Union would consider expanded playoffs (1 Viewer)

[Please See Mine]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?i...e=ESPNHeadlines

I personally think that this would be a terrible idea. Some people I know find the long season boring, but I am a big fan of proving yourself over the course of 6 months and then with only a few teams being rewarded for grinding it out the whole way. Adding more teams to the playoffs would really dilute it. It also seems unfeasible from a weather perspective. We're already getting into November with a 7-game WS.

 

[dennis.moore]

Just as long as they don't shorten the regular season.

 

[Eephus]

Just as long as they don't shorten the regular season.

I think expanded playoffs would only be possible if the regular season was shortened, possibly back to the old length of 154 games. The season runs too long as it is and has been getting longer and longer. I'll use the World Series the Giants have played in as an example. This year's World Series begins on Oct 26. That's a week later than the last time the Giants were involved in 2002, twelve days later than the 1989, three weeks later than 1962 and nearly a month later than 1954. The 1954 World Series ended on Oct 2, 1954.

 

[RnR]

The season runs too long as it is and has been getting longer and longer.

That's because they keep pushing back Opening Day. Inching closer and closer to mid-April.

 

[dparker713]

The season runs too long as it is and has been getting longer and longer.

That's because they keep pushing back Opening Day. Inching closer and closer to mid-April.

LinkThats just not true.

Baseball doesn't need anymore playoffs, maybe expand the divisional series to 7 games. The only way that works though is to eliminate a bunch of the off days during the playoffs and to play more double headers in season.

 

[Eephus]

The season runs too long as it is and has been getting longer and longer.

That's because they keep pushing back Opening Day. Inching closer and closer to mid-April.

LinkThats just not true.

Baseball doesn't need anymore playoffs, maybe expand the divisional series to 7 games. The only way that works though is to eliminate a bunch of the off days during the playoffs and to play more double headers in season.

The playoff schedules are driven by television. I'd like to see the first round go to best of seven, even if it meant more games on the MLB Network. Adding more teams to the playoffs would just diminish the regular season. Think of how much better the AL East race would have been if either the Rays or Yankees were at risk of going home.

 

[Man In The Box]

I'm lukewarm on adding more wild card teams, but I absolutely love the idea of making the division series 7 games. Long overdue, IMO.

 

[Da Guru]

I'm lukewarm on adding more wild card teams, but I absolutely love the idea of making the division series 7 games. Long overdue, IMO.

Keep it the way it is, make make the first series best of 7. There are enough warm weather and dome teams to start the season a week or two earlier as well.

 

[Yankee23Fan]

There needs to be more double headers during the regular season to shorten the calendar days used.

I want at least 2 more teams in the playoffs for a 1 game play in wild card playoff day. I think that would be awesome baseball and ratchet up ratings and interest in the postseason. NFL has 12 teams. Baseball right now has 8. MAking it 10 doesn't take anything away from the sport if you make it a one game playin for the wildcards. You balance making the regualr season being worth a lot by making the wilcards play those play in games and then making sure that they never receive home field in any series. That's punishment enough for being a wild card team.

 

[Doctor Detroit]

I don't like expanding the playoffs unless the season is shortened to 154 games, and absolutely no first round byes which is just dumb. Three game play in series on Mon/Tue/Wed with the DLSs starting on a Thursday would work I guess, but I realy would like them to go back to 154 games if they expand the field.

 

[Eephus]

There needs to be more double headers during the regular season to shorten the calendar days used. I want at least 2 more teams in the playoffs for a 1 game play in wild card playoff day. I think that would be awesome baseball and ratchet up ratings and interest in the postseason. NFL has 12 teams. Baseball right now has 8. MAking it 10 doesn't take anything away from the sport if you make it a one game playin for the wildcards. You balance making the regualr season being worth a lot by making the wilcards play those play in games and then making sure that they never receive home field in any series. That's punishment enough for being a wild card team.

The owners would want split day/night doubleheaders. Under the CBA, the MLBPA has the rights to approve split doubleheaders with a handful of exceptions related to postponements.

 

[RnR]

The season runs too long as it is and has been getting longer and longer.

That's because they keep pushing back Opening Day. Inching closer and closer to mid-April.

