While some of us cannot get enough of a good thing, the vast majority realize that even the best of something is eventually too much. Baseball is no exception. Let us go back around 60 years to understand why the game has ended up in its current state. As noted in our previous post (The State of the Game), some would argue that baseball began its descent in the 1960’s, when professional football overtook MLB as America’s sport. There are two factors worth examining. First, the length of the season and second, the playoff system.
The table below shows the lengthening of the season since 1950 through 2022. Note that the % of the year column is the number of days the total season lasts divided by 365. The playoff format column abbreviations are as follows: World Series (WS), League Championship Series (LCS), Wild Card (WC), Expanded Wild Card (Exp-WC) and Expanded Plus Wild Card (Exp+WC).
Note the article continues below the table.
| Year | Start Date | End Date | Days in Season | % of the Year | Playoff Format (# of teams) |
| 1950 | 4/18/1950 | 10/7/1950 | 172 | 47% | WS Only (2) |
| 1951 | 4/16/1951 | 10/12/1951 | 179 | 49% | WS Only (2) |
| 1952 | 4/15/1952 | 10/7/1952 | 175 | 48% | WS Only (2) |
| 1953 | 4/13/1953 | 10/12/1953 | 182 | 50% | WS Only (2) |
| 1954 | 4/13/1954 | 10/2/1954 | 172 | 47% | WS Only (2) |
| 1955 | 4/11/1955 | 10/4/1955 | 176 | 48% | WS Only (2) |
| 1956 | 4/17/1956 | 10/10/1956 | 176 | 48% | WS Only (2) |
| 1957 | 4/15/1957 | 10/10/1957 | 178 | 49% | WS Only (2) |
| 1958 | 4/15/1958 | 10/15/1958 | 183 | 50% | WS Only (2) |
| 1959 | 4/9/1959 | 10/9/1959 | 183 | 50% | WS Only (2) |
| 1960 | 4/12/1960 | 10/13/1960 | 184 | 50% | WS Only (2) |
| 1961 | 4/10/1961 | 10/12/1961 | 185 | 51% | WS Only (2) |
| 1962 | 4/9/1962 | 10/16/1962 | 190 | 52% | WS Only (2) |
| 1963 | 4/8/1963 | 10/6/1963 | 181 | 50% | WS Only (2) |
| 1964 | 4/13/1964 | 10/15/1964 | 185 | 51% | WS Only (2) |
| 1965 | 4/12/1965 | 10/14/1965 | 185 | 51% | WS Only (2) |
| 1966 | 4/11/1966 | 10/9/1966 | 181 | 50% | WS Only (2) |
| 1967 | 4/10/1967 | 10/12/1967 | 185 | 51% | WS Only (2) |
| 1968 | 4/10/1968 | 10/10/1968 | 183 | 50% | WS Only (2) |
| 1969 | 4/7/1969 | 10/16/1969 | 192 | 53% | WS and LCS (4) |
| 1970 | 4/6/1970 | 10/15/1970 | 192 | 53% | WS and LCS (4) |
| 1971 | 4/5/1971 | 10/17/1971 | 195 | 53% | WS and LCS (4) |
| 1972 | 4/15/1972 | 10/22/1972 | 190 | 52% | WS and LCS (4) |
| 1973 | 4/5/1973 | 10/21/1973 | 199 | 55% | WS and LCS (4) |
| 1974 | 4/4/1974 | 10/17/1974 | 196 | 54% | WS and LCS (4) |
| 1975 | 4/7/1975 | 10/22/1975 | 198 | 54% | WS and LCS (4) |
| 1976 | 4/8/1976 | 10/21/1976 | 196 | 54% | WS and LCS (4) |
| 1977 | 4/6/1977 | 10/18/1977 | 195 | 53% | WS and LCS (4) |
| 1978 | 4/5/1978 | 10/17/1978 | 195 | 53% | WS and LCS (4) |
| 1979 | 4/4/1979 | 10/17/1979 | 196 | 54% | WS and LCS (4) |
| 1980 | 4/9/1980 | 10/21/1980 | 195 | 53% | WS and LCS (4) |
