One of the nice things about baseball compared to other sports is that its playoffs aren't brutally long like that of the NBA and NHL, and that half the teams don't make it, like in those leagues. They'll be playing games on Thanksgiving. Weir might hang himself over this.
I'd be more for keeping the number of playoff teams the same but making the 1st round a best of 7 series like it should be, but I'll take anything that puts a hault to 2 Division winners only getting a best of 5 series after a 162 game season. That always been just a joke in my opinion.
currently there are 8 teams overall, 4 from each league. the 3 division winners and then one of the division winners play the wild card team. now there could be 10 teams overall, 5 from each league? which means 2 of the 3 division winners will play wild card teams? and 1 of the 3 division winners get a 1st round bye?
what baseball should do is go back to 2 divisions. then you can have 6 teams from each league. the 2 division winners and 4 wild card teams. you could have the division winners get a 1st round bye and the 4 wild card teams can play in the 1st round. that would give more meaning to winning the division.
I do think baseball should expand the playoffs. it could finally give the Toronto Blue Jays a chance at making the playoffs without having to have everything go right. it could give more teams a chance to win other than just the Yankees every season.
Generally don't like expanding the playoffs in any league, but this is obviously good for the Blue Jays. I'm conflicted.
The best thing to do would be to go back to a balanced schedule (and perhaps even cut it down to two division winners only making it), but the 18 games that NYY/BOS play each year against each other takes precedence over anything else for baseball.
SpecialFNK wrote:I do think baseball should expand the playoffs. it could finally give the Toronto Blue Jays a chance at making the playoffs without having to have everything go right. it could give more teams a chance to win other than just the Yankees every season.
The only teams really screwed in the current system are Tampa, Toronto, and Baltimore. Every other team in the majors has a pretty good opportunity to make the playoffs each year (except the Mets, they're an embarrassment).
One idea I remember floated was that the two wildcards play a really short series. One game playoff? Best of 3? The wildcard winner from that than plays the team with the best record.
This makes winning the division much more important. We all know what a crapshoot the playoffs are, this makes it even harder for wildcard teams. Last year the Yankees and Rays were not playing for "real" the last week or two. With this there is incentive to do so.
Also, with a very short series, you could avoid adding too much time to the overall playoffs. Season ends on Sunday, the wildcard round is Mon-Wed. The division series starts Wed (for the two teams that won the division and did not have the best record) and then for the team with the best record they start Thursday.
Finally, it would restore some of the value of being the best team for 162 games because you won't face the ace pitcher of the wildcard team in game 1.
Its not perfect, but it has possibilities.
There are a few things with the New York Yankees that never change. That's pride, tradition, and most of all, we have the greatest fans in the world. -Derek Jeter, 9/21/08 -- last words from old Yankee Stadium
the idea in place is a 1 game play-in for what would be the 4th and 5th seeds, or a 3 game series. The division winners would all wait. I think the 1 game play-in is a cool idea, cause honestly the best games are games 163
I wish they'd go back to two divisions as well and get rid of the unbalanced schedule. I have no problem with 10 teams in the playoffs, I just am tired of seeing Cleveland, Kansas City, Detroit and Chicago so many times a year. Those teams make up half the freaking games. Does the TV money for Yankees/Red Sox really outweigh the loss of revenue that small markets see when they bring a team like Kansas City or Pittsburgh into town when they've already played 18-19 times that season? Plus, even if we're talking Yankees/Sox, it just doesn't mean that much to me anymore to watch the great rivalry when it seems like every other weekend it's on ESPN. I can deal with interleague, there's still some charm to that, but the unbalanced schedule needs to go.
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by bleach168 » Thu Apr 21, 2011 6:19 pm 
