The Peter Gammons Plan (1 Viewer)

[David Yudkin]

Peter Gammons has suggested that each league have 2 wildcard teams to make the end of the regular season more exciting. In his plan, the 2 wildcard teams would play a 3-game series immediately after the season ended but before the playoffs would normally start. The regular season would still have 162 games and if the schedule was set up right it would not make the playoffs any longer. So maybe the regular season would end on a Saturday and the 3-game series would be Sun/Mon/Tue with the next series starting on Weds. (I'm not sure how they would handle who plays where in a 3-game series.)

The winner would move on to play on the road, but there would be no break between the 3-game series and the 5-game next round. Part of his reasoning is that the wildcard team currently is not really at much of a disadvantage. In this scenario, the advancing wildcard team could not reset their rotation and the bullpen could have already have been used some. With the wildcard winner also having to have traveled a bunch in a short time span, that would also give the division winners an advantage and a reward for having won their division.

 

[guru_007]

I like it, but I don't think it would work, logistically. Suppose their is a rain out, or snow out. Hell, we could be playing WS games in November in Denver.

I definitely agree the wild card teams need to be more disadvantaged, but I think the hfa the division winners currently enjoys is enough.

 

[Michael Brown]

Peter Gammons has suggested that each league have 2 wildcard teams to make the end of the regular season more exciting. In his plan, the 2 wildcard teams would play a 3-game series immediately after the season ended but before the playoffs would normally start. The regular season would still have 162 games and if the schedule was set up right it would not make the playoffs any longer. So maybe the regular season would end on a Saturday and the 3-game series would be Sun/Mon/Tue with the next series starting on Weds. (I'm not sure how they would handle who plays where in a 3-game series.)The winner would move on to play on the road, but there would be no break between the 3-game series and the 5-game next round. Part of his reasoning is that the wildcard team currently is not really at much of a disadvantage. In this scenario, the advancing wildcard team could not reset their rotation and the bullpen could have already have been used some. With the wildcard winner also having to have traveled a bunch in a short time span, that would also give the division winners an advantage and a reward for having won their division.

I've been a proponent of a similar idea to this for years, and that's to have 2 wild card teams have a single game playoff against one another. You don't need to add an extra two games -- no reason. Let them use up their ace pitcher to get into the LDS and have no rest between Sunday and Tuesday or Wednesday. THe site of the game could be based on who won the season series between the two teams (so everyone would have to play an odd # of games against one another). It'd add importance to every in-season game as well as adding excitement for a lot more teams. Just by adding a WC team, you're increasing the number of teams still alive by a great deal. For the life of me, I can't understand why MLB hasn't done this. Those two single-elimination games would be awesome drama, they'd finally put the wild card teams at a disadvantage, and it would increase the rooting interest for a great deal of places most seasons.

 

[David Yudkin]

I like it, but I don't think it would work, logistically. Suppose their is a rain out, or snow out. Hell, we could be playing WS games in November in Denver.I definitely agree the wild card teams need to be more disadvantaged, but I think the hfa the division winners currently enjoys is enough.

Gammons also suggested staggering the start and end of the regular the season so maybe they could shoe horn the three game series in better. So they could plan to play 3 games over 4 days. Maybe games on Fri-Sat-Sun to maximize the ratings and start the next set on Tues like they do now. The other teams would end Thurs and then start back up Tues or Weds, giving them more rest and another advantage that they aren't getting now.

 

[Eephus]

I'd rather see best of seven series in the first round. The current best of five format discounts regular season performance.

 

[whoknew]

Add 2 teams - 4 divisions of 4 teams each. No wild cards. That would be the best scenario.

 

[shuke]

Let's not turn this into the NBA.

 

[David Yudkin]

Let's not turn this into the NBA.

NHL & NBA: 16 playoff teams out of 30 = 53%NFL: 12 playoff teams out of 32 = 38%MLB currently: 8 playoff teams out of 30 = 27%MLB +2 teams: 10 playoff teams out of 30 = 33%Baseball would still have a smaller percentage of teams in the playoffs than the other major sports.