| 1981 | 4/8/1981 | 10/28/1981 | 203 | 56% | WS and LCS (4) |
| 1982 | 4/5/1982 | 10/20/1982 | 198 | 54% | WS and LCS (4) |
| 1983 | 4/4/1983 | 10/16/1983 | 195 | 53% | WS and LCS (4) |
| 1984 | 4/2/1984 | 10/14/1984 | 195 | 53% | WS and LCS (4) |
| 1985 | 4/8/1985 | 10/27/1985 | 202 | 55% | WS and LCS (4) |
| 1986 | 4/7/1986 | 10/27/1986 | 203 | 56% | WS and LCS (4) |
| 1987 | 4/6/1987 | 10/25/1987 | 202 | 55% | WS and LCS (4) |
| 1988 | 4/4/1988 | 10/20/1988 | 199 | 55% | WS and LCS (4) |
| 1989 | 4/3/1989 | 10/28/1989 | 208 | 57% | WS and LCS (4) |
| 1990 | 4/9/1990 | 10/20/1990 | 194 | 53% | WS and LCS (4) |
| 1991 | 4/8/1991 | 10/27/1991 | 202 | 55% | WS and LCS (4) |
| 1992 | 4/6/1992 | 10/24/1992 | 201 | 55% | WS and LCS (4) |
| 1993 | 4/5/1993 | 10/23/1993 | 201 | 55% | WS and LCS (4) |
| 1994 | 4/3/1994 | 8/11/1994 | 130 | 36% | WS, LCS, WC (8) |
| 1995 | 4/25/1995 | 10/28/1995 | 186 | 51% | WS, LCS, WC (8) |
| 1996 | 3/31/1996 | 10/26/1996 | 209 | 57% | WS, LCS, WC (8) |
| 1997 | 4/1/1997 | 10/26/1997 | 208 | 57% | WS, LCS, WC (8) |
| 1998 | 3/31/1998 | 10/21/1998 | 204 | 56% | WS, LCS, WC (8) |
| 1999 | 4/4/1999 | 10/27/1999 | 206 | 56% | WS, LCS, WC (8) |
| 2000 | 3/29/2000 | 10/26/2000 | 211 | 58% | WS, LCS, WC (8) |
| 2001 | 4/1/2001 | 11/4/2001 | 217 | 59% | WS, LCS, WC (8) |
| 2002 | 3/31/2002 | 10/27/2002 | 210 | 58% | WS, LCS, WC (8) |
| 2003 | 3/30/2003 | 10/25/2003 | 209 | 57% | WS, LCS, WC (8) |
| 2004 | 4/4/2004 | 10/27/2004 | 206 | 56% | WS, LCS, WC (8) |
| 2005 | 4/3/2005 | 10/26/2005 | 206 | 56% | WS, LCS, WC (8) |
| 2006 | 4/2/2006 | 10/27/2006 | 208 | 57% | WS, LCS, WC (8) |
| 2007 | 4/1/2007 | 10/28/2007 | 210 | 58% | WS, LCS, WC (8) |
| 2008 | 3/25/2008 | 10/29/2008 | 218 | 60% | WS, LCS, WC (8) |
| 2009 | 4/5/2009 | 11/4/2009 | 213 | 58% | WS, LCS, WC (8) |
| 2010 | 4/4/2010 | 11/1/2010 | 211 | 58% | WS, LCS, WC (8) |
| 2011 | 3/31/2011 | 10/28/2011 | 211 | 58% | WS, LCS, WC (8) |
| 2012 | 3/28/2012 | 10/28/2012 | 214 | 59% | WS, LCS, Exp-WC (10) |
| 2013 | 3/31/2013 | 10/30/2013 | 213 | 58% | WS, LCS, Exp-WC (10) |
| 2014 | 3/22/2014 | 10/29/2014 | 221 | 61% | WS, LCS, Exp-WC (10) |
| 2015 | 4/5/2015 | 11/1/2015 | 210 | 58% | WS, LCS, Exp-WC (10) |
| 2016 | 4/3/2016 | 11/2/2016 | 213 | 58% | WS, LCS, Exp-WC (10) |
| 2017 | 4/2/2017 | 11/1/2017 | 213 | 58% | WS, LCS, Exp-WC (10) |
| 2018 | 3/29/2018 | 10/28/2018 | 213 | 58% | WS, LCS, Exp-WC (10) |
| 2019 | 3/20/2019 | 10/30/2019 | 224 | 61% | WS, LCS, Exp-WC (10) |
| 2020 | 7/23/2020 | 10/27/2020 | 96 | 26% | WS, LCS, Exp-WC (10) |
| 2021 | 4/1/2021 | 11/2/2021 | 215 | 59% | WS, LCS, Exp-WC (10) |
| 2022 | 4/7/2022 | 11/5/2022 | 212 | 58% | WS, LCS, Exp+WC (12) |
| 2023 | 3/30/2023 | ? | ? | ? | WS, LCS, Exp+WC (12) |
Note that 1981, 1994, 1995 and 2022 were all years affected by baseball work stoppages that either delayed seasons or wiped out games altogether. The pandemic shortened the 2022 season to only 60 games.
