That's silly, since they can get their rotation in gear, over teams who had to play a three-game series before hand.
Nope....
Baseball is designed to be a day in day out 162 game grind with one day off every 10 days or so.
It's all about being locked, with repetition, and keeping timing keen. When you are trying to time 102 mph fastballs, being off competitive live pitching is tough to readjust back to.
The rust even whacked the Astros, if you see how they came out the gate in Game 1. So many micro-second swings and misses early. It was obvious. And Verlander's worst start of the season? The man is a slave to habit and repetition. Yeah...it hurt him too.
I will grant maybe the only advantage one might extract from a bye might be if you have an arm tired pitching that desperately needs an addtional few days of rest. In the case of the Yankees, Astros, Dodgers, and Braves..... That wasn't the case.
Don't get me wrong, I think the bye and its HFA and rotation adjustment is a plus for the winners, but once it all gets processed, I'll be willig to say its possibly a wash.