 

[Jeremy]

I'm fine with it. 10 out of 30 is still the lowest percentage of teams making the playoffs of the 3 major sports (4 if you still insist on including hockey). So the regular season still would mean something, unlike the NBA.

And since a salary cap is apparently never going to happen, this would give fans of small market teams a little more hope.

 

[igbomb]

Terrible idea.

And why do we feel that the wild-card team needs some disadvantage?

 

[David Yudkin]

Terrible idea.And why do we feel that the wild-card team needs some disadvantage?

In the NFL, a wildcard team can't host a game (unless they meet the other wildcard team in the conference game). And they have to play an extra game while the best teams in the conference rest for a week. It sure sounds like the NFL makes it harder on wildcard teams.Part of Gammons concern (complaint?) is that in a year like this year, the teams that are going to be the wildcards only had brief periods of being challanged and now at the end of the year theyget all the benefit of the team that will beat them in the standings. Rest players, align the rotation, etc. The ONLY difference/disadvantage is that they will have one more road game. It almost makes winning your division irrelevant.I can see not changing things because the system is not really broken, but there really is not much penalty to being a wildcard (when in the old playoff structure they would never have even been in the playoffs in the forst place).

 

[Bob Sacamano]

Terrible idea.And why do we feel that the wild-card team needs some disadvantage?

In the NFL, a wildcard team can't host a game (unless they meet the other wildcard team in the conference game). And they have to play an extra game while the best teams in the conference rest for a week. It sure sounds like the NFL makes it harder on wildcard teams.

And in the rest of the sports? The NFL is the only league that does this, and two division champions end up playing in the first week anyway. Where's their advantage for winning their division? It seems less about penalizing the WC teams than it is about making the math work out with 4 divisions and 2 WC.

Part of Gammons concern (complaint?) is that in a year like this year, the teams that are going to be the wildcards only had brief periods of being challanged and now at the end of the year theyget all the benefit of the team that will beat them in the standings. Rest players, align the rotation, etc. The ONLY difference/disadvantage is that they will have one more road game. It almost makes winning your division irrelevant.

So, one year it worked out well for the WC? I'm not a big fan of this need to change a rule every time something happens that somebody doesn't like. That's how we end up with things like home field advantage for winning an exhibition game. It's not like this has become a recurring issue that NEEDS to be addressed. Personally, I don't see a need to penalize the WC team. In theory, their penalty is being less talented than teams that outperformed them in the regular season (Understanding this won't always be the case. See Sox, Red - 2009). God help me for saying it, but do the Red Sox really need to be punished for being the second-best team in the AL and having to deal with the best team in the AL being in their division?

 

[Bob Sacamano]

In the interest of full disclosure, I also think the play-in game in the NCAA tournament is the most ridiculous thing not named woz I've ever heard of.

 

[guru_007]

Add 2 teams - 4 divisions of 4 teams each. No wild cards. That would be the best scenario.

why? I think the wildcard has been a great addition to the baseball playoffs. It's crazy to have the playoffs to determine the champion of your sport, yet exclude the best teams because of geographically boundaries. If the Red Sox were in the AL central, they would have a 9.5 game lead over the Tigers. Yet, because they are in the east, they are 6 games back in their division. It would be foolish to exclude the Red Sox, yet include the Tigers to determine the World Series champion.

 

[Wrigley]

I'd rather see best of seven series in the first round. The current best of five format discounts regular season performance.

BIG THIS!!!!

 

[boubucarow]

I'd rather see best of seven series in the first round. The current best of five format discounts regular season performance.

I think seven is the perfect number in baseball to stretch a pitching staff while still keeping Game 1 and on relevant.

 

[boubucarow]

In the interest of full disclosure, I also think the play-in game in the NCAA tournament is the most ridiculous thing not named woz I've ever heard of.

