MLB Playoffs to expand in 2012 (Now official; see post 61)

[trwi7]

I don't think the divisions are fair. You have teams like Minnesota and Texas that have to travel through two time zones for half of their division games while teams in the AL East don't travel through any time zone. Same thing with Houston, St. Louis and Chicago in the NL West.

The best thing they could do is add two expansion teams in the South, I'm thinking Nashville and Charlotte which are both bigger markets and far enough away from other teams where there would be minimal complaining about taking away viewers and then go to the NFL format with divisions with six four team divisions.

AL West - Angels, A's, Mariners, Diamondbacks
AL North - White Sox, Twins, Indians, Royals
AL East - Blue Jays, Red Sox, Yankees, Tigers
AL South - Orioles, Rays, Rangers, new Nashville team

NL West - Padres, Giants, Dodgers, Rockies
NL North - Cubs, Cardinals, Reds, Brewers
NL East - Phillies, Mets, Pirates, Nationals
NL South - Braves, Marlins, Astros, new Charlotte team

Season starts in late March or early April. You play 54 games (18 each) against teams in your own division. You play 72 games (6 each) against teams in your own league. You play 24 games (3 each against two divisions not in your league on a rotating basis.)

18 vs Chicago, Cincinnati and St. Louis (9 home, 9 away)
6 vs San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Colorado, Philadelphia, New York, Pittsburgh, Washington, Atlanta, Florida, Houston, New Charlotte team (3 home, 3 away for each)
3 vs the 4 AL North teams at home (Chicago, Minnesota, Cleveland and Kansas City) and 3 vs the 4 AL South teams on the road (Baltimore, Tampa, Texas, New Nashville team)

Schedule would be the same the next year only they would play the AL East at home and the AL West on the road.

Schedule the next year would be the AL North on the road and AL South at home.

Schedule the next year would be AL East on the road and AL West at home.

That's a 150 game schedule.

Playoffs would be 8 teams in each league.

1 vs 8
2 vs 7
3 vs 6
4 vs 5

Three game series in the quarterfinals

Five game series in the semifinals

Seven game World Series

Too bad it will never happen.

[GAME05]

no more regular season at all, but a complete playoff system to determine the World Series Champion. every team plays in a best-of-33 tournament bracket, first team to win 17 in the round moves on.

 

seeding will be determined by team payroll.

 

There will also be a loser's bracket to determine the order for draft picks.

[JohnBriggs12]

Any more than 8 teams and they should consider a format similar to the College World Series, with 2 survivors of pool play meeting in the traditional 7 game World Series.

I like it, I've had pool play in my thoughts when it comes to MLB playoff changes.

 

Of course, I'd like to see a meaningful slate of games, something like 6 teams and 30 games (6 games against each of the other five teams, a home series and an away series.) But then you would need to shrink the regular season to fit it in. Or, what about bringing back Sunday doubleheaders?

 

If you can get the regular season to end mid-September (19th at the latest), you could fit in 30-game pool play and still have Game 7 of the World Series scheduled by November 3rd (2010 calender).

Way too many games. My idea of pool play is to get to the World Series within 2 weeks of the regular season. They could do that with a 10 game pool (2 games vs. each of the other 5 teams). The problem with that is teams that will have been eliminated won't want to continue playing. So, I'd go with a 6 team double elimination tournament at the a single site for each leage. Hey it works for colleges in Omaha. Reward the team with the best record in each league and play it at that park. Or you could rotate it among all teams. It would be quite an event say to be hosting the leagues tournament's every 16 years in the NL and 14 in the AL. Baseball's problem with low rating for World Series is that it's held way too long after the regular season ends. Most casual baseball fans with teams out of it are into college and pro football by late October and couldn't care less about baseball.

[dadofandrew]

No format will lower the 162 game regular season schedule at least until the next CBA.

 

3-5-7 game series should be over 3 weeks after the season ends, which is mid-October. Much of the delay is because they take 8 days to play 5 games now. They have planes now, you can play every day, with a day off between series.

