Weird Rule Would Skew Home Field Advantage In Potential Philles-Astros World Series

Both the Houston Astros and the Philadelphia Phillies have 3-2 series leads in their respective League Championship Series. But if the two sides have a rematch in the World Series, a weird tiebreaker will shake up who gets home field advantage.

Each team ended the regular season at 90-72, so it would make sense that the tiebreaker would be head-to-head record. Philadelphia won the season series by winning two of three games in April. That should be an easy fix, no drama whatsoever.

But that would be way too easy to figure out. If we look at the playoff format a little closer, we’d realize that this would give an unjustified advantage to the Phillies.

Bad Formatting Could Skew The Outcome Of The World Series

Both teams finished with identical records, but Houston won the AL West. Meanwhile, Philadelphia eeked into the playoffs as a wild card and the No. 4 seed.

Wild card teams should not get the privilege of hosting the World Series, especially considering that they would be playing against a division winner. Playing an extra game at Citizens Bank Park would be no small advantage either; it's been the most electric atmosphere in this postseason.

Now the Astros actually prefer playing on the road, and they've been incredibly successful away from Houston this year. And While Houston did win two out three games in the City of Brotherly Love in last year's World Series, Citizens Bank Park still isn't a paradise for opposing teams.

In fact, one manager described playing in Philadelphia during the postseason as “four hours of hell.” And when the Phillies reached 112 decibels in the NLDS against the Atlanta Braves, it's easy to see why.

Houston certainly has the championship mettle to overcome a setback like this. Justin Verlander, Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, and others have all been there and done that in the playoffs.

But they shouldn’t be forced to fight behind either, especially because of an odd playoff format. There’s no guarantee this will be the World Series matchup, but if it does, Philadelphia could get an undeserved advantage.