Congrats, you won your conference tournament and are going dancing. Almost.

 

[Mr. Pickles]

I'd rather see best of seven series in the first round. The current best of five format discounts regular season performance.

Bingo.

 

[Doctor Detroit]

Absolutely not. They need to go to a 154 game schedule as it is then add 2 games to the first round. Screw adding another team, I like baseball because we don't have losing teams in the playoffs like the NBA Eastern Conference.

 

[shuke]

Let's not turn this into the NBA.

NHL & NBA: 16 playoff teams out of 30 = 53%NFL: 12 playoff teams out of 32 = 38%MLB currently: 8 playoff teams out of 30 = 27%MLB +2 teams: 10 playoff teams out of 30 = 33%Baseball would still have a smaller percentage of teams in the playoffs than the other major sports.

Those percentages are meaningless without posting the number of regular season games.Adding another layer of playoffs with a 3 game series would suck. As others have said, the 5 game format is bad enough as it is.

 

[Ghost Rider]

I hate any idea that gives teams off any more than two days between the end of the regular season and the start of the playoffs. Having that many days off kills teams who are used to playing almost every day for almost six months. Look at what has happened to teams who had too much time off in the past. Both the '06 Tiger and '07 Rockies had their momentum grounded to a halt by having nearly a week off before the World Series. That couldn't be helped because MLB has a set date for the Series to begin, plus the others LCS's were still going, but in this case, no, it would be terrible. You would get a fresh wild card team playing a first place team that just sat around for four or five days. I would hate that, and I'll bet the teams sitting around would, too.

I say just let the team with the best record get a 2-1-2 home field advantage over the wild card team, even if the wild card team is from your own division, in the first round.

 

[igbomb]

Terrible idea.And why do we feel that the wild-card team needs some disadvantage?

In the NFL, a wildcard team can't host a game (unless they meet the other wildcard team in the conference game). And they have to play an extra game while the best teams in the conference rest for a week. It sure sounds like the NFL makes it harder on wildcard teams.Part of Gammons concern (complaint?) is that in a year like this year, the teams that are going to be the wildcards only had brief periods of being challanged and now at the end of the year theyget all the benefit of the team that will beat them in the standings. Rest players, align the rotation, etc. The ONLY difference/disadvantage is that they will have one more road game. It almost makes winning your division irrelevant.I can see not changing things because the system is not really broken, but there really is not much penalty to being a wildcard (when in the old playoff structure they would never have even been in the playoffs in the forst place).

The NFL playoff structure has absolutely nothing to do with 'penalizing' a team. As was mentioned below, it's all about making the math work.Giving the wildcard a disadvantage is counter-productive in my opinion. Either eliminate it, or keep it how it is. Penalizing them seems like trying to have it both ways.

 

[wilked]

I'd rather see best of seven series in the first round. The current best of five format discounts regular season performance.

thisThe only people pining for another playoff team are Pirates / Reds fans

 

[Snotbubbles]

Peter Gammons has suggested that each league have 2 wildcard teams to make the end of the regular season more exciting. In his plan, the 2 wildcard teams would play a 3-game series immediately after the season ended but before the playoffs would normally start. The regular season would still have 162 games and if the schedule was set up right it would not make the playoffs any longer. So maybe the regular season would end on a Saturday and the 3-game series would be Sun/Mon/Tue with the next series starting on Weds. (I'm not sure how they would handle who plays where in a 3-game series.)The winner would move on to play on the road, but there would be no break between the 3-game series and the 5-game next round. Part of his reasoning is that the wildcard team currently is not really at much of a disadvantage. In this scenario, the advancing wildcard team could not reset their rotation and the bullpen could have already have been used some. With the wildcard winner also having to have traveled a bunch in a short time span, that would also give the division winners an advantage and a reward for having won their division.

This would only give 1 division winner an advantage. The other two would be in the same position they are currently in and thus unfairly disadvantaged because one of the other division winners was given an easier road.

