The Josh Innes Show - Baseball Playoffs Need Overhaul

Episode Date: September 17, 2025

Baseball's regular season is long and largely meaningless. Yet, the postseason is over in 5 mins. MLB needs to fix the playoffs and make way for longer series. Also, it appears I'm going to be living the life of luxury at the Tigers game tonight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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You and Jilly want to go see the Tigers on Wednesday? And I'm like, initially my thought was, not really. You know, I don't feel like driving downtown parking. And as we discussed, buying expensive beer. But shit, the beer at the goddamn Yacht Rock Review concert made ballpark beer sound like nothing. It sounded like, you know, nickel beer night compared to the Yacht Rock Review concert in the stupid Irish pub. But I texted Jilly and I'm like, hey, look, you. you want to go to the ball game? We don't have too many more of these left. It's the final

homestand of the year. Then they have the playoffs. But I mean, as we know, that could be over in two days. Like baseball, what a terrible job they do with their postseason. You play 162 games. You get to the playoffs and you can be eliminated in fucking 28 hours. It's ridiculous. Like, I understand rewarding teams for doing well and finishing first place, whatever, versus guys that were wild cards or whatever. But the idea that your season, like I told you, I experienced that with the Cardinals a couple years ago, when they won the Central, they played a home playoff two out of three against the Phillies. The Phillies won the first two games, so the series was over. The series ended in like 24 hours, or like 28 hours from when it started.

I'm like, what are we doing? Like, you're going to waste everyone's time playing this long-ass season, the most boring regular season of all of them, the regular season filled with the most meaningless games of all sports. And then you're like, well, congratulations, you made the playoffs, and you're going to be done with it in a day. There's got to be a better way to do that shit. Like we ripped the NBA and a lot of people rip the NBA and it's like, boy, the playoffs are longer than the regular season. Yeah, but the playoffs are more meaningful than the regular season. They at least understand that, hey, our premier thing is the postseason.

The thing we care about the most is the postseason. So guess what? We're playing seven game series. Is it excessive? Sure. But a seven game series tells you who the better team is usually and it gives the fans more meaningful games. How many meaningful regular season baseball games are there? Not many.

How many meaningful playoff games are there? All of them. So you mean to tell me you sat through 162 games of a regular season, most of which you're not paying attention to because most of those games don't matter? Like, first of all, let me play a couple commercials and we'll continue. So I'm in Detroit, and the Tiger started out so hot that they were 15, 16 games up like two months ago. Two, two and a half months ago, they had a 16 game lead. It has been whittled down to as close as I believe four since then, and now it is five and a half.

Oh, by the way, they have two more games against Cleveland, the team chasing them. Those are coming up tonight and tomorrow. And then they've got three more with them next week in Cleveland. So things have puckered up a little bit. But for the most part, the Tigers have had such a comfortable lead in this bad division that most of these games have not mattered. They have been obsolete. The games are not tense. They are not dramatic. There's not that holy shit. We got to get to the ballpark and see what happens because we're in a race. There's no pennant drive. There's really none of it. Now, it's gotten a little bit

closer and now they lost last night, so they're only five and a half up on Cleveland, so it's made it a little bit tighter. But none of these games have been meaningful. Like you're 16 and a half games up. Who cares if you get swept by the Marlins or something? Or you'll lose two out of three to the White Sox. Who cares? There's no consequence for it because you're not going to blow the division because the division isn't very good either. So the tigers are going to get in.

And the tigers are more than likely not going to be the top seed, right? So let's take a look really quick at where the MLB playoff standings look right now. So if we look to – let's see, the MLB playoff bracket. get, okay? If we look at that and we find, you know, what would happen if the season started or the season ended today, right? Let's see. If the season ended today, the Tigers would be the two and they'd have a buy.

So they'd be one of the top two and they would have a buy. Toronto would have a buy. You'd get Astros, Yankees. Boy, you get that drama. And then you get Boston and Seattle in the American League. Cool. now the tigers are in danger of slipping out of that two spot because Seattle continues to play well and as it stands right now Seattle is right on their heels so let's say you fall out of that

and you fall into the wild card you go from being a team that's guaranteed what a five game series to a team that has to win two out of three and you're a team that has shitty starting pitching outside of Terrick Scoobel, who, by the way, left the game last Friday with an injury. He's supposed to pitch this week, but whatever. They say he's fine. They say he's gone through all the tests. Fine. Cool.

