Melvin's Playoff Teams with 2020 Playoff Rules

[rickh150]

Apologies if this his been written about, in part, other places on brewerfan.

 

We all know the years.... 2008 and 2011. Both were better than the last two seasons when the team couldn't win a game in the playoffs. Both 2008 and 2011 got the Brewers universe unbelievably excited; I'd venture to say 2008's 90 win team was even more exciting getting to the playoffs the first time since 82. That being said, I was at Morgan's Game 5 in 2011, and I know the pure bliss that was in that park and parking lot leaving that game.

 

I got to thinking how many of Doug Melvin's teams could have gotten to the playoffs under this year's rules of 8 teams in per league. In a nutshell, I found out that our disappointing years would have been years of at least minor achievement and less misery. The years of 2007, 2012, and 2014 would have been playoff teams (along with 2008 and 2011...and 2017 Stearns-4 in a row). Who knows how those years would have ended if we were included? Melvin's legacy would have been bumped up a notch too, almost regardless of how they performed in the postseason.... Stearns too.

 

The really surprising thing I found out after looking up standings over those years? We almost would have gotten in 2005 (our first .500 team since 92) and 2013! In 2013, the Padres would have gotten in with a 76-86 record! We had 74 wins. Wow!

 

All being said, I do not hope for the current playoff format to continue. I'd like to see 6 teams in per league, division winners and 3 wild cards. Ala the NFL (before this year), the best two division winners in each league gets buys. The other 4 teams playoff teams play a best of 3 at the better record team's stadium... division winner or not. My feeling is that this would be a nice blend of playoff inclusion for generally smaller market teams, along with rewarding excellence with playoff byes.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

This is cool. Thanks! Melvin feels to me like a "bridge" GM, and someone who performed well in that role. There was a lot of talent on those teams from about 2006 on, really. A few bad years, some tough injury luck, but that tenure shouldn't be overlooked.

 

As for the playoff structure and format, I've been thinking about that too. I think 12 (NFL-style) is the best number in terms of excitement, rewarding success, and balancing the actual bracket. So I'm on board.

 

Two minor concerns I have with the 12-team bracket:

 

1) A division winner in a really tough division could easily be a 3-seed and have to go through a random best-of-3. Maybe that's no big deal. It's not in the NFL. But baseball is so different, and the idea of not rewarding a division winner doesn't sit quite right with me. When the league expands to 32, going with two divisions per league would fix that. That's probably what I'd like to see.

 

2) Scheduling might be an issue. As of now (pre-pandemic), season ends on Sunday, WC on T/W, DS on Th/F. That's 4 and 5 days off for division winners. I don't think you want them sitting around for any longer than that. You could squeeze those three games series in without an off day either before or after if you wanted. Maybe that's the way to go. Otherwise, one option is to actually shorten the season slightly to 158 games or something and let division winners play a few exhibition style if they want and start those 3-game series simultaneously with that. Everyone else can play for fun/gate/stats. Maybe you even just count those 3-gamers as regular season games if you want for stats purposes (really getting into the weeds here, I know).

 

I think 12 is a good number. 16 is too many. 14 is hard to bracket.

[IIAY]

This is cool. Thanks! Melvin feels to me like a "bridge" GM, and someone who performed well in that role. There was a lot of talent on those teams from about 2006 on, really. A few bad years, some tough injury luck, but that tenure shouldn't be overlooked.

 

As for the playoff structure and format, I've been thinking about that too. I think 12 (NFL-style) is the best number in terms of excitement, rewarding success, and balancing the actual bracket. So I'm on board.

 

Two minor concerns I have with the 12-team bracket:

 

1) A division winner in a really tough division could easily be a 3-seed and have to go through a random best-of-3. Maybe that's no big deal. It's not in the NFL. But baseball is so different, and the idea of not rewarding a division winner doesn't sit quite right with me. When the league expands to 32, going with two divisions per league would fix that. That's probably what I'd like to see.

 

2) Scheduling might be an issue. As of now (pre-pandemic), season ends on Sunday, WC on T/W, DS on Th/F. That's 4 and 5 days off for division winners. I don't think you want them sitting around for any longer than that. You could squeeze those three games series in without an off day either before or after if you wanted. Maybe that's the way to go. Otherwise, one option is to actually shorten the season slightly to 158 games or something and let division winners play a few exhibition style if they want and start those 3-game series simultaneously with that. Everyone else can play for fun/gate/stats. Maybe you even just count those 3-gamers as regular season games if you want for stats purposes (really getting into the weeds here, I know).

 

I think 12 is a good number. 16 is too many. 14 is hard to bracket.

 

I actually like the idea of 14. The team with the best record in each league gets a bye into the DS. The other 2 division winners play the 2 WC teams with the worst records. Top 2 WC teams play in first round with the winner playing the best team in the league in DS. Less than half of the teams get in the playoffs and less likely to see a team with a losing record in the playoffs.

[Madhawk23]

Yeah, thanks for doing this exercise. Interesting to see how many other Brewers teams would have made it in under these expanded playoff scenarios. I think we all can agree that 16 teams is way too many. Personally, I would be on board with your 12 team scenario. It would at least expand it by to extra teams each year, but not completely water it down. Making the postseason in baseball has always meant something, and I would just hate for it to turn into the NBA.

[SomewhereInTime]

I liked when they went to 5, it was a postseason expansion but at the same time putting a huge emphasis on winning the division instead of in the past basically making the WC a fourth division champion. Finding a way to expand the postseason while putting a huge emphasis on finishing top two in the league would be alright, can't really do a bye longer than 4 or 5 days though so the three game WC round series would have to stay.