We’re officially in that part of the calendar where optimism is undefeated and everyone’s one good bullpen session away from declaring their team “sneaky.” The boys were back this week getting ready for Opening Day, and the vibe was exactly what you’d expect: Eric’s been busy, Spoon’s been busy “recovering” from a big weekend in Sydney and I came in with the question every baseball fan asks every March:
Does spring training matter?
Now, I know the correct baseball-person answer is: “No, spring training doesn’t matter.”
But… we poked around anyway. And here’s what surprised us: while spring results are absolutely noisy (half the roster is playing three innings and the other half is named “non-roster invitee”), there are just enough patterns over time to make it interesting. Not “bet your house” interesting. More like “huh… that’s not nothing” interesting.
And yes — Eric was surprised. Which is rare. Which means it was worth doing.
From there the conversation did what our conversations always do: it wandered. First it wandered into playoff formats around the world, and then it wandered off a cliff.
Because once you start talking about formats, you start seeing formats everywhere. You start asking dangerous questions like:
- “What if MLB did a tournament-style postseason?”
- “What if top seeds got a real advantage?”
- “What if we made this even more chaotic?”
And that’s how we ended up in Japan.
Japan’s “ghost win” playoff advantage (NPB)
If you’ve never looked into the NPB postseason (the Climax Series), the simplest way to describe it is: they reward the regular season winner in a way MLB fans would riot over on Reddit.
In the Climax Series final stage, the regular-season champion starts the series with a one-win advantage—the famous “ghost win.” It’s essentially a best-of-seven setup compressed into a best-of-six, where the top seed begins up 1–0 and therefore needs fewer actual wins to advance.
Is it fair? Depends who you ask.
Is it spicy? Absolutely.
Is it the sort of thing MLB would never do? Also yes.
But it’s a great talking point when you’re debating what postseason formats reward versus what they entertain. MLB’s current system gives top seeds a bye and some home-field structure, but NPB basically says: “Win the league? Cool. Here’s a head start.”
And the funniest part is that as soon as you explain it, you immediately start daydreaming about how MLB fans would react if the No. 1 seed began the ALDS up 1–0.
(Answer: not well.)
Korea’s step-ladder chaos (KBO)
Then we looked at the KBO, which is also delightfully unhinged in the best way.
The KBO postseason starts with a Wild Card round where the 4th-place team gets a one-win advantage. That means the 4-seed can advance with a win (or even a draw in the first game), while the 5-seed has to win twice.
It’s basically the league saying:
“Congratulations on finishing fourth. Here’s a little head start because you earned it.”
And also:
“Congratulations on finishing fifth. You are on probation.”
Again: MLB would never. But it’s fascinating when you’re thinking about how to make the regular season mean more without turning October into a 14-team participation ribbon.
College baseball brackets: beautiful chaos
And then, because we can’t help ourselves, we started talking about the NCAA baseball tournament format — which is honestly an all-time “wait, what?” bracket.
Here’s the short version: regionals are double elimination, super regionals are best-of-three, the College World Series returns to double elimination, and the final is best-of-three.
That’s not a format. That’s a personality test.
And it led us into the big hypothetical: if MLB expands again (whether it’s teams, playoff spots, whatever), what happens to October? Do we add play-ins? Do we add byes? Do we give top seeds more of a tangible advantage? Do we… dare I say it… flirt with a “ghost win” concept?
I’m not saying I want it.
I’m saying it makes for an excellent argument on a podcast.
Opening Night: Yankees–Giants on Netflix
Then we snapped back to reality: baseball is actually about to start.
Opening Night is Yankees vs. Giants, and yes, it’s streaming on Netflix. Spoon wasn’t exactly thrilled about the platform shuffle (fair), but the broadcast lineup Netflix has pulled together is genuinely ridiculous.
- Matt Vasgersian on the call, alongside CC Sabathia and Hunter Pence
- Studio coverage led by Elle Duncan, with Barry Bonds, Albert Pujols, and Anthony Rizzo on the desk
That’s one of those lineups where you go: “Okay, fine. You’ve got my attention.”
We wrapped with Spoon’s best bet for Opening Night, and we’re coming back hours after the game to recap it, run our first Destiny Draft episode, and get Spoon’s tips for Opening Weekend.
Baseball’s back. Sleep schedules are about to be tested.
See you after first pitch.