So you're going to go from – now you've got meaningful baseball. Like a week to go, you don't want to slip out of that two-spot. But for the last three months, those games haven't even been remotely meaningful. And that's baseball. That's just how baseball is. It's too long of a season. Then you get to the postseason, and it's like, oh, it's over in a blink of an eye. baseball's got to do a better job with that because playoff baseball is great July baseball is not great August baseball is tense and every pitch matters there is no tension for the most part in regular season baseball and almost none of the pitches matter so fix that let's remedy that and make it a world where baseball and the playoffs is longer than what we have to deal with now I get though that it's it's October then you're getting into November and then you know

weather becomes an issue in some of these places. Cool. Then here's what you do. Shorten the regular season and get playoff games going earlier. There's an idea. Like, oh, but we can't get rid of those games because it's revenue. You mean to tell me you're not going to make more revenue from playing extra playoff games, the games that actually matter, the games that people actually watch? You're not going to make more money from that? I'm no expert on such things, but I feel like if, you know, there's 10 fewer Pirates games or 2 weeks, 14 fewer Pirates games in the regular season, And I feel like baseball, and I believe they revenue share and all this. So baseball, of course, would do better off having, you know, a Phillies Dodgers playoff series that goes seven games instead of three. Or like the Dodgers are set to play the Mets right now in the wild card round.

That could be done. Those are your two biggest markets. And that series could be over in 20 hours. From the time it starts to the time it ends, it can be over in like 24 hours. Do you want that? If you're baseball, do you want that? Do you want the Mets and the Dodgers? It is a dream for the Mets and Dodgers to play in a playoff series.

It is a dream to get that match up. It would be a dream to have the Phillies or the Dodgers take the Mets or the Dodgers take on the Phillies. A dream. And the best you're going to get out of Phillies versus Dodgers or Mets is five games. Make it a seven-game series the whole way through. Find a way to do that. find a way because you're screwing people by taking the most important baseball postseason baseball and treating it like you should treat the regular season again if you're worried about the weather

start the playoffs two weeks early start the playoffs in september oh but it's october baseball cool you're just going to have to change the shit on the t-shirts you can't put destination october on a t-shirt anymore and oh by the way you're still going to be playing baseball in October. Because it's still going to be a seven-game series. So let's say you start the seven-game series in the middle of September versus the middle of or early October. You're still going to be going through a playoff series that's going to take you into

October. There will still be October baseball. You're not going to lose that. This doesn't make sense. Like the hockey regular season is long, but you get a bunch of seven-game series. It makes sense. Baseball is the only postseason that doesn't make. any fucking sense.

It does not, like, the fact that you would sit there and, like, run the risk of having Dodgers Mets, L.A. versus New York, and make that a three-game series that could be over in 24 hours. That is dumb. It just doesn't make sense. Anyway, that's not what this is about. That was an impromptu diatribe about the idiocy of the regular season and postseason of baseball.

So I text, Jilly. I'm like, do you want the tickets? You know, Tony says he's got tickets to see the game. He wants to know if we want to go. He had some for the weekend as well, but I'm like, no, I'm staying home to watch LSU in Florida. I can't go. So I takes Jillian. I'm like, you want to go see the Tigers?

And he says, sure, why not? I'd text Tony, my boss. I go, Tony, yeah, I'll take the tickets. He sends me the tickets. And it turns out that these tickets are in something called the priority club. So I'm like, huh, what is the priority club? That's interesting. So I Google the priority club because usually when I get tickets, they're good tickets.

You know, they're lower bowl, you know, behind the dugout. They're good seats. Every time I've gotten tickets from the station, they've been good seats. And then I sat in a club level as well where it had free food and free beer once too. I look up the priority club at Comerica Park. Step into the pinnacle of Tigers Baseball with the exclusive priority club at Comerica Park. Your experience begins with VIP parking and a private entrance, leading to a luxurious climate-controlled club that blends Detroit's rich history with modern elegance, and enjoying upscale, all-inclusive environment featuring premium drinks, a striking bar adorned with Tiger's lore, a rotating menu of gourmet takes on ballpark favorites,

whether dining on sushi or savoring cocktails, every moment is elevated, just steps from your elite temperature-controlled seats. The seats are temperature-controlled. You can make them cooler or hotter. This is more than a game. It's Detroit's most refined way to experience baseball. And I'm looking at the pictures. There's like sushi and steaks and the seats behind home plate, like the green seats back