LinkThats just not true.

Baseball doesn't need anymore playoffs, maybe expand the divisional series to 7 games. The only way that works though is to eliminate a bunch of the off days during the playoffs and to play more double headers in season.

Hadn't seen that was the plan for next season. Good for them. While I disagree with starting on a Friday and ending on a Wednesday, it's better than baseball in November if they can help it. Is it some crime against humanity to start the season in March? Seems like weather problems could be avoided by strategic early season scheduling. High schools and colleges find a way to play through it.

 

[dparker713]

There needs to be more double headers during the regular season to shorten the calendar days used. I want at least 2 more teams in the playoffs for a 1 game play in wild card playoff day. I think that would be awesome baseball and ratchet up ratings and interest in the postseason. NFL has 12 teams. Baseball right now has 8. MAking it 10 doesn't take anything away from the sport if you make it a one game playin for the wildcards. You balance making the regualr season being worth a lot by making the wilcards play those play in games and then making sure that they never receive home field in any series. That's punishment enough for being a wild card team.

Currently, the wild card is on average about the 3rd best team in each league. If you were to add 1 more wild card in each league, that 5th team would be, on average, the 5th best team. 4 is plenty of playoff spots and nothing about the number of playoff teams is going to increase ratings. Just like politics, all baseball is local. The sport is going to top 7 billion in revenue this year for the first time ever, in the middle of the worst economic atmosphere in my lifetime. Baseball games just aren't national events like football, and never will be because of the nature of the season.

 

[dparker713]

The season runs too long as it is and has been getting longer and longer.

That's because they keep pushing back Opening Day. Inching closer and closer to mid-April.

LinkThats just not true.

Baseball doesn't need anymore playoffs, maybe expand the divisional series to 7 games. The only way that works though is to eliminate a bunch of the off days during the playoffs and to play more double headers in season.

Hadn't seen that was the plan for next season. Good for them. While I disagree with starting on a Friday and ending on a Wednesday, it's better than baseball in November if they can help it. Is it some crime against humanity to start the season in March? Seems like weather problems could be avoided by strategic early season scheduling. High schools and colleges find a way to play through it.

I hate the new schedule. Opening Day is the first Monday in April. Always was, always should be. You can shorten the regular season with increased doubleheaders. You can shorten the post season with rest days - 1 day max per series. 1 scheduled day between series, and if both series finish early then start the next series early.

 

[Eephus]

I hate the new schedule. Opening Day is the first Monday in April. Always was, always should be. You can shorten the regular season with increased doubleheaders. You can shorten the post season with rest days - 1 day max per series. 1 scheduled day between series, and if both series finish early then start the next series early.

As always, the reason why not starts with T, ends with V and rhymes with Glee.

 

[Please See Mine]

The season runs too long as it is and has been getting longer and longer.

That's because they keep pushing back Opening Day. Inching closer and closer to mid-April.

LinkThats just not true.

Baseball doesn't need anymore playoffs, maybe expand the divisional series to 7 games. The only way that works though is to eliminate a bunch of the off days during the playoffs and to play more double headers in season.

Hadn't seen that was the plan for next season. Good for them. While I disagree with starting on a Friday and ending on a Wednesday, it's better than baseball in November if they can help it. Is it some crime against humanity to start the season in March? Seems like weather problems could be avoided by strategic early season scheduling. High schools and colleges find a way to play through it.

I've always wondered why they don't start all of the games in southern/western locales. This year, the Mets opened against Florida but in New York. Couldn't they have opened in Florida and played another series in NY later in the season?

 

[the moops]

Add two more teams to the AL (Portland and NY/NJ), and make 4 divisions of 4 teams. Switch up the NL Use the football playoff system of 4 division winners and 2 wildcards.



AL EAST - Bos, NY, Tor, NJ

AL SOUTH - TB, Tex, Bal, KC

AL WEST - Oak, LA, Sea, Port

AL CENTRAL - Minn, Det, Cle, Chi

NL EAST - NY, Phi, Wash, Pitt

NL SOUTH - Hou, Flor, Atl, St Louis

NL WEST - LA, SF, Ariz, SD

NL CENTRAL - Cinc, Col, Mil, Chi

 

[dparker713]

I hate the new schedule. Opening Day is the first Monday in April. Always was, always should be. You can shorten the regular season with increased doubleheaders. You can shorten the post season with rest days - 1 day max per series. 1 scheduled day between series, and if both series finish early then start the next series early.

