Playoff Changes for 2020 [Latest: 16 team playoff field likely here to stay]

[Eye Black]

One thing I do like about the expanded playoffs is the Brewers will either make the playoffs with a chance at making a special run, or else they will (likely) end up with a top-14 draft pick. One of those two things will happen if the season can be completed, so that’s something. How’s that for some optimism!

[brewcrewdue80]

Except there are only so many wins to go around between the Brewers, Cubs, Cardinals, and Reds. If two of those teams finish well above .500, it will be tough for either wildcard to come from the Central.

 

Beat up on the AL Central.

Except we play 13 games against good-to-great AL Central teams and only 7 against the bad ones.

 

Or just the fact having the AL East and West beat up on the NL teams. They all can beat up on 3 teams, top 2 getting in. Dodgers should also run away with the west. I find it hard to see a 3rd team above .500 unless 2 teams (SF/AZ) flat out tank.

[Eye Black]

Well I hope you like the 16-team playoff field because it’s likely here to stay according to Rob Manfred.

 

Manfred comments/quotes below from this Washington Post article:

 

Manfred also said the expanded, 16-team postseason is likely to remain beyond 2020, adding that “an overwhelming majority” of owners had already endorsed the concept before the pandemic.

 

“I think there’s a lot to commend it,” he said, “and it is one of those changes I hope will become a permanent part of our landscape.”

 

Asked about making permanent some of this year’s other temporary rule changes, Manfred was noncommittal. However, he said the adoption of a universal designated hitter in both leagues has “softened” opposition to the DH in the NL, and he said the new extra-inning rule — with each half-inning beginning with a runner on second — has been greeted with a better-than-expected reception and “has a chance now” to stick. He was less optimistic about retaining seven-inning doubleheaders beyond 2020.

 

“One of the few good things about [the pandemic] is it has provided an opportunity to try some different things in the game on a one-year basis that I think has been a positive overall,” he said.

[Oxy]

The 16 team playoff as currently constructed is pretty terrible, but it really wouldn't take many tweaks to make it acceptable. Instead of opening with a 3 game series, have a 4 game series. The top seed would need to split the series to move on and the underdog has to win 3/4. Otherwise the regular season is just stupidly long. The NBA and NHL play half of the games of the MLB and it makes those regular season's a joke. Too many teams don't have a chance to win even if they do make the playoffs. I think the 5-6 number is a good number for the MLB.

[CrewFanBrewMan69]

Keeping the expanded playoffs once we’re back to 162 game season is so moronic. There’s no point for teams to try as hard or build as good of a roster in that case when there’s so many spots. Why build a team and spend the money required to build a 87-92 win team when a 75-80 win team has nearly as good a chance to make the playoffs and the owners can save money? Adding more mediocre and ****** teams to the playoffs isn’t a solution to anything.

[RollieTime]

Keeping the expanded playoffs once we’re back to 162 game season is so moronic. There’s no point for teams to try as hard or build as good of a roster in that case when there’s so many spots. Why build a team and spend the money required to build a 87-92 win team when a 75-80 win team has nearly as good a chance to make the playoffs and the owners can save money? Adding more mediocre and ****** teams to the playoffs isn’t a solution to anything.

 

Right there with you. Soon the 162 game season won’t really mean much because everybody will make the postseason at the conclusion of the regular season anyway. We are starting to get to that point in baseball. All they care about is increased playoff revenue. Everything always comes down to money and it’s pretty sad. It might work for a little while, but once (some) fans lose interest in the regular season and numbers are down, they will again continue to question why that is. This will be another reason as to why the numbers will continue to decrease.

[folly412]

Keeping the expanded playoffs once we’re back to 162 game season is so moronic. There’s no point for teams to try as hard or build as good of a roster in that case when there’s so many spots. Why build a team and spend the money required to build a 87-92 win team when a 75-80 win team has nearly as good a chance to make the playoffs and the owners can save money? Adding more mediocre and ****** teams to the playoffs isn’t a solution to anything.

 

Agree. I feared they would do this. The playoffs are already something of a crapshoot, but at least the teams that got there stood out over 162 games. If they continue to let everyone in, it further reduces both the weight of the regular season and interest of the playoffs for me.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Keeping the expanded playoffs once we’re back to 162 game season is so moronic. There’s no point for teams to try as hard or build as good of a roster in that case when there’s so many spots. Why build a team and spend the money required to build a 87-92 win team when a 75-80 win team has nearly as good a chance to make the playoffs and the owners can save money? Adding more mediocre and ****** teams to the playoffs isn’t a solution to anything.

 

Agree. I feared they would do this. The playoffs are already something of a crapshoot, but at least the teams that got there stood out over 162 games. If they continue to let everyone in, it further reduces both the weight of the regular season and interest of the playoffs for me.

 

So it's basically going to be the NBA? How long before they just seed the teams #1-#8?

