One Man’s Opinion Of Baseball’s New & Expanded Playoff System
Thursday, December 08, 2011
In the interest of fairness, concerning the additional wild card team in each league, Major League Baseball should eliminate divisions and move to a format of two 15 team leagues. To add another wild card team and then have teams play entirely different schedules is ill-conceived and illogical. How can anyone rationalize a schedule and a playoff format that has a team like the Toronto Blue Jays playing the New York Yankees 18 or 19 times per year, when a team like the Cleveland Indians plays the Yankees six times per year? By reverting to a more balanced schedule not only would baseball have a level playing field but the sport would also benefit from seeing the competition vary. Honestly, how many times can someone watch Red Sox/Orioles without being a little bit bored.
However, baseball could still implement an unbalanced portion of the schedule, and they should do this for interleague play. Instead of in the past where certain divisions played other divisions ie; American League East plays National League Central, baseball should institute interleague schedules based on the previous year's standings. If the Yankees win the American League they should play the top teams in the National League the following season. If the Orioles finish last they should play the bottom teams. And baseball could still keep their natural rivalry games, such Yankees/Mets and White Sox/Cubs. Bud Selig is constantly talking about competitive balance. This new schedule format would create the most level competition.
The new format for the baseball playoffs, that has been discussed at length this past week, appears to give an advantage to the division winners. By adding a second wild card team to each league two teams are going to have to play in a playoff to advance to the division series round, which would seem like an advantage to the division winners. But not all regular seasons are created equal. Lets take 2010 for example.
In 2010 the Tampa Bay Rays and the New York Yankees finished first and second respectively in the American League Eastern Division. The Boston Red Sox would have been the second wild card under this new format, and they would have been in a tight race with the Chicago White Sox, who finished just one game behind Boston. Now on the surface, it looks like it's a real advantage to Tampa Bay for winning the division. But Tampa and New York would have been in a tight race as well; perhaps using their starters on short rest, burning out their bullpens, and not resting their players. All the while, the Texas Rangers, who finished with 90 wins, six fewer than Tampa, and fourth overall in the league, would get the benefit of rest and the ability to set up their rotation, all because they played in a weaker division. And so who is rewarded at the end of the season? Texas, the fourth best team in the league.
Lets take it one step further. Maybe Tampa and New York have to play a one game playoff to decide the division. Lets say Tampa wins. Now Tampa's big reward for winning the division and having the best record in the league is to play either the Yankees or Red Sox in a best of five game series. What kind of reward is that?
Now I have to admit I'm not a big fan of adding a second wild card to the playoffs, but I do like the idea of a one game playoff at the end of the regular season, with the winner playing the number one overall seed. However, that number one overall seed should be given more of an advantage. In football the number one and two overall seeds in each conference are given a first round bye, therefore in the first round...they can't lose! All the number one seed in baseball gets is one extra game in their home ball park. Major League Baseball should change the format, and the number one overall seed should play the entire first round, at home! That's right, reward the best team in each league for winning the marathon of 162 games with a real home field advantage. This would put an emphasis on winning every game in the regular season, not just backing into the playoffs. Think about it, how many home games does the number six seed in the NFL playoffs receive? Zero. In this new format the number two and three seeds would still play a conventional best of five series for the Division Series round with a two-two-one format. The League Championship Series and World Series would each still be a conventional best of seven series. Imagine, each seed in the playoffs would carry a different value. The number one seed would have home field advantage throughout the playoffs, including all games at home in the Division Series, the number two seed would get home field advantage in the Division Series round, the number three seed would avoid the one game playoff, the number four seed would get home field advantage in the one game playoff, and the number five seed would be in the one game playoff. This new format would be a better evaluation of the entire baseball season.
Again, this would only work if MLB were to get rid of divisions and have just two 15 team leagues. But think about the drama that would unfold on a nightly basis. Not only would you have teams trying to get into the top five places in the standings, but you would have teams changing places within the top five. It would be incredible.
Look at the race that Tampa, New York, and Minnesota would have had for the top three spots in the American League two years ago. And look at the race that Texas, Boston, and Chicago would have had for the bottom two places. And Toronto only finished four games behind Boston.
AMERICAN LEAGUE:
TEAM: W L % GB
Tampa Bay 96 66 .593 -
NY Yankees 95 67 .586 1
Minnesota 94 68 .580 2
Texas 90 72 .556 6
Boston 89 73 .549 7
Chicago WS 88 74 .543 8
Toronto 85 77 .525 11
So often when there are close races in baseball, there are others that have already been decided a week or two before the regular season ends, leaving very little interest for those respective divisions. Case in point, the aforementioned 2010 season in the American League Western Division, where the Texas Rangers won their division by nine game. So too would be the case by just adding a second wild card team. Major League Baseball needs to go further. No divisions, two leagues, and a dog fight for the top five places in the standings. The excitement this would bring to baseball would be unlike anything we've ever seen.
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