Orioles owner David Rubenstein's comments highlight larger league-wide issue

Earlier this week, Orioles owner David Rubenstein spoke to the media and made a couple comments about the state of the franchise as we head into the final stretch of 2024. Rubenstein seems optimistic about the Orioles' chances, as you'd expect from anyone in the front office.

He also makes a good point that the Orioles young core is the envy of much of the league. Despite some of their recent struggles, the group including Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman should give the Orioles a chance to win for years to come.

However, Rubenstein also alluded to the fact that he doesn't seem to care if the Orioles win their division. He stated that he feels good about the Orioles chances of making the playoffs but whether or not they get a first round bye doesn't seem to be much of a concern.

MLB's expanded playoffs have mostly ruined old-school division races

Before MLB expanded the playoff bracket, winning your division was vital - you couldn't get into the postseason without it. Now that MLB has expanded to allow six teams per league into the postseason, those divisional races just don't matter in the way that they used to.

For two years running, the 6th seed in the NL playoff bracket has made the World Series. Last year's Diamondbacks won just 84 games, finishing 16 games behind the Dodgers in the NL West. In no other season in MLB history would that team have made the postseason, but here we are.

With such a low bar for entry, it's no wonder that teams take a lazy approach in the offseason and twiddle their thumbs at the trade deadline. Winning 100+ games and building truly great teams just doesn't matter as much when you can get into the bracket with far less. And as we know, anything can happen in a three-game series so as long as you're in the postseason you've got a chance.

Unfortunately, this is a problem when it comes to team building, and it's a problem when it comes to divisional races at the end of the year. Yes, the Orioles are chasing the Yankees in the AL East but it doesn't feel like a big deal when both teams are more than likely to earn a postseason bid regardless of what happens.

Some fans enjoy the expanded postseason and that's fine - enjoy what you want. For me though, when you have owners and front offices that say the quiet part out loud, like how winning the division isn't important or how teams are just trying to build 85-win rosters, that's bad for baseball.