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THE GAME HAS CHANGED: POSTSEASON BASEBALL TURNS SHARP IN 1973
By Ernie Bewell
There was a time—not long ago—when a pennant was earned over distance.
You played the season. You proved yourself over months. And when October came, you were given seven games to settle it. Enough time to recover. Enough time to adjust. Enough time to breathe.
That time is gone.
The 1973 season introduces something new to Major Sim Baseball—a structure that does not reward patience nearly as much as it demands precision. The postseason has not simply been expanded. It has been tightened.
Sharpened.
And now, every mistake carries weight.
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FROM ENDURANCE TO URGENCY
In 1972, the path was simple. Four regions. Four winners. Two League Championship Sims, each a best-of-seven. The strongest clubs rose because they could withstand the length of the fight.
Now, the path is different.
- The best record in each league advances directly to the League Championship Sim.
- The other region winner must survive a three-game Wild Card Sim.
- All three games are played in the region winner’s ballpark.
- The survivor advances to a best-of-five League Championship Sim.
On paper, it may seem like a small adjustment.
On the field, it is anything but.
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THREE GAMES. NO EXCUSES.
A three-game sim does not allow for rhythm. It does not allow for correction. It demands readiness from the first pitch.
The wild card club must walk into a hostile park and take two games. The region winner—despite earning a division title—must defend its season immediately, with no margin for misstep.
And waiting on the other side?
A five-game sim.
Not seven.
Five.
You fall behind early in a five-game set, and the season begins to close in around you. There is no long arc. No slow climb back. Every inning tightens the vise.
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MEANINGFUL BASEBALL
This is what the league has chosen.
Not more games.
More meaning.
Every pitch now carries consequence. Every managerial decision—when to pull a starter, when to press on the bases, where to position a defender—becomes magnified.
There is no hiding in a shorter sim.
The game reveals you.
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A DIFFERENT KIND OF TEST
The old system asked: Who can endure?
The new system asks:
Who is ready right now?
That is a different question.
And it will produce different answers.
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THE COST OF ONE MISTAKE
In this new structure, a single misplayed ball, a missed sign, a moment of hesitation on the basepaths—these are no longer footnotes.
They are turning points.
Because in a three-game or five-game sim, there is no guarantee you will have time to recover from them.
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THE LEAGUE LEANS IN
Before now the purity of the pennant race stood alone. Win your region. Prove it over time. No shortcuts.
That principle has not been abandoned.
But it has been tested.
Because there is something undeniable about postseason baseball played under pressure—when every decision matters, when every pitch is contested, when the game is stripped down to its essence.
Man against man.
Pitch against bat.
No tomorrow promised.
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WHAT COMES NEXT
We are heading toward a postseason that will not allow teams to settle in.
They will have to arrive ready.
Or go home quickly.
And that may be the point.
Act II
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