Just for the record, we don't have a DVR.
Truthfully...The Phils' odds of winning the World Series are something on the order of 1 in 8 - 12.5%. Maybe a little more, if you can make the case that the Phils are truly a better team, or "better constructed for the post-season" than some of the other seven clubs who enter the Division Series. But a lot of what happens in post-season short series (and seven games is a short series) comes down to chance - to luck. A batted ball goes under the first baseman's glove, and the game, and series, is lost. Bad hop; that's all it takes.
The proliferation of rounds, the inclusion of more and more teams in the post-season tournament, has produced more revenue, and more entertainment for casual fans, to be sure. This has come at the cost (to me, at least) of devaluing excellence, because in such a system, the sheer randomness of the outcome - while assuring that more teams' fans get to enjoy the post-season chase - means that the eventual "winner" may be there due more to luck and chance than to excellence.
To me, it begins to reduce the post-season to something equivalent to... I don't know... a season of Survivor, or some such. An entertainment spectacle, created to hold a TV audience in front of the tube so they can be force-fed advertising... but more and more devoid of any meaning beyond that.
Full disclosure: I think I'm looking forward to the upcoming Adelaide Giants season more than the Phils' post-season... because it's not something that has been choreographed to maximize the TV audience and sell beer, and because it's not going to put me on an emotional roller coaster over a few mistakes, bad calls by umpires, or just dumb luck. Earlier today, I looked up the current roster of players committed to the Adelaide club for the 2024-2025 season.
But hey, that's just me. It's clear that the expanded post-season is popular, and profitable. It's not the first time, and won't be the last, when I'm out of step with American popular culture...and I'm OK with that.