Final Thoughts on 2012 MLB Season: Picking the right year to get married

Following a Division Series round that saw all four series go the maximum five games for the first time in history, the remainder of this year's MLB playoffs were rarely any sort of must-see television. The Yankees never really showed up for the ALCS, the Cardinals appeared to stop showing up for the NLCS some time after Game 4 and then the World Series was over almost as soon as it started. Along the way, there were only two exceptions to my predicting just about every series (or Wild Card game) incorrectly.

In the end, it is Bruce Bochy and the damned San Francisco Giants walking away as World Champions for the second time in three years. The team's story this season is a relatively remarkable achievement, considering that it lost All-Star hero, Melky Cabrera, in the middle of the season. Still, when the Dodgers went out and took a handful of big contracts off the books of the Boston Red Sox, San Fran stayed the course, walked away with the division, and twice came back from the brinks of elimination in the playoffs before sweeping away Detroit in the World Series. To their fans, it might not be as joyous as finally ending their long suffering just two years ago, but coming back from a 2-0 deficit in the NLDS before coming back from 3-1 in the NLCS could make this year's achievement just as memorable.

For this Braves fan, however, it's another year that ends in bitter disappointment. And just as Bobby Cox's final year ended sooner than we'd hoped two years ago, this season saw Chipper Jones' career come to a close just when there was hope that the team might play for at least a few more weeks. Considering the concern I had about what I might miss during the evening of my wedding, that game and the entire World Series in general this year seemed to be a bit of a snore. I suppose not every year can involve a seventh and deciding game, and if a quick finish has to happen, it might as well be the year when other things were garnering my attention.

This year will be remembered as the one in which the playoffs expanded once again, and while next year the teams with the better records will go back to hosting the opening games, I now get to bitch about Wild Card teams having but a single play-in game after 162 regular season contests. It strikes me as patently ridiculous, but the new format's supporters seem content to argue that my concerns can be avoided simply be winning a division. That may be true, but it still misses the point that baseball is not supposed to be a one-and-done type deal.

That debate will likely continue as long as baseball retains this playoff format, and I fear that eventually I will grow to accept the one-game playoff—probably just as soon as Atlanta is the beneficiary.

NOTE: PHOTOS TAKEN FROM HERE AND HERE