other three leagues the majors have the lowest percentage of teams who make the playoffs at just 26.67 compared to the NFL’s 37.5 and the NHL and NBA’s 53.3.
But once those teams get past the wildcard game it could easily be argued that they have a much easier opportunity to continue playing in the playoffs than the NFL who operate on a one and done format for each round as opposed to the MLB’s best of five DS, and best of seven CS and World Series.
Is it because it is fun to watch for fans so it increases viewership?
It is possible.
But as was mentioned previously the other major sports do not do it so do you not think that if it was such a ratings increase that the other sports would not also jump on board?
I do not have a problem with teams celebrating the fact that they made the playoffs but to have a televised party with beer and champagne flying everywhere and players wear swimming goggles to protect their eyes.
It just seems plain old silly.
