27 replies to this topic

[Matthias]

So much for having to win your division.

Selig is pushing the MLB to more and more playoff chances to squeeze out some last remaining TV dollars. He thinks there will be 10 playoff teams, 3 div winners and 2 wildcards, come 2012.

ETA: Forgot to add the link: http://sportsillustr....html?eref=sihp

Edited by Matthias, 21 April 2011 - 01:07 PM.

[Premier]

As a baseball fan I don't care for it, but as a Rays fan in a division with the Red Sox and Yankee spending sprees, I love it.

[This_Guy]

I'm not really a fan of expanding the playoffs bt I do think this set up places more value on winning your division which is good.

[Limp Ditka]

I'm not really a fan of expanding the playoffs bt I do think this set up places more value on winning your division which is good.

5 teams make the playoffs from each League

Hypothetical Scenario

Phillies 98-64
Braves 96 -66


Cubs 87-75 (I put the Cubs in here in case anyone already forgot we were working with a hypothetical scenario here.)




Rockies 102-60
Giatns 99-63


Why should the Cubs be rewarded for winning their division and get a bye? That seems pretty dumb to me.

[Eephus]

I'm not really a fan of expanding the playoffs bt I do think this set up places more value on winning your division which is good.

5 teams make the playoffs from each League

Hypothetical Scenario

Phillies 98-64
Braves 96 -66


Cubs 87-75 (I put the Cubs in here in case anyone already forgot we were working with a hypothetical scenario here.)




Rockies 102-60
Giatns 99-63


Why should the Cubs be rewarded for winning their division and get a bye? That seems pretty dumb to me.

It doesn't matter. The Cubs will lose at their earliest opportunity.

[Wrigley]

I'm not really a fan of expanding the playoffs bt I do think this set up places more value on winning your division which is good.

5 teams make the playoffs from each League

Hypothetical Scenario

Phillies 98-64
Braves 96 -66


Cubs 87-75 (I put the Cubs in here in case anyone already forgot we were working with a hypothetical scenario here.)




Rockies 102-60
Giatns 99-63


Why should the Cubs be rewarded for winning their division and get a bye? That seems pretty dumb to me.

I'm considering making you my first ignore.

Edited by Wrigley, 21 April 2011 - 02:24 PM.

[Limp Ditka]

I'm considering making you my first ignore.

[Dr. Awesome]

I'm all for this. Baseball has the lowest percent of teams who make it to the playoffs. As long as it doesn't become basketball I'm good.

I'd like them to tweak a few more things...like shortening the regular season, adding more double headers, bringing the DH to the NL, making the first playoff round a 7 game series...

[cobalt_27]

I'm all for this. Baseball has the lowest percent of teams who make it to the playoffs. As long as it doesn't become basketball I'm good.

I'd like them to tweak a few more things...like shortening the regular season, adding more double headers, bringing the DH to the NL, making the first playoff round a 7 game series...

For the same reason they're expanding the playoffs, they'll never consider doing the first two things on your list. Too much $ going in the wrong direction.

Philosophically, I disagree with the DH, and I especially don't like it in the NL.

But, the 7 game series...I'm all for that.

[SuperAwesomeDude]

should prolly add cheerleaders

[Leroy Hoard]

should prolly add cheerleaders

They could dance on top of the dugouts.

[Time Kibitzer]

So how exactly would this work? Would the #1 AL team and the #1 NL team get a bye?

[Smack Tripper]

I'm not really a fan of expanding the playoffs bt I do think this set up places more value on winning your division which is good.

5 teams make the playoffs from each League

Hypothetical Scenario

Phillies 98-64
Braves 96 -66


Cubs 87-75 (I put the Cubs in here in case anyone already forgot we were working with a hypothetical scenario here.)




Rockies 102-60
Giatns 99-63


Why should the Cubs be rewarded for winning their division and get a bye? That seems pretty dumb to me.

This exists under your current scenario, and under pretty much any divisional playoff scenario so long as they have existed.

[Limp Ditka]

I'm not really a fan of expanding the playoffs bt I do think this set up places more value on winning your division which is good.

