Baseball’s playoff system is an absolute joke.
It will work out OK in the American League where the Toronto Blue Jays lead the Kansas City Royals for the best record. They sport the two best records.
But the projected National League playoff seeding is laughable, an absolute embarrassment to baseball.
The St. Louis Cardinals sport the best record in the best division in baseball. The Pittsburgh Pirates have the second-best record in baseball. The Chicago Cubs feature the fourth-best record in baseball.
Here’s how the playoff system works.
Since the Cardinals, Pirates and Cubs play in the same division, only the Cardinals will get home-field advantage in the first round.
The Pirates and Cubs are dropped into a one-game playoff with the loser going home. Essentially, baseball takes the second-best and third-best team in the National League and gives them one game.
What makes it especially silly is the winner of that game plays the Cardinals.
So, basically we have the three best National League teams forced to play each other to determine a qualifier for the National League Championship Series.
The New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers avoid facing two of the top three teams in the National League.
It’s hard to imagine that the leadership in a sport that’s a multi-billion dollar industry are so downright dumb.
The Pirates and Cubs should not be penalized because they are competing against the Cardinals in baseball’s toughest division.  They should be seeded second and third and play each other in a longer series.
Playoff seeding should be judged strictly by record.
It’s simple — if you win the most games, you earn the best seeding.
It’s the Mets and Dodgers which should play a one-game playoff. That winner would rightfully play the Cardinals.  
What a joke.

— Jim Misunas