 

[Bogart]

Im ready to go back to two divisions in each league and no wildcards. Let's us Ranger fans give up hope by the 4th of July.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

I'd rather see best of seven series in the first round. The current best of five format discounts regular season performance.

thisThe only people pining for another playoff team are Pirates / Reds fans

They should get rid the of the wildcard THIS year.

 

[Darth Cheney]

Peter Gammons has suggested that each league have 2 wildcard teams to make the end of the regular season more exciting. In his plan, the 2 wildcard teams would play a 3-game series immediately after the season ended but before the playoffs would normally start. The regular season would still have 162 games and if the schedule was set up right it would not make the playoffs any longer. So maybe the regular season would end on a Saturday and the 3-game series would be Sun/Mon/Tue with the next series starting on Weds. (I'm not sure how they would handle who plays where in a 3-game series.)The winner would move on to play on the road, but there would be no break between the 3-game series and the 5-game next round. Part of his reasoning is that the wildcard team currently is not really at much of a disadvantage. In this scenario, the advancing wildcard team could not reset their rotation and the bullpen could have already have been used some. With the wildcard winner also having to have traveled a bunch in a short time span, that would also give the division winners an advantage and a reward for having won their division.

I've been a proponent of a similar idea to this for years, and that's to have 2 wild card teams have a single game playoff against one another. You don't need to add an extra two games -- no reason. Let them use up their ace pitcher to get into the LDS and have no rest between Sunday and Tuesday or Wednesday. THe site of the game could be based on who won the season series between the two teams (so everyone would have to play an odd # of games against one another). It'd add importance to every in-season game as well as adding excitement for a lot more teams. Just by adding a WC team, you're increasing the number of teams still alive by a great deal. For the life of me, I can't understand why MLB hasn't done this. Those two single-elimination games would be awesome drama, they'd finally put the wild card teams at a disadvantage, and it would increase the rooting interest for a great deal of places most seasons.

That play in game a couple of years ago was pretty kick butt.

 

[Craig_MiamiFL]

Just lessen the ####### regular season.

Hell I don't care if every MLB team made the playoffs in order to make more games actually mean something.

 

[Adebisi]

Just lessen the ####### regular season.Hell I don't care if every MLB team made the playoffs in order to make more games actually mean something.

It's ridiculous to me that anyone even bothers following the standings before August.

 

[Tom Servo]

I like the Costas plan better: No WC, the best division record gets automatic LCS berth while the other two division winners battle for the other spot.

Makes more sense to me than what came out of senile Gammon's brain.

 

[Darth Cheney]

I thought the one play in game between two Wild Cards adds a lot more excitement and gives the WC team a distinct disadvantage.

 

[Bogart]

I like the Costas plan better: No WC, the best division record gets automatic LCS berth while the other two division winners battle for the other spot.

Makes more sense to me than what came out of senile Gammon's brain.

This could be very compelling. That Costas is a smart man.

 

[Eephus]

I like the Costas plan better: No WC, the best division record gets automatic LCS berth while the other two division winners battle for the other spot.

Makes more sense to me than what came out of senile Gammon's brain.

This could be very compelling. That Costas is a smart man.

it'll never happen. It reduces revenues for MLB and for the team with the bye. It's questionable whether a week and a half off is really an advantage. Baseball isn't football, where a week to get healthy after the regular season is a big deal. And even in the NFL, there have been cases where teams have come out flat after the week off.

 

[Snotbubbles]

I like the Costas plan better: No WC, the best division record gets automatic LCS berth while the other two division winners battle for the other spot.

Makes more sense to me than what came out of senile Gammon's brain.

This could be very compelling. That Costas is a smart man.

it'll never happen. It reduces revenues for MLB and for the team with the bye. It's questionable whether a week and a half off is really an advantage. Baseball isn't football, where a week to get healthy after the regular season is a big deal. And even in the NFL, there have been cases where teams have come out flat after the week off.

That plan would only work if there was a balanced schedule.