there, are heated or cool depending on the weather. Priority Club at Camarica Park ready to welcome fans with high-end food and drink. Tomahawk steaks with mashed potatoes and aujew. Lobster rolls on toasted New England-style rolls. Oysters Rockefeller. Those are just a taste of the dishes Camerica Park premium seat ticket holders can expect at the ballpark's new Priority Club, which debuted on July 24th. So this is brand fucking new. Located below the lower seating level in an all-inclusive space for food and drink, including premium climate-controlled seating,

priority club members have a private street entrance, descend to the priority club entrance, and walk down a staircase to the club. There is no shortage of food choices. Inside, fans can enjoy the high-top seating surrounded by a live kitchen with offerings from sushi to seafood to steak and pasta. Lobster roll, tomahawk steaks. A very large bar with quartz countertops lined with the back of the club Included in the ticket price are premium spirits, Craft cocktails like the new bourbon-based Batting Tiger, and other cocktails and drinks.

From the premium seats, it's a minutes or so walk to the private club where fans can feast on various elevated food options at live kitchen stations while experiencing VIP benefits. I'm like the Beverly Hillbillies in this place. Boy, look at that lobster roll. That looks tasty. See, that's a mayonnaise type of, not mayonnaise, but like, like lobster rolls I'm picky with. I like a butter-based lobster roll, not to be picky here.

But apparently these tickets are $350 apiece. And they're getting the money for them because this thing is new, so people are wanting to experience it. So the priority club is for Comerica Park's 350 premium, climate control ticket holders, and 52 loge box ticket holders. Eventually, they plan to expand to offer another 120 seats. So the tickets start at $350. Start at $350. So I'm not positive where exactly my seats are.

I think they're right behind home plate, but I'm not sure. So there's a chance. You might just see me on TV tonight if you watch the Tigers, which none of you will. I don't blame you. But that's the situation for me. tonight. It is in section, it's Priority Club 3. Let me see if I can see a seating chart. I wonder if mine were the more expensive seats are like the lowest priced ones. Let's see here.

Priority Club 3. Let's see. Priority Club 3. Section 3, Comerica Park. Let's see if there's if there's like a seating there can america park seating map i if look okay so there's home plate club loge boxes where is so i guess home plate club would be these so it would be wait a minute it's three might be directly behind home plate and what row is it triple a i'm not pause 3d seat viewer can i type in my seat intersection number Okay. Now I'm curious. What a world. Let's see here. Priority Club 3, section number. Okay. How do I do that? Do I just go? Oh, there's the priority club. Priority Club three. Okay. Where is Row AAA? Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Hold on. Wait a minute. 8. If I'm reading this correctly, unless this is a fucking goof, I am sitting directly behind home plate in the first fucking row. So you're going to have to watch like the highlights

or if you have the MLB streaming package, watch the Tigers tonight because your boy is sitting in the most Primo of Primo seats ever. Directly behind home plate row triple A, which is essentially row one, right behind home plate. Holy shit. What are we doing? How did I get here? Look, I don't make dick in terms of the money I make here, which is fine. But like the ticket hookups here are pretty fucking immaculate.

Like I went to a Pistons game last year when they brought me in for this interview here and we were in a club similar to this. in the Pistons. We watched the game in like a booth, like a diner booth on the baseline. It was fucking awesome. And holy shit. We're in, this is something. The very first fucking row behind home plate. Now, the view may kind of suck. That's kind of the thing. Like, usually sitting in the front row of anything is kind of like, okay, the view's not going to be very good. You're not going to be able to see much, probably, right? Because you're sitting right behind home plate. The umpire blocks the strike zone. So does the catcher. I am bitching.

Like, I'm sure the view would be considerably better if you're, you know, a section up or whatever. But this, I've never done this before. In St. Louis, I sat in the premium seats down there, like a three or four rows back, and it was cool. I have never sat in these type of seats before. This is something. Boy, hot damn. I'm just like the Beverly Hillbillies, man, the cement pond. I'm moving on up.

But the ticket connection here is great, the other than I don't think there's any football tickets. Tickets are extremely expensive to go to the Lions right now. Like, we were looking at some for, you know, later in the season. It's like, oh, yeah, you want to spend $300, $400, $400 a ticket to go? Not really. So, but anyway, whoa, this is something. More to come.