Playoff Picture for 2021

[TURBO]

Have an AL and an NL.

 

No divisions. Each team plays each team the same amount of times, no schedule differences.

 

Top 4 teams, based on record, in each league have a playoff system.

 

Winner of each league meets for the world series.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Have an AL and an NL.

 

No divisions. Each team plays each team the same amount of times, no schedule differences.

 

Top 4 teams, based on record, in each league have a playoff system.

 

Winner of each league meets for the world series.

 

Someone else can correct me, but I don't think the math allows for this.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

The Rays are likely starting Drew Rasmussen in Game #3 of their playoff series if he's not needed in relief in Games #1 or #2. That is really pretty awesome.

[owbc]

Have an AL and an NL.

 

No divisions. Each team plays each team the same amount of times, no schedule differences.

 

Top 4 teams, based on record, in each league have a playoff system.

 

Winner of each league meets for the world series.

 

Someone else can correct me, but I don't think the math allows for this.

 

I think you can get it close to even, or exactly even with a slight adjustment of games played. Travel is the biggest problem. And the only way to resolve the travel problem is to play the entire series against a team at once. Which opens up a whole new set of fairness problems due to tanking or just the randomness of injuries and hot/cold streaks.

 

That's why it makes sense to do things geographically and why it's ok to recognize that the Dodgers already lost to the Giants.

[Patrick425]

As for making the wild card a 3-game series...I don't see a good reason to do it.

 

How about that one game is not enough to prove who is the better team and who deserves to advance. Shouldn't that be the goal of the playoffs? I understand that a 3, 5, or even 7 game series is not perfect either, but it's a lot better than 1 game. The Dodgerd have 106 wins and the 2nd best record in baseball and face the possibility of getting eliminated in one game? That makes zero sense to me. I feel like if the Brewers were in this situation and then lost that game, a lot of people on this site would suddenly not feel as "excited" about the 1 game showdown.

 

Baseball lends itself to upsets more than any other sport. There is not really such a thing as a "huge upset" in baseball. Arizona can beat the Dodgers in one game. Does that mean they are a better team? That's the reason they play 162 games and not 81 or 17. You shouldn't be expected to play a 162 game schedule to prove you belong in the playoffs and then have your fate decided by one game. The Wild Card game is not a "play-in" game, it's part of the play-offs and should be treated as such.

 

The playoffs are mostly about entertainment. We already know that the Rays, Dodgers, and Giants are the three best teams in MLB. If this was college football, the "committee" would advance them to the semifinals. However, if you value the regular season, then the Dodgers already "lost" to the Giants and therefore should be eliminated. So it's really a gift by MLB to even give them a chance. And if they're going to throw a bone to second place teams, you may as well make it as entertaining as possible. The wild card games are awesome, they are by far the safest guarantee of an entertaining, must-see MLB game. It's a win-win because you are not involving the division winners and you are still entertaining the fans and giving the Dodgers another chance. The Dodgers already lost to the Giants--they lost the season series and they lost the division. The Giants are the better team over 162 games. A 7-game series will not change that, but it would provide us with a ton of entertainment, and potentially a different outcome because the postseason is different than the regular season and everyone optimizes their rosters to win in the postseason. It's just more fun. So in my view the single-game wild card is a perfect balance of rewarding the best regular season teams and entertaining the fans.

 

The playoffs are mostly about entertainment? The goal of each team during the season is to make the post-season. They aren't exhibition games. Like every other sport, the post season crowns a league championship who is engraved into the history of that sport for eternity. So let's at least attempt to have a logical and fair process regarding the post season. This is the time where even the casual fan or non-fan starts paying attention. The Dodgers lost to the team with the best record in baseball by one game and their record was better than every other team in the majors by at least 6 games. So, they should feel lucky to be "thrown a bone" and be allowed to be in the playoffs? If anyone is getting thrown a bone, it's Atlanta. Twelfth best record in MLB, but does not have to play a one game do or die. Doesn't even have to play the 1 seed in the first round. How does that make sense? Oh, but they won their division! A division who's 2nd place team was barely above .500. Congratulations for being champions of a horrible division!! At least make the WC a 3 game series. Can we at least start with that? That would be a huge improvement in my opinion. Then next step would be to "re-rank" the teams after the WC series. This would not be good for the Brewers this year, but it would objectively be the fairest way to award post-season position based on regular season performance.