[Invader3K]

I do question why travel "off days" are really needed nowadays. Typically if a team finishes playing at 10 PM or so, they are on a plane by midnight. Then a couple hours flight, they're probably at the hotel by 3 AM or 4 AM at the latest (I realize it's longer if it's a East/West coast matchup). That's still plenty of time to sleep and rest before playing an evening game the next day.

[nate82]

Why not just shorten spring training by a month and start in the middle of March and then end the season in August. This would also shorten the season to something around 130-150 games. If the regular season ends in August that gives you enough time to play all the playoff games in September and with the World Series ending in the second week of October as the worst case scenario.

 

I love the idea of expanding the playoffs but the season would either have to start earlier or be shortened for that to happen. I would love for the season to start a little bit earlier and have the season shortened by 10 or 20 games.

[CheezWizHed]

Why not just shorten spring training by a month and start in the middle of March...

 

The Twins would really be kicking themselves for not putting a roof on then...

[nate82]

Why not just shorten spring training by a month and start in the middle of March...

 

The Twins would really be kicking themselves for not putting a roof on then...

So they have to start the first two weeks on the road then. Not a real big problem.

[sbrylski]

Selig expecting playoff expansion

 

Looks inevitable. As for scheduling, getting a three-game series in shouldn't be that big of a deal. I would have all three games at one stadium though, so you don't need a travel day:

 

Day 1: 5@4

Day 2: 5@4

Day 3: 3@2, 5@4 (if necessary)

Day 4: 3@2

Day 5: 4@1

Day 6: 4@1, 2@3

Day 7: 2@3

Day 8: 1@4

Day 9: 1@4, 2@3 (if necessary)

Day 10: 1@4 (if necessary)

Day 11: 3@2 (if necessary)

Day 12: 4@1 (if necessary), 3@2 (if necessary)

Day 13: 4@1 (if necessary)

[Invader3K]

I like it.

[Bombers]

I like it too. Expanding MLB's playoff is long overdue. Every year a good team is left out.

[nate82]

I hope they either shorten spring training or just end the season at the end of August and start the playoffs in either the first or second week of the playoffs. I wonder how the teams that win the division will handle the week off. You would think that would hurt the division teams more so than the teams that played the week before.

I know Selig wanted just a one game playoff between the two wildcard teams while the players union wants a best of three I think it is. I agree with Selig though it looks like there will definitely be an expansion to the playoffs in 2012 now.

[Funketown]

Call me old-fashioned, but as a baseball fan I'd rather see them go with four teams in the playoffs and two seven game series.

 

Of course, as a Brewers fan I like their chances of making it into a ten team field.

[RockCoCougars]

Call me old-fashioned, but as a baseball fan I'd rather see them go with four teams in the playoffs and two seven game series.

 

Of course, as a Brewers fan I like their chances of making it into a ten team field.

Here, here. Baseball is really the only pro sport left where making the playoffs is still an accomplishment. Allowing more teams in the post-season mix waters down the importance of the regular season, granting the pundits the ammo to attack it as 'being too long'.

[UWMike]

I don't like the idea of a division winner having to sit around for 3 or 4 days waiting for its division series to begin. This isn't like football where some division winners would get a bye and an easier road. Also not like football where teams need to rest before playing.

[danzig6767]

Selig expecting playoff expansion

 

Looks inevitable. As for scheduling, getting a three-game series in shouldn't be that big of a deal. I would have all three games at one stadium though, so you don't need a travel day:

 

Day 1: 5@4

Day 2: 5@4

Day 3: 3@2, 5@4 (if necessary)

Day 4: 3@2

Day 5: 4@1

Day 6: 4@1, 2@3

Day 7: 2@3

Day 8: 1@4

Day 9: 1@4, 2@3 (if necessary)

Day 10: 1@4 (if necessary)

Day 11: 3@2 (if necessary)

Day 12: 4@1 (if necessary), 3@2 (if necessary)

Day 13: 4@1 (if necessary)

I would agree that if this is done, the three games series between wild card teams should either be played in the stadium of the team who finished with a better record or a 2-1 home/away format with no off day in between for travel. That would be troublesome though if the wildcard matchup involved a west coast team with an east cost team because of the three hour time zone difference.