As always, the reason why not starts with T, ends with V and rhymes with Glee.

Actually, it starts with an M and ends in a Y. Its also short term thinking on MLB's part.

 

[dparker713]

Add two more teams to the AL (Portland and NY/NJ), and make 4 divisions of 4 teams. Switch up the NL Use the football playoff system of 4 division winners and 2 wildcards.AL EAST - Bos, NY, Tor, NJAL SOUTH - TB, Tex, Bal, KCAL WEST - Oak, LA, Sea, PortAL CENTRAL - Minn, Det, Cle, ChiNL EAST - NY, Phi, Wash, PittNL SOUTH - Hou, Flor, Atl, St LouisNL WEST - LA, SF, Ariz, SDNL CENTRAL - Cinc, Col, Mil, Chi

Why copy football? Baseball is a vastly different sport. Even in a best of 7, the edge to the superior team is slight. No team is ever really better than 3-to-1 to win the post season, adding another round of playoffs would further dilute the advantages of better teams.

 

[the moops]

adding another round of playoffs would further dilute the advantages of better teams.

In a one game playoff, the better team would lose more often than they would in a 7 game series.

 

[Doctor Detroit]

I don't like adding two teams. How about contracting two? I have two good candidates.

 

[Man In The Box]

I don't like adding two teams. How about contracting two? I have two good candidates.

The LAST thing we need is more teams.

 

[Eephus]

I don't like adding two teams. How about contracting two? I have two good candidates.

I don't believe contraction will actually happen in baseball or in the NBA for that matter. It gets thrown out periodically as a bargaining chip because anything that reduces the number of jobs by 50 gets the attention of the MLBPA and the media. But the impact on the CBA pales by comparison to the issues of having to compensate the owners of the contracted teams and face the loss of goodwill among the local fanbases. If MLB couldn't pull the contraction trigger during the Expos' saga, it ain't ever going to happen.I'm still skeptical of the claims that baseball teams are losing money. The Rangers are successful on the field this year but haven't been a model franchise on or off the field in the past. My guess is they wouldn't fall into the upper half of MLB teams in terms of profitability. Still, an ownership group was willing to bid a half billion dollars for entry into the club.

 

[the moops]

I don't like adding two teams. How about contracting two? I have two good candidates.

The LAST thing we need is more teams.

Why?

 

[Man In The Box]

I don't like adding two teams. How about contracting two? I have two good candidates.

The LAST thing we need is more teams.

Why?

Seriously? For starters, the talent pool in MLB is pretty watered down as is. I don't think we need to see 24 more pitchers that have no business being in the majors.

 

[Eephus]

I don't like adding two teams. How about contracting two? I have two good candidates.

The LAST thing we need is more teams.

Why?

Seriously? For starters, the talent pool in MLB is pretty watered down as is. I don't think we need to see 24 more pitchers that have no business being in the majors.

I agree with you up to a point but pitching isn't a very good example.

 

[the moops]

I don't like adding two teams. How about contracting two? I have two good candidates.

The LAST thing we need is more teams.

Why?

Seriously? For starters, the talent pool in MLB is pretty watered down as is. I don't think we need to see 24 more pitchers that have no business being in the majors.

There are at least 5 guys on every teams 40 man that aren't in the majors yet, who could be on a major league club and teams wouldnt miss a beat.

 

[dennis.moore]

Add two more teams to the AL (Portland and NY/NJ), and make 4 divisions of 4 teams. Switch up the NL Use the football playoff system of 4 division winners and 2 wildcards.AL EAST - Bos, NY, Tor, NJAL SOUTH - TB, Tex, Bal, KCAL WEST - Oak, LA, Sea, PortAL CENTRAL - Minn, Det, Cle, ChiNL EAST - NY, Phi, Wash, PittNL SOUTH - Hou, Flor, Atl, St LouisNL WEST - LA, SF, Ariz, SDNL CENTRAL - Cinc, Col, Mil, Chi

Why copy football? Baseball is a vastly different sport. Even in a best of 7, the edge to the superior team is slight. No team is ever really better than 3-to-1 to win the post season, adding another round of playoffs would further dilute the advantages of better teams.

