Quote:
Originally Posted by Le Grande Orange
Adding in the prior results, in total the rested team won 11 of the 22 series.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Le Grande Orange
101-61 Baltimore falls to 90-72 Texas in three straight games. (The five days off the Orioles got didn't seem to help them.)
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So if I'm understanding your criteria, etc., as of this writing & since 2012, the rested (3-5 days) team has won 11 of 23 series (and this could soon be 11-out-of-24 unless LA wins three straight). Correct?
If so, while we can debate sample size, since the rested team is (typically or always?) the higher seeded team - meaning more wins
plus home field advantage - and should therefore be favored to win a series, we could say that there might be something to the extended rest being a disadvantage.
Under the current system, the team that advances from the WC series comes off of a short best-of-three series where Game One is the closest thing short of a must-win, and the next game - or two if needed - becomes do or die for at least one team. That advancing team may or may not be at a disadvantage as far as its pitching rotation & bull pen rest, but it's going to be sharper & more-focused team (than the team with the bye), in most cases.
Then, in a short 3-of-5 series, anything can happen. If both teams are dealing with similar rest/fatigue, the better team
should win, and
might be able to overcome not playing their best (depending upon the relative difference between the teams). But what we might have seen with the Orioles and might be seeing with the Dodgers is the better team not only not playing their best (possibly partially due to the inactivity), but also having to go up against a team that is sharper due to their WC series participation. Add to that that the Dodgers haven't played a meaningful game in probably over a month; at least the O's had to fight down to the wire for their division title. Granted, throughout history there have been numerous teams who have clinched early and went a month or longer without playing a meaningful game, then had to turn it on in the playoffs. But how many of those
also faced the additional disadvantages of an extended layoff, then meeting a team that was
in their groove from having played high-pressure & meaningful games continuously?
On one hand, excuses are for losers. OTOH, it's fair to question whether MLB has created a disadvantage for its best regular season teams...