5 teams make the playoffs from each League

Hypothetical Scenario

Phillies 98-64
Braves 96 -66


Cubs 87-75 (I put the Cubs in here in case anyone already forgot we were working with a hypothetical scenario here.)




Rockies 102-60
Giatns 99-63


Why should the Cubs be rewarded for winning their division and get a bye? That seems pretty dumb to me.

This exists under your current scenario, and under pretty much any divisional playoff scenario so long as they have existed.

I guess that makes it fair then....

Also, the NBA made some changes to avoid this....

The team that has the best record in each of the three divisions in each conference is declared division champion. The three champions, and the one other team in the conference with the best record, are seeded one through four by their records. This guarantees that the division champions will be no lower than fourth seed, and also ensures that a conference's two best teams (by record) are ranked as the top two. However, because the NBA does not re-seed its teams and because home court advantage goes to the team with the better record, not the better seeding, division winners are guaranteed no better than a de-facto five seed, as their 4th seeding does not guarantee home court advantage in the first round, and after the first round the 4 vs 5 winner will play the same teams as the loser would have played had they won the first round. This will continue throughout the remainder of the playoffs and to the finals until the 4 vs 5 winner loses a playoff round or wins the championship. Of the remaining eleven conference teams, the four with the best records are seeded fifth through eighth based on their records.

[This_Guy]

I'm not really a fan of expanding the playoffs bt I do think this set up places more value on winning your division which is good.

5 teams make the playoffs from each League

Hypothetical Scenario

Phillies 98-64
Braves 96 -66


Cubs 87-75 (I put the Cubs in here in case anyone already forgot we were working with a hypothetical scenario here.)




Rockies 102-60
Giatns 99-63


Why should the Cubs be rewarded for winning their division and get a bye? That seems pretty dumb to me.

This exists under your current scenario, and under pretty much any divisional playoff scenario so long as they have existed.

I guess that makes it fair then....

Also, the NBA made some changes to avoid this....

The team that has the best record in each of the three divisions in each conference is declared division champion. The three champions, and the one other team in the conference with the best record, are seeded one through four by their records. This guarantees that the division champions will be no lower than fourth seed, and also ensures that a conference's two best teams (by record) are ranked as the top two. However, because the NBA does not re-seed its teams and because home court advantage goes to the team with the better record, not the better seeding, division winners are guaranteed no better than a de-facto five seed, as their 4th seeding does not guarantee home court advantage in the first round, and after the first round the 4 vs 5 winner will play the same teams as the loser would have played had they won the first round. This will continue throughout the remainder of the playoffs and to the finals until the 4 vs 5 winner loses a playoff round or wins the championship. Of the remaining eleven conference teams, the four with the best records are seeded fifth through eighth based on their records.

The difference is in the NBA all the teams in the same conference are basically playing the same number of games against all the same teams. In MLB teams are playing a lot more games against their division compared to teams in other divisions. So the WC team having a better record than another division winner isn't exactly apples to apples.

[Michael Brown]

This "new" plan (Costas originally suggested this over a decade ago) accomplishes the following:

-Makes it more important to win the division, putting the wild cards at a disadvantage (which they should be)

-Will typically create playoff interest in an additional 4-5 cities each year

-Creates an ultra-exciting play in game prior to the start of the LDS

-By the time the LDS begins, there will be 8 teams in the playoffs just like there are now. A play-in game does not dilute the quality of the postseason anymore than the 65-68 teams playing the Tuesday night before the NCAA tourney.

-MLB will still have the smallest number of playoff teams of any of the four major sports.



I don't see anything wrong with this. Huge fan of the idea.

[Michael Brown]

Oh and the AL East thing should not be discounted as a primary reason for this as well. We are all adult enough to acknowledge that the payrolls of the Yankees and Red Sox greatly enhance their chances of making the playoffs to the point of almost being 100%. The other three AL East teams have a nearly impossible task of getting in without doing everything perfectly. This opens up the entire division to at least have a puncher's chance of getting in.

