What do I want for the playoffs? 40 GAMES!

Last night's victory by the Cardinals was the 29th playoff game played this year. Between the 4 Division Series, the ALCS and the NLCS, the tally so far has been 29 games.

And both LCS are still up in the air. The Tigers can win today and the Brewers could win tomorrow and we'd have a pair of 7th games.

Now keep this in mind. In 2007, between the 4 Division Series, ALCS, NLCS and World Series, only 28 games were played... total.

Three of the Division Series were sweeps. The NLCS and the World Series were both sweeps.
Only the Indians 4 game victory over the Yankees and the Red Sox 7 game ALCS clinching kept the post season from being the minimum. (I could be generous and say there were 29 post season games by including the Padres and Rockies one game playoff.)

The MAXIMUM number of possible post season games is 41.
That's if all Division Series, the ALCS, NLCS and World Series all go the distance.

That's impossible this year because the Rays and Rangers series went 4 and not 5 games.
But the other three Division Series went the full 5 and there is the possibility of both LCS going all 7.

The maximum number of games that can be played this post season is 40.
And THAT'S what I am rooting for.
Two LCS being decided by one game and the World Series going 7.

Now, because I wonder about things like this, I tried to see how many games each post season went since the Wild Card was introduced.

2007 was the quickest post season with 28.
The longest? That would be 2003 when 2 Division Series and both LCS went the distance.

In 1998 and 2009, not a single post season series had a winner take all deciding game.

Here are how the post seasons unfolded.

1995 31 games. 1 Division Series went the distance.
1996 32 games. NLCS went the distance.
1997 34 games. 1 Division Series and World Series went the distance.
1998 30 games. No series went the distance.
1999 31 games. 1 Division Series went the distance.
2000 31 games. 1 Division Series went the distance.
2001 35 games. 3 Division Series and the World Series went the distance.
2002 34 games. 2 Division Series and the World Series went the distance.
2003 38 games. 2 Division Series, the NLCS and ALCS went the distance.
2004 34 games. 1 Division Series, the NLCS and ALCS went the distance.
2005 30 games. 1 Division Series went the distance.
2006 30 games. NLCS went the distance.
2007 28 games. ALCS went the distance.
2008 32 games. ALCS went the distance.
2009 30 games. No series went the distance.
2010 32 games. 1 Division Series went the distance.


So unless you are from Texas or St. Louis or have a friend or family member on the Rangers or Cardinals, root for the Tigers and Brewers in Game 6. Let's have some 7 game series.

It's been 9 years since a World Series went 7 games. It's been 3 years since the ALCS went 7 and 5 years since the NLCS had 7.

Let's have 40 post season games for the first time ever.
Trust me, it will be fun.