[areacodes]

How often is the first wild card team going to be head and shoulders better than the second team like this year? Is it fair to give the first wild card team a bigger advantage in the wild card round when the teams will typically be petty close?

 

One thought I had was to have the wild card round be a maximum of two games. Home team needs to only win one game, road team needs to win two. Probably too big of an advantage for one team and too untraditional to be put into place.

[Outlander]

Have an AL and an NL.

 

No divisions. Each team plays each team the same amount of times, no schedule differences.

 

Top 4 teams, based on record, in each league have a playoff system.

 

Winner of each league meets for the world series.

 

Someone else can correct me, but I don't think the math allows for this.

 

I think you can get it close to even, or exactly even with a slight adjustment of games played. Travel is the biggest problem. And the only way to resolve the travel problem is to play the entire series against a team at once. Which opens up a whole new set of fairness problems due to tanking or just the randomness of injuries and hot/cold streaks.

 

That's why it makes sense to do things geographically and why it's ok to recognize that the Dodgers already lost to the Giants.

If each team played each other the same amount of time there would be no need for the NL or AL

[Fear The Chorizo]

It really does put a premium on winning your division and prioritizing the regular season.

 

I would argue just the opposite. The team that won 106 games in the regular season and has the 2nd best record in ALL of baseball is playing one game against a team that won 90 games to determine their fate. On top of that, if they win, then they go on to play the team with the best record instead of reranking based on regular season records. Seems to me like the regular season really is not being prioritized at all. They didn't win 16 more games than the Cards because of an "unbalanced" schedule where they play teams in their division more. In fact, I would argue that they would have won more games if they were in the East or Central. The West is clearly the strongest division in the NL.

 

I'm not shedding any tears for LA and I also think having WC teams is great. In fact I have issues with the current financial structure in MLB and big market TV contracts, but that's a different discussion. I'm trying to look at it objectively and I think a team with the 2nd best record in baseball deserves more than a 1 game playoff. Saying that it "evens out" over the years seems like an admission that it is sometimes not fair to certain teams. So, why not attempt to fix it or make it better rather than assuming it will all even out. Again, 3 games is not perfect either, but it's so much better than 1 game. At least then you have to show some pitching depth. Yes, that would probably require shortening the regular season, but I think its worth it.

 

We're looking at this differently - what I mean by prioritizing the regular season is emphasizing winning your division to give you a better chance at making a postseason run in baseball, because to me performing well enough over 162 games to win your division should give you an advantage over teams that don't in the playoffs, regardless if there is a wild card team or two with better regular season records. I think you're trying to emphasize comparing regular season records leaguewide among playoff teams and pointing out the overall wins discrepancy seemingly shorting the Dodgers this year - but failing to account for the fact that no team's schedules across baseball are the same, particularly when comparing teams across different divisions. Saying the NL west was easily the best division in the NL fails to account for the fact they had 2 doormat teams in it and a very disappointing Padres team that underperformed. It was the Padres who were supposed to win 110ish games and give the Dodgers a run for the division at the start of the year, not a Giants squad who I can't recall anyone saying would win 100+.

 

And this has happened frequently in the 2 team wildcard era. In 2015, the Cubs and Pirates were the wildcard teams and they won 97 and 98 regular season games. In fact, since this format started in 2021 most years the top wildcard team won at least mid-90s games for each league and several seasons where both wild card teams in a league had better overall records than 1 or more division winners. That's just how uneven schedules go, and the cycle rotates across different divisions as groups of teams peak and wane over time.

[BruisedCrew]

At least the Dodgers get a shot at advancing in a wild card game.

 

In some of those years in the 80’s when the Brewers won over 90 games but were several games back in the eastern division while the winner of the west had several fewer wins, they got no playoff chance at all.

 

This kind of “unfairness” occurs in sports all the time, and any attempt to eliminate it is just going to move the complaints to a different level.

