Playoff Idea

[fearthehawk47]

So after the Cardinals got swept in 3 games by the Dodgers, I found myself wondering how fair the MLB playoffs were. Now, I understand that if the Cardinals are the great they are supposed to be, they should have beaten the Dodgers and advanced to the NLCS. With that said, too many times teams that dominate in the regular season lose early in the playoffs and when you sit down and look at the playoff system, it's somewhat illogical. A 162 game season comes down to a 5 game first round. Essentially, that means that a playoff game is worth 32.4 games. For comparison, the NBA season is 82 games for a 7 game series for an 11.72 games and the NFL is 16 games for 1 game, which obviously comes out to 16. So what do I suggest to make this system better?

I suggest 6 playoff teams per league. 4 out of 15 (AL-14, NL-16) make the playoffs for a .27 rate, whereas in the NFL, its 6 of 16 for a .38 and in the NBA its 8/14.5 for a .55. By adding 2 teams per league to the playoffs, I don't believe you compromise the integrity of the playoffs. The 2 additional playoff teams this year would be the Tigers and Rangers in the AL (both at least 10 games over .500) and the Marlins and Giants in the NL (both at least 14 games over .500) All 4 of these teams are quality teams that wouldn't lessen the impact of the postseason.

Here are the changes that would need to be made: the season would lessen it's length to 154 games, something that's been discussed for a while. Seeding would be 1-6, with the division leaders getting 1-3 (and homefield) and the #1 and #2 getting a first round bye. The first series would be a best of 3 series. Then, the playoffs would continue as normal.

Then again, maybe I'm just too traditional. A lot of people like how predictable the postseason is, whereas personally, I prefer it to better mimic the regular season. In conclusion, I will give you this graphic, which shows regular season wins compared to actual World Series Champion:

 

[di0p]

I hear your point and it does have some merit, but in order to add more teams to the playoffs they would have to cut regular season games down to 150 or so for obvious time reasons.

The players have been adamant in their support for cutting the season down to 150 or so, but the owners won't budge because of the revenue(go figure).

Others have suggested you could keep the 162 games and play more double headers, but the players are adamantly against that. It's kind of a stalemate.

 

[bob2the2nd]

I hear your point and it does have some merit, but in order to add more teams to the playoffs they would have to cut regular season games down to 150 or so for obvious time reasons.

The players have been adamant in their support for cutting the season down to 150 or so, but the owners won't budge because of the revenue(go figure).

Others have suggested you could keep the 162 games and play more double headers, but the players are adamantly against that. It's kind of a stalemate.

he suggests adding a best of 3 series in the first round. why would this require cutting the season to 150 games? Even if you say that a best of 3 takes a full week you have still gained an extra day or two overall if you cut the season to 154 games.

 

[fearthehawk47]

I agree you have to cut the season down, hence why I think it should be cut down to 154. By doing so, you take a week off the season which would prevent the regular season from going into October. By adding only a 3 game series, it also makes it so that the playoffs couldn't really go into November, like they will this year.

 

[macbdog]

4 teams is good enough.

As it is, the regular season actually means something in baseball. This isn't true in more wide open formats like the NBA and NHL. There, it might as well be an exihibition.

In baseball, we actually see fights for the playoffs until the final day. Division titles aren't 'as' important, but they certainly aren't valueless since they are one of only two playoff spots open to a team.

To me, baseball has one of the playoff formats that suits its' league the best. 4 teams in each league is enough.