Winter weather still covers much of America in late March when spring training ends and the baseball season gets under way. The bone-numbing cold is still around in early April when umpires wear mittens and players often don ski caps. Warm spring days follow in May and sometimes linger into June before the oppressive heat takes over. July features more heat — and stifling humidity with it — leading into the “dog days” of August. The leaves begin to fall as the earth cools in September, but the pennant races are likely to remain hot as the intensity level reaches its maximum. Six months that touch on all four seasons. One hundred sixty-two games. There’s nothing else in sports that compares to a baseball season. For a dozen teams there’s a reward at the end. The 12 teams that handle the six-month slog better than all the others move on to the playoffs — baseball’s second season. All 12 usually approach it with joy and excitement. The players may be weary but they seem to find a fresh burst of energy as they realize the possibilities that lie ahead. The fans aren’t weary at all as they prepare to cheer their heroes straight to baseball’s Promised Land. The media beats the drums. The owner jacks up ticket prices as much as he dares and sells them in blocks. The mayor picks out a spectacular outfit to wear in the World Series victory parade. There’s plenty of thrills for everybody. And then — POOF — for most of them it’s gone almost before it starts. Seventy-two hours after the playoffs begin, four of the teams are out. A week or so later four more are eliminated. The party has barely begun when two-thirds of the guests are being warned to not let the door hit them as they exit. Two-thirds of the people who were so excited a few days ago discover they battled through 162 games for a POOF. It doesn’t seem fair — probably because it isn’t fair. But that’s baseball. Four teams are eliminated because they lose a best-of-three series against another playoff team. That’s two losses. Four more are ousted when they lose a best-of-five. That’s three losses. No wonder it feels like a POOF. There’s never been a baseball team so talented that it can’t lose two games in a row. There’s never been a team that it can’t lose three out of five. Any of the 12 teams that reach the playoffs is capable of winning the World Series, but only one team will do that. Any of them are also capable of being quickly ousted and eight will do that. That’s a lot of POOFing and some find it difficult to accept. Invariably, some don’t. Some of the fans feel let down and betrayed and they do what fans typically do. They look for a scapegoat. The local media has no more games to cover, so they do what media typically does. They help the fans find their scapegoat. The owner reluctantly refunds at least most of the money he collected for tickets to games that now won’t be played, and he isn’t in a good mood when he hears the cacophony from the fans and the media. Sometimes he ignores it but sometimes he demands an explanation for the loss. He might not accept the excuse that two strong clubs competed, and somebody had to lose. Nope, it’s October and October is baseball’s favorite month for overreaction. More than a few managers have lost their jobs because they failed to win in the postseason. Star players have been traded because they failed to deliver at crucial moments. Rosters have been scrambled by people who claim to be assembling a club for the purpose of postseason success. (By the way, that’s not possible but some people have been known to try.) All that’s in the past, but there’s probably more in the future — the very near future, in fact. I’m writing this from the perspective of Wednesday, before any of the scheduled games have begun. The Phillies trail the Mets, two games to one and Dodgers trail the Padres by a similar total. The Yankees are knotted with the Royals,1-1, but will play the next two games in Kansas City. As I write, I wonder what will happen when some of these teams lose. I wonder how many owners are prepared to shrug their shoulders and say, “that’s baseball.” I don’t expect that to happen too many times. It’s been 15 years since the Yankees last played in a World Series. The only longer franchise drought occurred between 1903 and 1920 — the first 18 years of the club’s existence. The current owner, Hal Steinbrenner, is not as impulsive as his father, George Steinbrenner, used to be, but it seems likely that manager Aaron Boone and general manager Brian Cashman are now on short leashes. If the Yankees lose this round — or even the next — one or both are likely to be replaced. On the other coast the Dodgers have been the strongest team in the National League for many years. Two years ago, they faced a division rival with an inferior record in the Division Series and lost. Last year they faced a division rival with an inferior record and lost. Guess what? The Dodgers are again playing a division rival with an inferior record in the Division Series. If they lose again, that could trigger a managerial change. I don’t think there’s a better manager in baseball than Dave Roberts, but three Division Series losses might be one too many. Now take the Phillies and the Mets. The Phillies have an owner who says he’s willing to spend “stupid money” and the Mets have an owner who spends even more. Neither is likely to accept a loss gently — especially when playing one another. I presume both managers are secure at the present time, but there’s other things these owners can do. Whoever loses is certain to make his presence known in the offseason. The winner will too if his team loses somewhere else along the way. And they won’t be the only ones. Keep those seismographs well-oiled. There are likely to be some earthquakes in the baseball world very soon. PLAYOFF STATISTICS (Wednesday’s games not included): The first 19 postseason games have produced 10 blown saves … Fernando Tatis of the Padres and Mark Vientos of the Mets each has 10 postseason hits. That includes four homers for Tatis and two for Vientos … The Orioles finished with an ERA of 1.50. They also finished with a record of 0-2 … Manny Machado of the Padres led the majors in grounding into double plays during the season. In 21 postseason plate appearances he’s grounded into two more … Yankees pitchers have a walk/strikeout ratio of 5-22 … Jake Rogers of the Tigers is the only hitter to swing at a 3-0 pitch. He got a base hit … On Tuesday Tommy Edman of the Dodgers had 10 fielding chances. Three of them were in centerfield and seven more at shortstop … Angel Zerpa of the Royals had a 2-0 record in 60 regular season appearances. His postseason record is 2-0 after three appearances … Joey Ortiz of the Brewers went hitless in 11 at bats … The Mets have stolen five bases without being caught … Tarik Skubal of the Tigers has pitched 13 innings, allowing seven hits, one walk and one hit batsmen. He has not given up a run. Former Hall of Fame voter Jay Dunn has written baseball for The Trentonian for 56 years. Contact him at [email protected]