[sdcheezhd]

I was at the 1996 game where the Dodgers and Padres were tied after 161 games, winner wins the NL West, loser gets the WC. The Cards as the #1 seed were perceived to be better than than #1 seed Atlanta so if anything both teams were thinking they'd be happier with the L. Can't have that. The Dodgers pulled Martinez after 1 inning, the Pads started their #4. Both teams got swept in the NLDSs.

 

Under the old system Game 163 in 2018 would have been next to meaningless.

[IIAY]

How often is the first wild card team going to be head and shoulders better than the second team like this year? Is it fair to give the first wild card team a bigger advantage in the wild card round when the teams will typically be petty close?

 

One thought I had was to have the wild card round be a maximum of two games. Home team needs to only win one game, road team needs to win two. Probably too big of an advantage for one team and too untraditional to be put into place.

 

Not very often. In the nine full 162-game seasons since 2012 (18 wild card races), 10 of the 18 have been within one game of each other. Prior to the 16-game difference this year between the Cardinals and Dodgers, the largest gap had been 6 games (2012 Braves, 2017 Yankees, and 2017 Diamondbacks). Of those 3, the only one that lost the WC game was the 2012 Braves (to the devil magic Cardinals who benefited from a controversial infield fly call).

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

At least the Dodgers get a shot at advancing in a wild card game.

 

In some of those years in the 80’s when the Brewers won over 90 games but were several games back in the eastern division while the winner of the west had several fewer wins, they got no playoff chance at all.

 

This kind of “unfairness” occurs in sports all the time, and any attempt to eliminate it is just going to move the complaints to a different level.

 

Exactly. Someone is always going to be perceived as getting the short end of the stick. In this case, it's the Dodgers. It is certainly hard for me to have any sympathy for a team that literally goes out and buys whatever it wants, though.

 

Watching the Wild Card game is going to be rough tomorrow, because I'd really like both teams to lose.

[tmwiese55]

Bruised post nails it. It's impossible to have a perfect unless you can create each year differently based on how the season went. It's still fair because all know and agreed to the rules going in and, in theory, over time breaks that go against you one year will go in your favor others so it evens out.

 

Yes, RRB. If we're now all so worried about fairness, balancing the finances takes about 1000x more importance than this.

[Patrick425]

We're looking at this differently - what I mean by prioritizing the regular season is emphasizing winning your division to give you a better chance at making a postseason run in baseball, because to me performing well enough over 162 games to win your division should give you an advantage over teams that don't in the playoffs, regardless if there is a wild card team or two with better regular season records. I think you're trying to emphasize comparing regular season records leaguewide among playoff teams and pointing out the overall wins discrepancy seemingly shorting the Dodgers this year - but failing to account for the fact that no team's schedules across baseball are the same, particularly when comparing teams across different divisions. Saying the NL west was easily the best division in the NL fails to account for the fact they had 2 doormat teams in it and a very disappointing Padres team that underperformed. It was the Padres who were supposed to win 110ish games and give the Dodgers a run for the division at the start of the year, not a Giants squad who I can't recall anyone saying would win 100+.

 

And this has happened frequently in the 2 team wildcard era. In 2015, the Cubs and Pirates were the wildcard teams and they won 97 and 98 regular season games. In fact, since this format started in 2021 most years the top wildcard team won at least mid-90s games for each league and several seasons where both wild card teams in a league had better overall records than 1 or more division winners. That's just how uneven schedules go, and the cycle rotates across different divisions as groups of teams peak and wane over time.

 

The West had a 92-72 record against the East (and vise-versa for the East against the West obviously). Not sure how you could look at the teams and players in the West vs. the East and not agree that the Western division is, overall, clearly a stronger division.

 

However, I understand that every year is different. I can concede that division winners should have playoff priority over wild card teams - mainly because of different schedules. However, I stand by my point that there should never never never be a one game playoff in baseball (I'm ok with it for tie breakers - if for no other reason, logistics.). Baseball is way too random and unpredictable for one game to determine the remaining playoff fate of a team. I like the 3 game, better record gets home field for all games idea that was brought up earlier.

