Trevor Bauer Rips Into Rob Manfred For Proposed MLB Playoff Expansion
There’s a chance the way the MLB playoffs are carried out could be changing and at least one current player made sure the sport’s commissioner knew exactly how he feels about it. Cincinnati Reds pitcher Trevor Bauer took to Twitter on Monday to voice his opinion and absolutely ripped into Rob Manfred in the process.
“No idea who made this new playoff format proposal, but Rob is responsible for releasing it, so I’ll direct this to you, Rob Manfred. Your proposal is absurd for too many reasons to type on twitter and proves you have absolutely no clue about baseball. You’re a joke.”
Bauer was referring to a new proposal that also surfaced on Monday. The New York Post was the first to report on the new format under consideration. The paper reported the league is considering moving from five to seven teams in each league, starting with the 2022 season. That move by itself wouldn’t create a ton of controversy. It’s the corresponding move that most likely drew Bauer’s ire.
If this new format was adopted, the top team in each league would receive a first-round bye. The other two division champs and the wild card team with the best record would host all three games of a best-of-three series. The number two seed in the league would also choose which of the three wild card teams it wanted to square off against in the first round of the MLB playoffs. Then the final division winner would pick their opponent. That would leave the final two wild cards that weren’t picked to go up against each other.
In addition to the new format, Manfred, or whoever came up with the new playoff approach, wants the “selection round” to be a special televised event. The idea behind that is it will make the postseason more exciting.
Considering Manfred’s office is serious enough about this that they want it to go into effect in just two years, Trevor Bauer doesn’t stand alone when it comes to thinking the new format is a bad one. When the Reds pitcher posted his rant on the topic he received thousands of replies and tens of thousands of likes and retweets.
Bauer is someone who tends to hold unpopular opinions on social media and often gets called out for it by his followers but this time, almost all of the comments were supportive and in agreement with him. If Manfred wants to get the players union to agree to the new setup, he’s apparently got some work to do.