There are a number of significant points in time that one must consider to explain the lengthening of the baseball season. The first is that the baseball season prior to 1961 was only 154 games. In 1961, only the American League (AL) adopted a 162 game schedule, while the National League (NL) delayed their adoption of the longer schedule until 1962. From 1950 – 1960 the average season took 178 games to play, from the start of the season until the last game of the World Series. In addition, the season in this decade covered 49% (on average) of the entire 365-day year. From 1961-1968 under the new 162 game schedule there were only two playoff teams (World Series participants) and the average season length increased to 184 days or took up 51% of the year. The baseball season saw the first expansion of the playoffs to include a pennant contest in each league. This format lasted from 1969 until 1993 and saw the average season increase to 198 days or 54% of the entire year. The year 1994 saw the expansion of playoffs to include wild card teams as the format increased to eight post-season teams. That same year saw a strike not only wipe out the season but also the World Series as the season ended with only 117 games played. The strike also affected the 1995 season, as MLB only played a 144 game schedule, but did crown a World Series champion that year. If we exclude those 1994-1995 strike seasons and look at all other years up until 2011 with the eight game wild card format, we see that the average length of the season increased to 210 games or 57% of the year. Then from 2012 until 2021, there was further expansion to include ten teams in the playoffs. Excluding 2020, which the pandemic shortened to 60 games, this period saw the season increase to an average of 215 games or 59% of the year. Finally, an additional wild card expansion occurred in 2022, with the post season now taking on 12 teams. We only have one year of data under this new playoff format, with the 2022 season taking 212 days to play, which consumed 58% of the calendar year. Keep in mind though, the lockout at the early part of 2022 delayed that season, so if not for this labor dispute, the season would have certainly been longer.
What to make from all this data? The initial increase of the season from 154 to 162 games increased the season by about a week. The ever-expanding playoff formats have though added many more days to the season. A season that took about 178 games to play in the 1950’s now takes almost 220 days or about 40 more days to complete! The new expanded playoff format to 12 teams will ensure even more 220 plus seasons going forward.
What does this mean for baseball and the average fan? Increasing an already long baseball season by more than 20% and upping the number of teams that make it into the playoffs might seem like a great plan, but more isn’t always better. What it actually turns into is over exposure of your product and causes an excited fan base to become a weary one over time.
Baseball has the longest season by far than all the other professional sports with almost double the number of games played than that of hockey and basketball. Why then is there a constant push to let more teams in the playoffs? The answer is greed….. er I mean money of course. Perhaps the case for a four-team playoff made sense and then slightly more than that as the league expanded to six divisions, but the expansion to 12 teams now seems excessive when one considers you have 162 games to make your playoff case. Do we really need to allow teams with barely over .500 records into the playoffs after such a long season?
The question is if the ever growing playoff expansion will ever stop. It certainly will not go in the other direction, since owners will never accept less games and lower revenue. Is the waning interest in the game due to the slow pace as MLB decided? Perhaps, but factors like an ever expanding season and diluted playoffs will never be addressed nor will the media talk about it, since they have interest in pushing one thing and one thing only, and that is more games and additional content for their viewers.
The golden era of baseball and their almost 40% favorability ratings are long gone. Sadly, we fear the push for longer seasons and the inclusion of more playoff teams will only turn off the average fan going forward.
In our next post we will take a more quantitative look at the baseball playoff expansion.
Baseball Purist 
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