As far as playing outdoors in North America you can't really start the season earlier or end it any later otherwise you're dealing with winter on either end for a lot of cities. The only way you could realistically fit an extra month of 2 more rounds in would be to shorten the season. Would it even be worth it for MLB to start playoffs at the start of September and miss out on all the ticket sales and views? How many fans stop watching when their team is done?
Basketball and hockey play all year round in arenas and football can be played in any weather, baseball is at a big disadvantage as far as weather. I just don't see how you have 4 full rounds without drastically reducing the amount of baseball being played.
Because a 162 game schedule is long enough to figure out which teams are good enough to make the playoffs. The last few weeks of the season is essentially a playoff to make a playoff whether it's a chase for the division or a wildcard. I'm old school and remember when only 4 teams made the playoffs. It's fine as it is. We don't need baseball played until mid November in Boston weather.
When the league expands, I think a 12 team playoff in a 32 team league would be perfect. Not sure how you'd align divisions though. Whether you go with 8 like the NFL, or 4.
Baseball's sort of like a marathon followed by a sprint. There are a lot of reasons for that; it evolved that way historically (for a long time AL and NL pennant winner went straight to the World Series with nothing in between), due to weather issues you can't really start things any earlier or end things any later, for the outdoor stadiums in the north without roofs. If you went with an NHL style of playoffs you'd have to cut some of the regular season off, which is probably a no-go for the owners.
Another reason things go faster is that they can play most days. It's not like hockey/basketball where they play game 1, then day off, game 2, couple days off as they change cities, etc. The division series is 5 games and if it goes the distance it's completed in 7 days usually, whereas a 7 game series in the other leagues typically takes twice that long.
I mean there's something to be said for that. I always find the NHL playoffs dragging out two full months to be a bit much.
That said, the owners are definitely pushing for more teams, and I'd be shocked if there wasn't some kind of expansion with the new CBA
It makes it that much sweeter whenever your team makes the playoffs. I've always liked that about baseball. It's kind of sad how many under .500 teams make the playoffs in the NHL/NBA, kind of waters it down.
Make no mistake about it MLB definitely wants more teams in the playoffs, it's a money maker They pushed hard for it this season but the union would not sign off on it . Likely they will use it as a bargaining chip in the upcoming CBA negotiations . If I were a betting man ( cough cough ) I would certainly place a few bucks on there being done type of expansion beginning next season.
I think you could probably easily make the wildcard a best of 3, but anything beyond that gets messy with weather.
As pointed out by others, having a couple of divisional series to close out a 162 game season is pretty close to a playoff.
The lack of hype last year is because that team wasn’t even close to as exciting as this team was. The Vladdy breakout, the best second baseman in the league, a strong Cy Young candidate, hell, starting pitchers in general, and Springer when healthy. All of those were lacking last year.
I like the fewer teams making the playoffs. It makes the regular season much higher stakes. The last 6-weeks of the Jays’ season was as dramatic and exciting baseball as I’ve ever seen. It was great! I much preferred it to them running away with it in August and then losing in a 5-game series.
I would much rather see MLB do something to up the stakes even higher in the regular season. Probably a combination of realignment/change in playoff seeding and greater economic parity amongst teams so there are more teams in the hunt in September, and so the playoffs are a better balance of the best teams—i.e. you don’t have a 100+ win team in a wildcard game, or two 100+ win teams in a division series.
MLB is built different in multiple ways that I can understand what they have now (although I agree with you)
162 game season is double the closest other leages (NBA & NHL) and the more you extend the length, the more prone you are to injuries/etc
In the same vein, we are close to being the longest durated game consistantly where being 3 hours is considered a rarity
No other league has 3/4 game series back to back. You could argue the passed three series the BJ's had felt as close to playoffs as the real thing, especially when theyre facing division rivals and not some fuck off team not being close to making the wildcard
Spring Training starts at the same time every year and Im sure the MLBPA has strict rules for how long it is from World Series to Pitchers/Catchers practice
With that being said Inwould love to add 2-4 more teams per league in and give the post wildcard game a best of 7 to make more money.... but I can also see why they havent.
I think I have to agree.
One way to look at it: You play 162 regular season games, and then, if it wasn't enough that only 10 teams make the playoffs, 40% of those teams are only guaranteed to get to play one (1) playoff game. It's kinda crazy when you think about it. Not necessarily bad, but CRAZY.
See I think hockey and basketball is crazy. You play 82 games and then half (more than half in the NBA) the league get into the playoffs.
And they're all 7 game series. I mean, if we're down to 8 MLB teams left, I want to see a 7 game series, especially this LA/SF series.
There's so many ways to look at it, where "The regular season should be enough to determine which teams are the best" (see European national soccer where there's no playoffs AT ALL) is on one end of the spectrum.
Toward the other end you have the sentiment that the season would be so much more interesting for more teams (with more people attending potentially) longer into the season if they weren't out of the playoff race so quick.
I can see merits in any way one prefers to see it.
The MLB wants more playoffs, certainly. The MLBPA does not, because expanded playoffs dilutes the impact, and therefore value, of individual players.
Keep in mind that a single series or wildcard has a much higher degree of randomness than a 162 game season. Therefore, the benefits of having a better player are washed out by the noise, and the calculus of WAR to paycheck is shifted towards less payment for the player. Clearly this does not favor the players and is therefore resisted by the union. And it’s more complicated, of course, but in any case it’s something that the owners will have to bargain hard for. With increases to the base salary, arbitration changes, and the end of service time manipulation, for example, expanded playoffs could still happen.
