The first ever Wild Card Series round of the MLB playoffs is in the books. We got to see more celebrating this year, and that was pretty fun. It always is. A team that didn't celebrate at all this season was the 101-win Mets. They clinched a playoff berth -- usually a point when bottles start popping for would-be wild-card teams -- but were holding off to celebrate until they won the division. They didn't. And then they lost the Wild Card Series.
My stream of consciousness on the matter is what brings me to this all-in-good-fun column. No, I'm not mocking the Mets for missing out, nor am I saying they should have celebrated clinching the playoff berth. I'm not feeling sorry for them, either. They were just the vehicle to this thought.
Baseball teams celebrate, generally, every single step of the way when it comes to the playoffs when other major sports don't and I absolutely love it.
I've seen all the arguments over the years against it, a lot of times from media covering other sports or fans who dislike baseball, or just some curmudgeon who sees happy people and feels the need to lash out. Every time I can't help but laugh.
Why would anyone ever be against a group of people celebrating an accomplishment together in their own way?
Sure, the celebrations are excessive, but so what? The season just to get to this point is arguably excessive.
The Major League Baseball season usually starts in the middle of February when everyone reports to camp. After a bit over a week, they start playing games and they play every single day. Sure, the best players don't play everyday, but there are still games. Once the regular season starts, there are 162 games over the course of six months. No other sport has this volume of gameplay. They generally play every day. There are weeks where they have one day off. On very rare occasions, they'll get two days off. Most they get zero. There's an All-Star break in there -- four days off! -- but the players who make the All-Star team don't get much time off at all.
This isn't to feel sorry for the teams or players. Absolutely not. I'm simply trying to paint the picture that it's incredibly difficult to make it through that grueling season in the playoffs.
Speaking of which, the playoff field now features 12 out of 30 teams, which means it's a more exclusive playoffs than NFL, NBA, NHL, MLS, WNBA and, well, let's just say it's the hardest playoff field to make.
Simply, making the playoffs is a huge success. Then advancing each level is, again, a huge success!
Successes should be celebrated, man. Life is too short to get all uptight about something like that.
Do they really need to celebrate every single level of advancement?
YES!
Or let me answer that question with a question: What does it hurt?
Did you see the Mariners' celebration after clinching their first playoff berth since 2001? It was raucous. Same with the Phillies, who snapped a drought that went back to 2011.
Both of those teams advanced to the divisional round after going 2-0 in the Wild Card Series. I see no harm that resulted from their celebrations.
Should every team in every sport celebrate in such fashion when making the playoffs and then advancing every single round?
Absolutely. No doubt about it.
People work hard and accomplish things together. It's only natural to celebrate said accomplishments together. What's with all the negativity. Let's embrace the celebrations and, hell, maybe even let it flow in other walks of life.
Now, I'm not suggesting any time there's a huge success in your office that a gigantic party with people spraying beer and champagne all over everything is required. I'm also not saying it shouldn't happen. Let it flow when goals are met or awards are won. C'mon people, we're only here for a limited amount of time. We've got to have some fun while we're here.
Celebrating success is healthy after hard work has led to a great accomplishment. This is something that baseball has long gotten right and the rest of the sports world needs to catch up.