[davemakovec]

I'm not looking forward to baseball in mid-November. The problem with the playoffs is not that too few teams get in; it's that the same teams get in.

 

I don't want a never-ending playoff like the NBA.

[Polish Falcons]

Hate it. Hasn't Bud Selig done enough already (divisional realignment, wild card, inter-league play). The commissioner is too ambitious. MLB doesn't need constant change.

[strawbossisevil]

I'd be a bigger fan of an NFL type system. Divide the divisions up into four groups of four teams (with the addition of two expansion teams in the AL). Then have the top two teams get a first round bye. It would make having the best records actually worth something, as you would be one step away from the World Series. Plus it would allow for longer series, instead of requiring the addition of an additional round, as Selig is proposing right now.

 

As far as where the new teams should be located, I would suggest Brooklyn and Las Vegas.

[RockCoCougars]

I'm with those who think that in baseball a bye would be to the disadvantage of the team receiving it. It seems like over the years that the team who sweeps out of the LCS with a long delay until the WS often plays poorly in the WS when opposed to the team who's been playing all along. If they 'have' to add a bunch of wild card teams, I think that you need byes though. The Wild Card teams play each other 3 times in 4 days in a best of 3 series, with the next round the next day. This would obviously cause scheduling nightmares in the event of playoff ties, etc/ rainouts as well.

[nate82]

Hate it. Hasn't Bud Selig done enough already (divisional realignment, wild card, inter-league play). The commissioner is too ambitious. MLB doesn't need constant change.

I love all of those things. The wild card added excitement to baseball though the divisional realignment really didn't need to happen all they had to do was add two wild cards and that would have worked also. I also like inter-league play it is fun and I actually like to see the other teams from the other league play against the Brewers.

[Flood Pants]

I like the idea of expanding the playoffs, in theory. But I think in reality it could have the opposite effect that everyone wants it to. If the wildcard contenders play a short series, it will decrease the odds that the better of those two teams advances (because the outcome of a short series is very random). Especially of it's only a one game playoff. Then a tired, possibly inferior wildcard team goes on the road against a well-rested division champion. Advantage goes pretty clearly to the higher-seeded team. So I think expanding the playoffs would make it easier for a marginal team to get in, but harder for them to advance. Thus preserving the ability of teams like the Yankees to beat on their competition in the playoffs.

 

Our current playoff structure seems very well balanced even if it's smaller than in other sports. I'd hesitate to change that unless the perfect alternative is on the table. But it doesn't sound like that's the case.

[Mr QL]

I'd prefer to have a strict harp salary cap and slot pay in the draft but if they won't do that then there is no choice but to expand the playoffs. It should be a straight up best of 5(at least) series. Don't blame Selig, blame the Yankees and the MLBPA.

[dadofandrew]

All playoffs are a crapshoot, whether they be best of 1, 3, 5, or 7. The best rises to the top in 162, not in a tiny sample. However, having 3 top SP's is a great thing for the playoffs. I'm all for adding a couple teams.

[GAME05]

i like the Wild Card, but absolutely hate the idea of adding more playoff teams. such a brutally long schedule to determine who the best long-term team is, only to have a crapshoot playoffs. suddenly a team making the playoffs won't be near as exciting as it used to be.

 

Selig is doing everything he possibly can to fix the financial discrepancies in baseball though not actually fixing the problem. now he can have his two or three small-market teams make the playoffs every year and say that there's no problem.

 

baseball has such a long regular season, and its playoffs shouldn't be about what team is hot at the moment. Selig can't seem to figure out that what will make baseball more popular is improving the entire product and not merely having more playoff games. what's doubly-scary about this is that it's of course going to make baseball a lot of money, which means it could very well be a horrible idea that's never going to be repealed.

 

until now i've put up with the joke that is Commissioner Selig, but expanding the playoffs does more harm to the tradition of the game than even steroids have done.