Exactly. Baseball is much better than football. Why copy something that is inferior?

 

[Please See Mine]

Add two more teams to the AL (Portland and NY/NJ), and make 4 divisions of 4 teams. Switch up the NL Use the football playoff system of 4 division winners and 2 wildcards.



AL EAST - Bos, NY, Tor, NJ

AL SOUTH - TB, Tex, Bal, KC

AL WEST - Oak, LA, Sea, Port

AL CENTRAL - Minn, Det, Cle, Chi

NL EAST - NY, Phi, Wash, Pitt

NL SOUTH - Hou, Flor, Atl, St Louis

NL WEST - LA, SF, Ariz, SD

NL CENTRAL - Cinc, Col, Mil, Chi

Where do I sign?(also, can the Jays ever catch a break?)

 

[Txns8]

Add two more teams to the AL (Portland and NY/NJ), and make 4 divisions of 4 teams. Switch up the NL Use the football playoff system of 4 division winners and 2 wildcards.



AL EAST - Bos, NY, Tor, NJ

AL SOUTH - TB, Tex, Bal, KC

AL WEST - Oak, LA, Sea, Port

AL CENTRAL - Minn, Det, Cle, Chi

NL EAST - NY, Phi, Wash, Pitt

NL SOUTH - Hou, Flor, Atl, St Louis

NL WEST - LA, SF, Ariz, SD

NL CENTRAL - Cinc, Col, Mil, Chi

Where do I sign?(also, can the Jays ever catch a break?)

2 Wild Cards give them more of a chance than now.Also, no way the Cubs and Cards get split up.

 

[RnR]

Add two more teams to the AL (Portland and NY/NJ), and make 4 divisions of 4 teams. Switch up the NL Use the football playoff system of 4 division winners and 2 wildcards.



AL EAST - Bos, NY, Tor, NJ

AL SOUTH - TB, Tex, Bal, KC

AL WEST - Oak, LA, Sea, Port

AL CENTRAL - Minn, Det, Cle, Chi

NL EAST - NY, Phi, Wash, Pitt

NL SOUTH - Hou, Flor, Atl, St Louis

NL WEST - LA, SF, Ariz, SD

NL CENTRAL - Cinc, Col, Mil, Chi

Where do I sign?(also, can the Jays ever catch a break?)

2 Wild Cards give them more of a chance than now.Also, no way the Cubs and Cards get split up.

In that scenario, St. Louis has to go to the Central, Colorado to the West, and Arizona to the South.

 

[Yankee23Fan]

You don't need to add more teams to the league. But letting at least two more into the playoffs is a good idea. And I still think that there needs to be more double headers - if they have to be day night so teams can make money on two tickets, fine. But frankly I would do everything I could to get the schedule to the point where the World Series is in late September to early October at the latest. Get the most exciting coming down the stretch baseball into August where there is no football and let the baseball playoffs compete with the NFL right off the bat.

 

[TobiasFunke]

Add two more teams to the AL (Portland and NY/NJ), and make 4 divisions of 4 teams. Switch up the NL Use the football playoff system of 4 division winners and 2 wildcards.AL EAST - Bos, NY, Tor, NJAL SOUTH - TB, Tex, Bal, KCAL WEST - Oak, LA, Sea, PortAL CENTRAL - Minn, Det, Cle, ChiNL EAST - NY, Phi, Wash, PittNL SOUTH - Hou, Flor, Atl, St LouisNL WEST - LA, SF, Ariz, SDNL CENTRAL - Cinc, Col, Mil, Chi

The only thing I like about this is that it eliminates the current, wildly unfair system that has six teams in one division and four teams in another. I've never understood why people don't make more of this. Assuming all teams are equal, four teams have a 25% chance of making the playoffs by winning the division and six teams have a 16.67% chance of making the playoffs that way. Is there any other sport that does this?

