BCB After Dark: A postseason winner?

Welcome back to BCB After Dark: the swingin’ spot for night owls, early-risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Thanks for stopping by on this quiet evening. Let’s try to jazz things up while you are here. No cover charge. There are still some good tables available. Let us check your coat for you. Bring your own beverage.

BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.

Still no baseball. Thanks MLB and Fox.

Last time I asked you if you thought the Cubs should sign future Hall-of-Fame pitcher Justin Verlander as a free agent this winter. That idea went over like sandpaper underwear as 79 percent of you thought that giving that much money to a 40-year-old was a bad idea, no matter how good he was this past year.

Here’s the part where I talk about music and movies, except I don’t do a movie essay on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. I did start my thoughts on Nosferatu the Vampyre last evening and you can look those over if you haven’t already. I did re-watch the 1922 F.W. Murnau-directed silent classic Nosferatu since I wrote that (I had time because there’s no baseball!) so I’ll have a few short things to say about the original version as well.

But as always, if you want to skip the jazz, now’s your chance. You won’t hurt my feelings.

I had trouble deciding between two jazz videos today so I thought, heck, they’re my rules and I can break them. So I’m giving you two jazz videos tonight. Just don’t get used to it.

The first one is Eartha Kitt singing “I Want To Be Evil.” I know nothing about this performance and the video appears to be from a television show from the 1950s. I don’t know which one. But it’s pretty great. Of course, it’s Eartha Kitt. What did you expect?

And also, I present Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers performing “Children of the NIght.” This is from 1961 and featured Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Curtis Fuller on trombone, Wayne Shorter on tenor sax, Cedar Walton on piano and Jymie Merritt on bass. And of course, Blakey on drums.

Welcome back to everyone who skips all that jazz.

Tomorrow night I’m going to ask you for your World Series predictions, but tonight I’m going to ask you what you think of the new playoff system so far.

There was a lot of grumbling about 12 teams making the playoffs this year and how it seemed to make the pennant races anti-climatic. I was certainly one of those complaining about that. But since the playoffs have started, we’ve gotten some really good baseball, even if we didn’t always get a very good series. (See the American League Championship Series.)

But there have been some other complaints as well, mostly coming out of the National League. Whereas in the AL, the favorites mostly held serve and only Seattle’s win over Toronto in the Wild Card series can be considered an upset. But over in the NL, the lower-seeded team has won ever single series. That means we have the AL’s top seed, Houston, taking on the NL’s lowest-seeded team, the Phillies, in the World Series. A lot of people think we’re getting a mismatch in the Fall Classic, which is certainly not something MLB wanted when they designed this playoff format.

Of course, it may not turn out to be a mismatch. As the late, great Joaquín Andújar used to say, “Baseball can be summed up in one word: you never know.”

But that’s a question for tomorrow night. Tonight, I’m asking you what you think of the new 12-team playoff format with four byes out of the Wild Card round. Do you like it? If you were the commissioner of baseball, would you keep it? Or would you rather go back to the eight- or ten-team playoff system of previous years? (Sorry. The days of four or two teams in the playoffs are over.) Or maybe you want a return to 2020’s 16-team playoffs? I know a lot of owners wanted that in the last collective bargaining talks.

What is your impression of the playoffs so far? Have you changed your mind about it since they’ve started? If so, share your thoughts in the comments. Heck, share your thoughts in the comments anyway.

Thank you so much for stopping by tonight. If you checked anything, let us get it for you now. Please tip your waitstaff. We take requests, so if you have anything you want on a future visit, let us know. Get home safely. And join us again tomorrow night for another performance of BCB After Dark.