[CheezWizHed]

A hidden negative here is the fact that this pushes the season further back into cold-weather seasons. Not a problem to play in Milwaukee. But games in Boston, New York, Minneapolis, etc... are going to be increasingly brutal. I can see the Twins making the World Series at some point and getting snowed out.

[MrTPlush]

I’m guessing the postseason wouldn’t be far off what it is now date wise. I don’t see snow posing a real threat. Denver would probably be the biggest concern if the postseason got any later, Minneapolis and Chicago could definitely be a bit chilly...but snow would not be of much concern. I live about as north as Minneapolis and snow is pretty unlikely, in a meaningful amount, before late November. A snow cancellation wouldn’t be any more different than a rain cancellation. Not like we are extending the postseason another month, weather seems to be a non issue in my opinion.

[Zad Fnark]

I live about as north as Minneapolis and snow is pretty unlikely, in a meaningful amount, before late November.

 

Except for the 1991 Megastorm...

[StearnsFTW]

It's going to add like three days to the season. Pretty irrelevant in my opinion. It takes a three game series instead of a one game playoff to get down to 8 teams.

 

I don't like the format though, as others have said it cheapens the regular season, which stinks.

 

Also, the extra innings rule suuuucks. DH, meh, don't care one way or the other.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

It's going to add like three days to the season. Pretty irrelevant in my opinion. It takes a three game series instead of a one game playoff to get down to 8 teams.

 

I don't like the format though, as others have said it cheapens the regular season, which stinks.

 

Also, the extra innings rule suuuucks. DH, meh, don't care one way or the other.

 

I don't mind the extra innings rule. If you can't score a runner from 2nd with no outs, you don't deserve to win.

[Lathund]

I prefer NL baseball, but I can live with the DH. 7-inning double headers I'm actually fine with, didn't expect that. I hate runner on 2nd less than I thought, but that doesn't mean I like it. Having 2 normal extra innings and only then (So from the 12th innings, or 10th inning in a DH) putting the ghost runner on could be a decent compromise.

 

But the 16 team playoff? Absolutely not. The one tiny positive might be that for a mediocre team there's an alternative to just trying to tank, but that still pales in comparison to the downsides. I was OK with it this year since the regular season was so short, but the problem with "temporary" revenue-generating changes is that once they're in they're hard to get rid of.

[jerichoholicninja]

More teams sure, whatever, but the #1 should not play the #8 in a 3 game series. Over 3 games any team can beat any other team twice. I really hope a #1 seed loses this year because the outrage may cause this to change.

 

What they should do is go to 7 teams from each league. The 3 division winners and the next 3 best records regardless of division. Then one game playoffs between 4/7 and 5/6 and then the winners play to advance to the DS against the #1 seed.

[sveumrules]

Still think the best would be to go to seven playoff teams where the three division winners get byes to the DS, then you have a series of three consecutive winner take all wild card games to determine the 4th DS team...

 

Day 1: WC4 @ WC3

Day 2: D1 winner @ WC2

Day 3: D2 winner @ WC1

Day 4: Division Series begin

 

If they do leave it at eight teams I don't think they'll keep first round best of three after a 162 game season, but instead a set up could be something like this...

 

WC8 @ DW1

WC7 @ DW2

WC6 @ DW3

 

To still get an advantage for winning the division these series would be structured so the Wild Card team has to sweep a three game road series against the Division Winner to move on, or the series is over once the Division Winner wins one game.

 

Then just leave WC4 vs WC5 as a standard best of 3.

[dlk9s]

Two-team playoff, #12 seed versus #1 seed, #12 seed must use the same uniform throughout the entire series and may not pack Tide sticks. Also, #1 seed gets to place one staff member in the stands with a dental mirror. That person must stay in the same seat the entire game.

[RollieTime]

How about we like, leave the playoff seeding alone? If anything, change the Wild Card Game into a three game series instead of one and done and make the first Wild Card Game start the day after Game 162.

 

I know baseball players are used to the daily grind and I’ve heard people mention how it might throw them off to give them a couple days off, but take a look at how it was set up last year. The final game of the season was on September 29th. The Brewers had one off day before the Wild Card Game and the AL teams had 2 off days prior to their Wild Card Game. And THEN the Division Series finally started on October 3rd, after 3 full off days.

 

You turn the Wild Card Game into a 3 game series. No off days after 162. You continue the grind since you are a Wild Card team while the Division winners get to wait. The other teams get to set their rotations and get healthy while waiting a few days for the short series to end.

 

The Wild Card team with the better record gets the two possible home games. The team with the lower record gets the first game at home, while the next two are at the home of the Wild Card team with the better record, reducing travel. Both teams will at least get one home game then.

 

Basing it off of last year, they could have squeezed in a 3 game series prior to the Division Series starting. Even if players don’t want the time off, they still got it anyway. Make the change and leave the rest of the postseason format alone.

