September 29, 2023 By: Mark Knudson

MLB “Champagne” Season Tastes Flat

The most exciting part of the Major League Baseball season is arriving, along with the requiste champagne celebrations.

All of them.

And there are a lot of them during the MLB Postseason. Enough to make it Christmas in October for the lucky bottlers of bubbly.

For whatever reason, baseball is the only sport that does it this way, embracing huge celebrations for every step along the path to a championship.

When the Denver Nuggets clinched a playoff spot this past spring, they shook hands, firm in the knowledge that the work was not done yet. When they won their first round playoff series against Minnesota…same thing. When then ousted the Phoenix Suns…again, more pats on the back and pledges that they weren’t done yet.

Only after they swept the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals did the Nuggets allow themselves to celebrate. Just a little. On the plane back to Denver.

Of course when the Nuggets won the franchises’ first ever NBA title, they let loose in a big way. The image of forward Aaron Gordon – still partially in uniform, chugging from a bottle while walking through the massive celebrations outside the arena in Denver will never get old for Nuggets faithful.

They partied because they’d won it all, not because they completed one, or even two, of the steps.

Contrast that with Major League Baseball’s glut of champagne celebrations, from the clinching of a wild card playoff spot all the way through to winning the World Series.

Here’s how it works: Team A clinches a playoff spot a week before the end of the season…and they pop the corks.

Then, a couple days later, they clinch the division title. More corks.

Then, they win their first Wild-Card playoff series. Still more of the bubbly.

It’s on to the Division Series. A win there and another celebration ensues.

But the work isn’t finished of course. Win the League Championship Series and you earn the chance to play in the World Series. And of course another champagne shower.

Finally, if Team A wins the World Series, they’ll engage in their SIXTH champagne celebration (this one very well deserved) in less than a month. Team B, the one that didn’t win the series, will only have gotten to have five champagne baths.

Does that seem like a lot to you?

Me too.

Remember, baseball is the sport that discourages on-field celebrations for the most part. Sure, those reins have been loosened the past few years, but ask any pitcher who’s on the wrong side of a bat-flip/slow home run trot, and he’ll tell you exactly how much celebrating he’s likely to stomach.

So why is it that MLB – and other levels of baseball too – embrace all this spraying of champagne after the completion of the simplest of steps? With the expanded playoffs, a team with a .500 record can sneak into the playoffs, pop the corks, and have their season end three days later with nothing to really show for it…save some souvenir empties.

Sure, we’d all like to be the business owner that has the champagne – or protective eyewear – contract with MLB. Those rewards are tangible and almost immediate. But if you’re a highly competitive MLB team owner for example, and you put out big bucks for a high priced roster, only to see that team clinch a playoff spot, pop the corks, and get wiped out in the first round…do you feel like celebrating?

Me neither.