The final day of both the 2011 MLB and 2011-12 English Premier League proved you can have immense, unforgettable drama outside a playoff setting.
The push in every sport over the past couple of decades has been the more playoff games, the better.
MLB expanded its playoffs first to include one wild card and now a second starting in 2012. The NBA and NHL each have eight-team playoffs that stretch on for what seems like a whole other season. NASCAR went from a point system that rewarded a full season of consistent success to one that crowns a champion based on ten races.
The self-imposed idea furthered by sports leagues is that excitement won’t truly be palpable until playoff games begin.
Unforgettable endings for MLB and EPL regular seasons put that assertion as rule to bed.
For the EPL, it was the months-long battle for the title that came down to the season’s final Sunday. Manchester City needed to beat Queens Park Rangers to win its first title in 44 years over rival Manchester United.
38 matches and a chance at unprecedented glory came down to five stoppage minutes for City. Back against the wall, it looked all but over, down two goals as the 90th minute hit. In five minutes, though, the way a season’s worth of history will be written dramatically changed.
An equalizing goal, then with just two minutes left, Sergio Aguero’s strike to deliver City the 3-2 lead it needed to eclipse Man U for first.
It was no playoff. Instead it was a season’s worth of back and forth that reached a thrilling climax naturally.
Much was the same in baseball about eight months ago, a season’s worth of trial and tribulation hinging on the 162nd game for four teams.
Two controlled their own outcomes.
Boston and Atlanta lost, punctuating historic collapses. Tampa Bay and St. Louis punched tickets to the playoffs. The Cardinals carried their finish all the way to a World Series.
All that drama percolated on four different fields, four opposing teams with nothing but pride and a chance to play spoiler on the line.
Sure, playoffs do undoubtedly create great moments. With the pressure at a fever pitch, improbable, compelling moments happen.
Some sports, like college football are sorely in need of a playoff, kicking to the curb arbitrary ratings and polls to determine a No. 1 vs. No. 2 title matchup.
However, forcing more playoff games down fans’ throats only diminishes what makes them special. Adding a one-game playoff to a season that spans 162 games is illogical milking of the concept.
That’s right, Bud Selig.
Your magical 2011 game 162s should have taught you that drama often just falls into place, everything building up to a story you couldn’t write. Putting two teams in a winner gets in playoff doesn’t replicate that. In fact, in 2011, it would have spoiled it. Boston, Tampa, Atlanta and St. Louis may have sat their starters in those game 162s, all assured a wild card spot.
Sports drama is not some kind of chemistry experiment. It cannot be mixed together in a lab or owners’ meeting.
It just happens.
You never know just which day will live on in lore – every one is worth watching.