[Fear The Chorizo]

I view wild card teams in the current system as not quite playoff teams - IMO the wildcard round is a play-in game to reach the NLDS. Thats the price you pay for not winning a division. If people don't like that format then baseball should just go back to 1 wildcard team and 4 teams per league in the postseason division series. No way should there be a completely separate wildcard series of any length, because even now as it is set up the NLDS starts a couple days too late in my opinion.

[jerichoholicninja]

I view wild card teams in the current system as not quite playoff teams - IMO the wildcard round is a play-in game to reach the NLDS. Thats the price you pay for not winning a division. If people don't like that format then baseball should just go back to 1 wildcard team and 4 teams per league in the postseason division series. No way should there be a completely separate wildcard series of any length, because even now as it is set up the NLDS starts a couple days too late in my opinion.

 

Exactly this. It's not the playoffs, it's a play-in. No one is hanging up a banner for being WC2. I hope not at least.

[brooks_quichenick]

I’ve always thought it would be cool to do a best of 3 Wild Card series like this:

 

- Day-Night Doubleheader for Games 1 & 2, if one team wins them both it’s over. If they split, Game 3 would be the next night. All 3 games played at the home ballpark of the higher seed.

[IIAY]

I view wild card teams in the current system as not quite playoff teams - IMO the wildcard round is a play-in game to reach the NLDS. Thats the price you pay for not winning a division. If people don't like that format then baseball should just go back to 1 wildcard team and 4 teams per league in the postseason division series. No way should there be a completely separate wildcard series of any length, because even now as it is set up the NLDS starts a couple days too late in my opinion.

 

Exactly this. It's not the playoffs, it's a play-in. No one is hanging up a banner for being WC2. I hope not at least.

I’m pretty sure the Brewers hung one for being WC5 with a losing record last year.

 

[StearnsFTW]

At least the Dodgers get a shot at advancing in a wild card game.

 

In some of those years in the 80’s when the Brewers won over 90 games but were several games back in the eastern division while the winner of the west had several fewer wins, they got no playoff chance at all.

 

This kind of “unfairness” occurs in sports all the time, and any attempt to eliminate it is just going to move the complaints to a different level.

 

Happened twice. 1978 (1 game, 3rd place in East) and 1979 (7 games). Also mitigated by 1981 when the Brewers would not have been in the playoffs barring the goofy rule MLB came up with.

 

I agree with the general point though. Someone is going to get shafted somehow. Or at least perceived to have been.

[MrTPlush]

The wild card was a genius idea and the second wild card was a brilliant idea. The one game playoff is good, I could see the argument for a three game series...but is what it is.

 

It isn't suppose to be fair. It is supposed to be fun and exciting. That is why divisions exist and why the postseason exists. If it was abut figuring out the best team we would just crown the Giants champs and not play the postseason at all, the Giants were the best team.

[pacopete4]

I would like to see the WC game turn into a possible 2-game situation. If the team with few wins, wins the first game, then there is a second game and it automatically turns into a doubleheader. This would give the team, like the Dodgers, who have won more games, have some sort of advantage.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

So the winning team potentially burns through 3 SP, 2 of whom play the same day, and then has Game 1 three days later? I think what we have is better.

[NievesNoNO]

I think baseball is overdue for some modifications with the expansion of the post season (which I also think was an overdue add). Play 150, and let the wildcard teams play a series. To have 162 games come down to a single play-in game with winner take all, when the whole season schedule is based on series' to me seems like it could be improved upon. Yes, I like the play-in game over nothing. There does need to remain a balance of keeping the regular season relevant while creating an exciting post-season atmosphere. Easier said than done I guess but they've been moving in the right direction.

 

I do hope the Cardinals upset LA tonight.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I don't think baseball is overdue for playoff expansion and I think they've found the perfect balance. I don't want a watered down playoff where 12 or 14 teams are playing an actual playoff series.

 

It's the only major sport where just making it is a huge achievement and something the fans can really celebrate. I was OK with 4 teams, I think 6 is too many, but I accept the play-in as a way of extending the value of regular season. Without it, there is little suspense in the West and no reason for any non-division contender to keep winning. You'd have a pretty meh fight in the West over who is 1 and who is 4, the Brewers coasting for months, and the mediocrity battle out East.

[MrTPlush]

I don't really care to make the postseason take 6 months like the NBA.