MLB Playoffs Proposal

Not a bad idea, although this year with 12 teams a team with a sub .500 record in the National League would make it, eek.

All series should be best-of-seven? Wouldn't that make for a long postseason?

Welcome to the site!

I think there should be 10. Reduce the season to 154 games, and add a second WC. Both WC teams play a best-of-3 series; winner faces the #1 seed. All of the series, save for the WC matchup, should be best-of-7.

This takes 8 games off the regular season and adds, at most, 5 games to the length of the post-season.

yeah it would be ridiculous. But it wouldn't be so bad under the current system. The postseason would go a little longer but it would make sense.

Welcome to the site. I think this is a ridiculous idea and would destroy baseball. The only sport which has successfully implemented a massive playoff system is the NFL. Why does this work for the NFL? Because they only play 16 games.

The other large American sports which employ large playoff systems are falling apart at the seams, namely the NBA and the NHL. Why? Because their long season means nothing to the players and means nothing to the fans. Players and organizations lower their sights to making the playoffs, making each game even less valuable.

Now, I am not going to say that each MLB games has an enormous value (except maybe in the last two weeks of September), but this value would be incredibly dimished if the playoff system was expanded for MLB.

I strongly disagree. Maybe in the future, you never know...but at this point, eight is just enough to keep the pretenders out of the playoffs. Are there occassionally some deserving teams that miss out? Yes, but not enough to warrant an extra two teams per league, in my opinion. Plus, it would make the playoffs long and ridiculous, like the NBA and the NHL, which also have WAY TOO MANY TEAMS in the playoffs.

more playoff games = more excitement. I reckon the current playoff system in the NHL is great! It might not work well in baseball tho.

The purpose of the playoff system is to divine what team is the best at a given sport. For the NFL, there is a significant amount of error in making this determination b/c they play only 16 games. Some really good teams lose on really close plays. To limit the probability of chance, the NFL employs a longer playoff system to narrow down the best team. And, I think most of would agree that the system works.

For baseball (and for basketball and hockey for that matter) the longer season eliminates these statistical irregularities. The best team usually sits on the top of the division or makes the playoffs. There is very few times, since the advent of the expanded MLB playoff system where an undeserving team makes the playoffs.

I would argue this year, we will witness such an anomoly when the Padres and/or Dodgers makes the playoffs instead of the Marlins and/or Phillies. This is not due to the playoff system, but rather due to the division heavy schedule (which I think should be eliminated).

I'm pleased that im getting a lot of responses! Afterall it is my first opinion on this site.

It's a good topic for debate, but I agree that the other major sports should adopt a system closer to MLB. Having half of the teams in the playoffs means that a team can tread water for 80% of the season and buy a player to make a late run. That's idiotic...

Pnatt -- the other thing to keep in mind is that Manny Stiles is weird... (i love ya babe...)

If the baseball season were shorter, you would have a valid argument. I do not want a system like the NBA or NHL, (hell, even the NFL is close) where it's easier to name the teams the DON"T make the playoffs than it is the ones that do. Taking more teams into a playoff system makes the regular season less and less relevant. How many people care about the NBA in Feb or March? It's pretty clear by that point who is making the playoffs;everyone is just fighting for seeding. I have no reason to waste my money on a regular season game if I know my team is headed to the playoffs. If they win or lose, who cares. They'll start really playing come playoff time The beauty of MLB is the long season. Heck, look how close some of the races are even after 150 games! Gotta love that. MLB should go back to only division winners making the playoffs. If you can't win the division after 162 games, well, you can't say you didn't have ample opportunity.

I actualyl agree with this article. Especially considering what baseball has become. With certain team spending literally hundreds of millions of dollars more than others, the idea of only letting division winners supports the teams' with the overpriced all star roster. The Yankees are perfect proof of why this would be a good idea. The Yankees spend over 100 million more than any other team. Now that doesn't guarantee them a world series, but it pretty much does guarantee them a division title. Just by the sheer amount of talent on their roster, they'll win a ton oregular season game. But in a meaningful playoff game, the better constructed, more together team will beat the higher paid one. It's no coincidence that the Mets ballooned their payroll and spent gobs of money this offseason and won the NL East. As long as they spend close to a hundred million more than the other teams in it's division, they should always win it. It doesn't mean that the Phils or Marlins couldn't beat them in a 5-7 game series. In short, the crazy money disparity in baseball has cheapened the regluar season already. So the main argument for keeping the playoffs more exclusive is out the window. Plus, I think you get better competition with more wildcard teams. Tpyically, these are the teams who are playing the best at the end of the year. That's why it seems they get to and/or win the world series so often. Frankly, I think that right now that Padres, Dodgers, or Phillies would all be more dangerous in the playoffs that the Cardinals.

Then how do you explain the Oakland A's, Minnesota Twins, or Marlins making the playoffs in the past? Why have a regulare season, then? Hell, let's just do it like English Soccer. Whoever as the best record at the end of a defined number of games is the champion. That way everyone has "made the playoffs"

I reckon it sucks how some people don't like teams who "slack off" to make the playoffs. I reckon it's great!!

In my opinion if I had it my way, 16 out of the 30 teams would make the playoffs in MLB.

Actually I reckon 12 teams out of the 30 just like my original plan.

Well, how would a bye work in baseball? It just wouldn't. When you're playing 6 games a week for 6 months out of the year, it would throw you off so much. A pitcher is a creature of habit. Look how some players struggle right after the All-Star break. It works in the NFL because it's such a physical sport. It won't work in baseball, just because of the layoff. Now, should teams like the Astros, the Phillies and the White Sox have made it? Yeah. But they didn't. How about the year that the Cardinals won 103 games and DIDN'T MAKE THE PLAYOFFS???

what I hate about MLB is that it punishes teams who slack off, making the games at the end of the season less meaninglful!!!

Half the league getting in the playoffs is ridiculous in any sport. It reduces the eliteness of the playoffs themselves, and devalues the competitiveness of the sport over time, since teams can have mediocre seasons with a two-week run of brilliance and get the championship. The only thing that would more playoff spots would be good for is the team's pocketbooks, not the fans, the sport, or anyone else.

Besides, teams that didn't make the playoffs aren't "slacking off" by losing. After all, if they hadn't been losing quite a bit already, they would have made the playoffs. That's incorrect. Many teams miss out on the playoffs while even having a plus 50% record.

I reckon it's pretty stiff how MLB only allows 8 teams into the playoffs.

Well maybe they should just get rid of divisions?

Well maybe they should just get rid of divisions?

Well maybe they should just get rid of divisions?

Well maybe they should just get rid of divisions?

I no longer endorse this opinion.