 

[the moops]

The only thing I like about this is that it eliminates the current, wildly unfair system that has six teams in one division and four teams in another. I've never understood why people don't make more of this. Assuming all teams are equal, four teams have a 25% chance of making the playoffs by winning the division and six teams have a 16.67% chance of making the playoffs that way. Is there any other sport that does this?

You also forgot the 5 team divisions. It is dumb.

 

[TobiasFunke]

The only thing I like about this is that it eliminates the current, wildly unfair system that has six teams in one division and four teams in another. I've never understood why people don't make more of this. Assuming all teams are equal, four teams have a 25% chance of making the playoffs by winning the division and six teams have a 16.67% chance of making the playoffs that way. Is there any other sport that does this?

You also forgot the 5 team divisions. It is dumb.

Well yeah ... it's just not as ridiculous as the comparison between 4 and 6. Especially now that we have interleague play- can't we do 15 and 15 and do the schedule so that there's one interleague series at all times? Or something?Do people in the NL Central cities complain about this a lot? I know I would, but then again I'm really whiny.

 

[the moops]

The only thing I like about this is that it eliminates the current, wildly unfair system that has six teams in one division and four teams in another. I've never understood why people don't make more of this. Assuming all teams are equal, four teams have a 25% chance of making the playoffs by winning the division and six teams have a 16.67% chance of making the playoffs that way. Is there any other sport that does this?

You also forgot the 5 team divisions. It is dumb.

Well yeah ... it's just not as ridiculous as the comparison between 4 and 6. Especially now that we have interleague play- can't we do 15 and 15 and do the schedule so that there's one interleague series at all times? Or something?Do people in the NL Central cities complain about this a lot? I know I would, but then again I'm really whiny.

It is definitely possible to have 15 and 15 and have the interleague play rotate throughout the year.Moving Houston to AL West solves that issue.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

Snow Baseball.

 

[Txns8]

The only thing I like about this is that it eliminates the current, wildly unfair system that has six teams in one division and four teams in another. I've never understood why people don't make more of this. Assuming all teams are equal, four teams have a 25% chance of making the playoffs by winning the division and six teams have a 16.67% chance of making the playoffs that way. Is there any other sport that does this?

You also forgot the 5 team divisions. It is dumb.

Well yeah ... it's just not as ridiculous as the comparison between 4 and 6. Especially now that we have interleague play- can't we do 15 and 15 and do the schedule so that there's one interleague series at all times? Or something?Do people in the NL Central cities complain about this a lot? I know I would, but then again I'm really whiny.

It is definitely possible to have 15 and 15 and have the interleague play rotate throughout the year.Moving Houston to AL West solves that issue.

How is Houston a West team let alone an AL team? Nothing like routine 9pm road starts to alienate the youth of a fanbase.no bias here at all

 

[the moops]

How is Houston a West team let alone an AL team? Nothing like routine 9pm road starts to alienate the youth of a fanbase.

no bias here at all

Perhaps you have noticed that there is a Texas team already in the AL West?

 

[Masked Vigilante]

Add two more teams to the AL (Portland and NY/NJ), and make 4 divisions of 4 teams. Switch up the NL Use the football playoff system of 4 division winners and 2 wildcards.AL EAST - Bos, NY, Tor, NJAL SOUTH - TB, Tex, Bal, KCAL WEST - Oak, LA, Sea, PortAL CENTRAL - Minn, Det, Cle, ChiNL EAST - NY, Phi, Wash, PittNL SOUTH - Hou, Flor, Atl, St LouisNL WEST - LA, SF, Ariz, SDNL CENTRAL - Cinc, Col, Mil, Chi

The only thing I like about this is that it eliminates the current, wildly unfair system that has six teams in one division and four teams in another. I've never understood why people don't make more of this. Assuming all teams are equal, four teams have a 25% chance of making the playoffs by winning the division and six teams have a 16.67% chance of making the playoffs that way. Is there any other sport that does this?

Well it's more like a 1/5 chance of winning the NL Central. The Pirates will forever suck.

