Yes-but the counter argument is "yes we will live with the exceptions but the data proves over the long run we will be right more than were wrong".

But in the playoff baseball formats there isn't any "long run". It's truly an organic decision game by game, pitch by pitch.

Another issue I see is the "playoff" format. I know its all based on $$$ but it most assuredly does not mean the best teams make it to the world series. What is does do is make the best teams in the "playoffs" make it . In short series anything can happen !! Over the entire season its a far better way to say what teams are the better. So who cares whether or not you win you division by a hundred games when all you need to do is win enough to make it to the playoffs. And that is what should be your goal not whether you win the division.

Growing up in the 50s there was no "wildcards" or "playoffs" unless two teams were tied. There was the National League and the American league. The winners of each went straight to the World Series. They never had to worry about a "short series" with some runner up team they had beaten a million times during the season.

Alas, I live in the past.