First place nonetheless issues in baseball — simply because it ought to
The NFL has run interference on this for years, lengthy earlier than it grew to become a problem you hear about on daily basis round baseball.
It in all probability began in 2010, when the Seattle Seahawks not solely gained the NFC West with a 7-9 document, which not solely earned them a house recreation towards the New Orleans Saints, who have been 11-5, they really beat the Saints 41-36, led by a fabled 67-yard landing run by Marshawn Lynch which nonetheless needs to be seen (in its everlasting YouTube afterlife) to be believed.
5 occasions that’s occurred within the expanded-playoff period within the NFL, not together with the strike-shortened 1982 season, which welcomed 16 of its 28 groups into the postseason match and thus permitted the Lions and Browns, each 4-5, to sneak in. Most lately, final yr’s 8-9 Panthers gave the 13-4 Rams a scare in Charlotte earlier than falling 34-31.
Each time that has occurred — together with the 2014 Panthers (7-8-1), 2020 Commanders (7-9) and 2022 Buccaneers (8-9) — there have been howls of protest {that a} workforce with a shedding document has no enterprise even being within the playoffs, not to mention internet hosting a house recreation. This yr, as dangerous because the NFC South seems to be, there may be real angst that the division champ would possibly solely want a 7-10 or perhaps a 6-11 document to squeak in.