 

[DropKick]

You don't need to add more teams to the league. But letting at least two more into the playoffs is a good idea. And I still think that there needs to be more double headers - if they have to be day night so teams can make money on two tickets, fine. But frankly I would do everything I could to get the schedule to the point where the World Series is in late September to early October at the latest. Get the most exciting coming down the stretch baseball into August where there is no football and let the baseball playoffs compete with the NFL right off the bat.

What makes it a good idea? In the AL this year, was there really a deserving second wild card? Do you want a team that finished 6-7 games out advancing on the back of a short series or even a single game? You can make the case that the the NL had two strong wild cards and, while a single game would be intriguing, making them blow their Ace on a one game play-off puts them at a serious disadvantage in the first round.Double headers are usually watered down... drop the season to 154 games. it won't happen because of the $ but it really does make sense.

I like the current structure... just balance the leagues - move Houston to the AL West (or the NL West and move an NL west team to the AL West). Play interleague through the season with about the same or even a reduction in the total interleague games.

The wild card is the "best" of 12 teams and is often stronger than a division winner. "Making it tougher" on the wild card is trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist.

 

[Please See Mine]

You don't need to add more teams to the league. But letting at least two more into the playoffs is a good idea. And I still think that there needs to be more double headers - if they have to be day night so teams can make money on two tickets, fine. But frankly I would do everything I could to get the schedule to the point where the World Series is in late September to early October at the latest. Get the most exciting coming down the stretch baseball into August where there is no football and let the baseball playoffs compete with the NFL right off the bat.

What makes it a good idea? In the AL this year, was there really a deserving second wild card? Do you want a team that finished 6-7 games out advancing on the back of a short series or even a single game? You can make the case that the the NL had two strong wild cards and, while a single game would be intriguing, making them blow their Ace on a one game play-off puts them at a serious disadvantage in the first round.Double headers are usually watered down... drop the season to 154 games. it won't happen because of the $ but it really does make sense.

I like the current structure... just balance the leagues - move Houston to the AL West (or the NL West and move an NL west team to the AL West). Play interleague through the season with about the same or even a reduction in the total interleague games.

The wild card is the "best" of 12 teams and is often stronger than a division winner. "Making it tougher" on the wild card is trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist.

This is part of the argument for the single-game wild card - to give teams a much greater incentive to play hard and win the division. Think the AL playoff race would have been a lot more interesting if the Rays and Yankees were trying to avoid that game? The single game play-in puts much more emphasis on the regular season performance, which again is one of the strong suits of baseball as compared to basketball/hockey.

 

[culdeus]

The only thing I like about this is that it eliminates the current, wildly unfair system that has six teams in one division and four teams in another. I've never understood why people don't make more of this. Assuming all teams are equal, four teams have a 25% chance of making the playoffs by winning the division and six teams have a 16.67% chance of making the playoffs that way. Is there any other sport that does this?

You also forgot the 5 team divisions. It is dumb.

Well yeah ... it's just not as ridiculous as the comparison between 4 and 6. Especially now that we have interleague play- can't we do 15 and 15 and do the schedule so that there's one interleague series at all times? Or something?Do people in the NL Central cities complain about this a lot? I know I would, but then again I'm really whiny.

It is definitely possible to have 15 and 15 and have the interleague play rotate throughout the year.Moving Houston to AL West solves that issue.

How is Houston a West team let alone an AL team? Nothing like routine 9pm road starts to alienate the youth of a fanbase.no bias here at all

Houston is about 40 miles east of Dallas. 60 if you consider Arlington the geographical home of the Rangers.It would amount to roughly 12 additional PST games for Houston.

Short of expansion if someone wanted to solve the 4 vs 6 thing this is the natural way to do it.

 

[Eephus]

Houston is about 40 miles east of Dallas. 60 if you consider Arlington the geographical home of the Rangers.It would amount to roughly 12 additional PST games for Houston. Short of expansion if someone wanted to solve the 4 vs 6 thing this is the natural way to do it.

I doubt the 4 & 6 team divisions are in the top 100 issues the owners and MLBPA are concerned about for the next CBA. The wild card makes the number of teams per division less relevant anyway. I'm not a big of a fan of interleague play so I'm biased but I'd rather have the two oddball divisions than an interleague game every day of the season.