[culdeus]

The bye won't really matter in baseball outside of the obvious, you can't be eliminated in the first round problem.

Seems a bull#### money grab.

[Eephus]

I think there are some logistical problems with a 2 out of 3 series. I assume they'd want both teams to have at least one home game. So, the season ends on Sunday. Monday is a travel day. The wild card opens on Tuesday followed by another travel day. Game two takes place in the other team's city on Thursday. We we we so excited by another travel day on Friday. The rubber game would be played on Saturday. The other league's series would probably be pushed a day later so the network would have a game every day. So the mini-playoff would take up an entire calendar week.

[Northern Voice]

Oh and the AL East thing should not be discounted as a primary reason for this as well. We are all adult enough to acknowledge that the payrolls of the Yankees and Red Sox greatly enhance their chances of making the playoffs to the point of almost being 100%. The other three AL East teams have a nearly impossible task of getting in without doing everything perfectly. This opens up the entire division to at least have a puncher's chance of getting in.

As a fan of one the Blue Jays, I would much prefer they throw out the divisions and go to a balanced schedule. The Jays owners would disagree with me though because they love the extra gate revenue from playing the Red Sox/Yankees so many times every year. It would be interesting to figure out how many playoff games (which they could obtain with a balanced schedule) the team would need to make up the money difference in fewer games vs. NYY/BOS.

[Thunderlips]

Great....now the RedSox only have to finish third to make the playoffs.

[Nigel]

I think there are some logistical problems with a 2 out of 3 series. I assume they'd want both teams to have at least one home game. So, the season ends on Sunday. Monday is a travel day. The wild card opens on Tuesday followed by another travel day. Game two takes place in the other team's city on Thursday. We we we so excited by another travel day on Friday. The rubber game would be played on Saturday. The other league's series would probably be pushed a day later so the network would have a game every day. So the mini-playoff would take up an entire calendar week.

Have all of the games the last day of the season be day games, travel that night, and play game 1 Monday night at the lower seed's park. Then after a day off play a day/night doubleheader at the higher seed's park to settle it. Get it over with in 3 days.

Or just have a one game playoff for the wildcards. Whatever they do they can't extend the season much later into November.

[Eephus]

I think there are some logistical problems with a 2 out of 3 series. I assume they'd want both teams to have at least one home game. So, the season ends on Sunday. Monday is a travel day. The wild card opens on Tuesday followed by another travel day. Game two takes place in the other team's city on Thursday. We we we so excited by another travel day on Friday. The rubber game would be played on Saturday. The other league's series would probably be pushed a day later so the network would have a game every day. So the mini-playoff would take up an entire calendar week.

Have all of the games the last day of the season be day games, travel that night, and play game 1 Monday night at the lower seed's park. Then after a day off play a day/night doubleheader at the higher seed's park to settle it. Get it over with in 3 days.

Or just have a one game playoff for the wildcards. Whatever they do they can't extend the season much later into November.

Having a day/night midweek doubleheader defeats the main purpose of the extra round of playoffs

[culdeus]

Great....now the RedSox only have to finish third to make the playoffs.

This has to be the main reason for doing this.

[Thunderlips]

Great....now the RedSox only have to finish third to make the playoffs.

This has to be the main reason for doing this.

Yep. The Rays starting to be good jeopardized the Sawx's stranglehold on second place.

[BRONG]

As a baseball fan I don't care for it, but as a Rays fan in a division with the Red Sox and Yankee spending sprees, I love it.

Such a joke. At what point do you kind of throw in the towel on all this ####?

[culdeus]

Great....now the RedSox only have to finish third to make the playoffs.

This has to be the main reason for doing this.

Yep. The Rays starting to be good jeopardized the Sawx's stranglehold on second place.

I think those days are over now, thank god. O's look poised for a quarter decade run, however.

[Premier]

Great....now the RedSox only have to finish third to make the playoffs.

This has to be the main reason for doing this.

Yep. The Rays starting to be good jeopardized the Sawx's stranglehold on second place.

I think those days are over now, thank god. O's look poised for a quarter decade run, however.

The Rays are currently in.......second place.