[MrTPlush]

ASSUMING they don’t do the seeding like this year, in my opinion, the expanded postseason will be the most brilliant idea baseball has had in a long time.

 

Water down the regular season? The regular season is 162 games...it’s already hardly followed before September for most casual fans. I don’t see how it would effect interest at all.

 

It would likely increase interest, attendance, bring some balance to baseball, increase spending overall, reduce teams chasing 100 losses, stop wanting to trade a decent player after 3 years for a small market, and exponentially increase the Brewers postseason births in our lifetimes. Making the postseason once a decade can maybe stop being a Top 10 franchise highlight.

 

The only people that should hate such an idea are people cheering for a Dodgers/Yankees/Red Sox team because they almost make it every year anyway. Which really this increases their postseason births too, so hard to be too mad.

 

Look I wish we could make it under the normal format more often, but we can’t. Give the high seeds a clear advantage, but this is just a great idea for the Brewers and baseball in general. It isn’t hard to build a good baseball team, but the way the system is set up you need 93 wins sometimes to make it. Teams shouldn’t be going 10+ years without seeing the postseason in baseball, it’s bad.

[owbc]

ASSUMING they don’t do the seeding like this year, in my opinion, the expanded postseason will be the most brilliant idea baseball has had in a long time.

 

Water down the regular season? The regular season is 162 games...it’s already hardly followed before September for most casual fans. I don’t see how it would effect interest at all.

 

It would likely increase interest, attendance, bring some balance to baseball, increase spending overall, reduce teams chasing 100 losses, stop wanting to trade a decent player after 3 years for a small market, and exponentially increase the Brewers postseason births in our lifetimes. Making the postseason once a decade can maybe stop being a Top 10 franchise highlight.

 

The only people that should hate such an idea are people cheering for a Dodgers/Yankees/Red Sox team because they almost make it every year anyway. Which really this increases their postseason births too, so hard to be too mad.

 

Look I wish we could make it under the normal format more often, but we can’t. Give the high seeds a clear advantage, but this is just a great idea for the Brewers and baseball in general. It isn’t hard to build a good baseball team, but the way the system is set up you need 93 wins sometimes to make it. Teams shouldn’t be going 10+ years without seeing the postseason in baseball, it’s bad.

 

Yep. Postseason baseball is great. More please.

 

And the next step after expanding the playoffs should be to start getting creative about what can be done with the 162-game season. If it was up to me, the scheduled season would end in late August and the bottom-tier teams would start competing for draft position, the bubble teams would compete for the last playoff spots, and the top teams would compete for playoff byes.

[brewers888]

Isn't the first round best 2 of 3. Would you want to win 95 plus games and then have to face a .500 team with two good starting pitchers. The regular season should mean something and this just cheapens it completely.

[JackNicholson1974]

If the team with the best record is playing a 3 game series vs. an 8 see, then the regular season should be shortened to 82 games. Why bother trying to sort out who the best team is over the long haul if there is no reward at the end? I will wait to pass judgment until I actually see it in form, but there is nothing exciting about watching two 80 win teams battle it out in a world series.

[vetter]

Isn't the first round best 2 of 3. Would you want to win 95 plus games and then have to face a .500 team with two good starting pitchers. The regular season should mean something and this just cheapens it completely.

 

You're exactly right. And that's why a team like Milwaukee probably stands the best chance of benefiting from the new playoff rules for the foreseeable future. Why? We've typically been a fringe playoff team (under current rules) that lacks the phenomenal, big name starting pitchers.

 

For example, let's assume the Brewers are the #8 seed and we face the Dodgers in a best of 3 series. The new playoff rules allowed us the opportunity to make it in when we otherwise wouldn't. Then, we start Burnes and Woodruff vs. Kershaw and Buehler in the first two games. That gives us a legitimate chance to contend against a #1 seed.

 

The BEAUTY of no first round byes is that it levels the playing field because of the 3 game series. A 3 game series is always much more realistic for an underdog than a 5 game series when the higher seed gets the bye.

 

If I were a Dodgers/Cubs/Yankees/Astros fan I'd probably be upset with the playoff changes. But for a small market, generally lower payroll team in a Covid-19 world of uncertainty, this is a phenomenal thing. And let's face it, given small market constraints, a team like the Brewers will typically be a #4-8 seed vs a #1 seed like 2018. If that turns out to be the case, we'll be major beneficiaries of the new rules

[sveumrules]

Assuming that since they are using a best of three first round during a pandemic shortened 60 game season they will do the exact same thing during a regular 162 game season reminds me of this product an old coworker of mine at Initech was working on. It was a mat, with various conclusions on it, that one could jump to.

 

Wonder what ever happened to that guy?

[torts]

LOVE more playoff games! Was the 2006 world series cheapened because the cardinals won it after only winning 83 games in the regular season to win the division*? Thats essentially what the #8 seed will be during a regular full season.

 

 

*it was the cardinals, so obviously, it was cheapened just on that factor itself.