 

[DropKick]

You don't need to add more teams to the league. But letting at least two more into the playoffs is a good idea. And I still think that there needs to be more double headers - if they have to be day night so teams can make money on two tickets, fine. But frankly I would do everything I could to get the schedule to the point where the World Series is in late September to early October at the latest. Get the most exciting coming down the stretch baseball into August where there is no football and let the baseball playoffs compete with the NFL right off the bat.

What makes it a good idea? In the AL this year, was there really a deserving second wild card? Do you want a team that finished 6-7 games out advancing on the back of a short series or even a single game? You can make the case that the the NL had two strong wild cards and, while a single game would be intriguing, making them blow their Ace on a one game play-off puts them at a serious disadvantage in the first round.Double headers are usually watered down... drop the season to 154 games. it won't happen because of the $ but it really does make sense.

I like the current structure... just balance the leagues - move Houston to the AL West (or the NL West and move an NL west team to the AL West). Play interleague through the season with about the same or even a reduction in the total interleague games.

The wild card is the "best" of 12 teams and is often stronger than a division winner. "Making it tougher" on the wild card is trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist.

This is part of the argument for the single-game wild card - to give teams a much greater incentive to play hard and win the division. Think the AL playoff race would have been a lot more interesting if the Rays and Yankees were trying to avoid that game? The single game play-in puts much more emphasis on the regular season performance, which again is one of the strong suits of baseball as compared to basketball/hockey.

I agree that the NY/Tampa race was fought at 75%. I'm sure they each wanted to take the division and capture home field but - as in other sports - getting healthy and prepared for the post season takes precedence. It is what it is... I don't think a play-in game is a solution to that "problem".You could have two teams with close to 100 wins jockeying it out to the final day of the season while a team with a much lesser record gets to coast because their division is less competitive. That doesn't seem right to me... Then the wild card is forced to play the one game and, since baseball is baseball, could easily be eliminated by a team who did much less in the regular season. And the play-offs have a lost a very good team prematurely.

So, in other words, less emphasis on the regular season.

 

[Premier]

My main problem with baseball is that such a monumentally loooooooooooooooooooooooong regular-season gets wiped away with a best of 5 in the first round. Makes absolutely zero sense to me. As long as they change that, I'm good.

 

[Dr. Awesome]

I'm lukewarm on adding more wild card teams, but I absolutely love the idea of making the division series 7 games. Long overdue, IMO.

And shorten the regular season, while adding more double headers.

 

[GreatLakesMike]

There are a lot of things that I would like changed, but they're not going to happen. Being realistic, I think MLB should reduce the regular season to 154 games and make the 1st round series best of 7. I hate 5 game series in baseball.

 

[Liquid Tension]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?i...e=ESPNHeadlines

I personally think that this would be a terrible idea. Some people I know find the long season boring, but I am a big fan of proving yourself over the course of 6 months and then with only a few teams being rewarded for grinding it out the whole way. Adding more teams to the playoffs would really dilute it. It also seems unfeasible from a weather perspective. We're already getting into November with a 7-game WS.

My opinion is that after 162 games if you win the division nobody from your division should be allowed in the playoffs. However, everyone always gets up in arms because one division is harder than another or one division winner only won 85 games and the 2nd place team won 95 games they get screwed. My opinion is exactly what I stated in my first sentence and that is you had 162 games and an unbalanced schedule playing that 1st place team 18 times to prove that you were the best team in your division and you proved that you were at best the 2nd best team in the majors...step aside and let the winners playoff.

That being said, we added a wild card to allow the one other team a shot. OK, I can't have my way, but my huge problem with this is that it does not reward the division winners nearly enough. In fact, many Yankee fans this year and almost every year some team, doesn;t care whether they win the division or not and that is just plain stupid.

My solution: Add another WC team so that you get more excitement from all those other close teams, but the catch is they play a single elimination game (you could go 2 out of 3, but I wouldn't) for the right to get to the real playoffs. It would do everything people want, add excitement, keep teams interested, not extend the year (you do it just like a one game playoff at the end of the year would be) and it makes winning the division HUGE)

Oh and stop giving any days off in a 7 game series or 5 game series...this is about the best team, not the best 2 or 3 starters and closer (who could pitch in every game with the rest)