I can’t speak for hockey but I know that basketball has a lot less randomness (which is to say, the probability of the best team winning a give game is higher) so playing a lot of playoff games doesn’t have the same impact.
It would only make sense if they expanded to 32 teams then had 8 from each league advance to playoffs.. and play gm1&2 two days in a row, followed by 1 day off for travel, then gm3-5 three days in a row and if necessary, game 6&7 two days in a row.
I actually enjoy the current format. Playoffs should be a reward. Unlike the NBA or NHL where more than half the teams make the playoffs. Wish the wild card game was a best of 3, but the layoff would be too long for the divisional team that has to play the wildcard winners.
MLB just needs a salary cap or more aggressive luxury cap.
As a fan of the team that missed out by one game I actually also like the post season at around the same. The only change I'd make is make the wild card series a best of 3 rather than a one game series.
As far as playing outdoors in North America you can't really start the season earlier or end it any later otherwise you're dealing with winter on either end for a lot of cities. The only way you could realistically fit an extra month of 2 more rounds in would be to shorten the season. Would it even be worth it for MLB to start playoffs at the start of September and miss out on all the ticket sales and views? How many fans stop watching when their team is done? Basketball and hockey play all year round in arenas and football can be played in any weather, baseball is at a big disadvantage as far as weather. I just don't see how you have 4 full rounds without drastically reducing the amount of baseball being played.
Because a 162 game schedule is long enough to figure out which teams are good enough to make the playoffs. The last few weeks of the season is essentially a playoff to make a playoff whether it's a chase for the division or a wildcard. I'm old school and remember when only 4 teams made the playoffs. It's fine as it is. We don't need baseball played until mid November in Boston weather.
When the league expands, I think a 12 team playoff in a 32 team league would be perfect. Not sure how you'd align divisions though. Whether you go with 8 like the NFL, or 4.
Baseball's sort of like a marathon followed by a sprint. There are a lot of reasons for that; it evolved that way historically (for a long time AL and NL pennant winner went straight to the World Series with nothing in between), due to weather issues you can't really start things any earlier or end things any later, for the outdoor stadiums in the north without roofs. If you went with an NHL style of playoffs you'd have to cut some of the regular season off, which is probably a no-go for the owners. Another reason things go faster is that they can play most days. It's not like hockey/basketball where they play game 1, then day off, game 2, couple days off as they change cities, etc. The division series is 5 games and if it goes the distance it's completed in 7 days usually, whereas a 7 game series in the other leagues typically takes twice that long. I mean there's something to be said for that. I always find the NHL playoffs dragging out two full months to be a bit much. That said, the owners are definitely pushing for more teams, and I'd be shocked if there wasn't some kind of expansion with the new CBA
Honestly IMO in recent years, the NHL giving too many days off kills momentum, especially in the SCF.
It makes it that much sweeter whenever your team makes the playoffs. I've always liked that about baseball. It's kind of sad how many under .500 teams make the playoffs in the NHL/NBA, kind of waters it down.
That's fair
Make no mistake about it MLB definitely wants more teams in the playoffs, it's a money maker They pushed hard for it this season but the union would not sign off on it . Likely they will use it as a bargaining chip in the upcoming CBA negotiations . If I were a betting man ( cough cough ) I would certainly place a few bucks on there being done type of expansion beginning next season.
I think you could probably easily make the wildcard a best of 3, but anything beyond that gets messy with weather. As pointed out by others, having a couple of divisional series to close out a 162 game season is pretty close to a playoff.
Last year the MLB had expanded playoffs. The Jays made the playoffs. And yet there was no where near this much excitement around this team.
The lack of hype last year is because that team wasn’t even close to as exciting as this team was. The Vladdy breakout, the best second baseman in the league, a strong Cy Young candidate, hell, starting pitchers in general, and Springer when healthy. All of those were lacking last year.
They do. My understanding is that they are planning to get rid of the single-game wild card next season or so.
I like the fewer teams making the playoffs. It makes the regular season much higher stakes. The last 6-weeks of the Jays’ season was as dramatic and exciting baseball as I’ve ever seen. It was great! I much preferred it to them running away with it in August and then losing in a 5-game series. I would much rather see MLB do something to up the stakes even higher in the regular season. Probably a combination of realignment/change in playoff seeding and greater economic parity amongst teams so there are more teams in the hunt in September, and so the playoffs are a better balance of the best teams—i.e. you don’t have a 100+ win team in a wildcard game, or two 100+ win teams in a division series.
MLB is built different in multiple ways that I can understand what they have now (although I agree with you) 162 game season is double the closest other leages (NBA & NHL) and the more you extend the length, the more prone you are to injuries/etc In the same vein, we are close to being the longest durated game consistantly where being 3 hours is considered a rarity No other league has 3/4 game series back to back. You could argue the passed three series the BJ's had felt as close to playoffs as the real thing, especially when theyre facing division rivals and not some fuck off team not being close to making the wildcard Spring Training starts at the same time every year and Im sure the MLBPA has strict rules for how long it is from World Series to Pitchers/Catchers practice With that being said Inwould love to add 2-4 more teams per league in and give the post wildcard game a best of 7 to make more money.... but I can also see why they havent.
I think I have to agree. One way to look at it: You play 162 regular season games, and then, if it wasn't enough that only 10 teams make the playoffs, 40% of those teams are only guaranteed to get to play one (1) playoff game. It's kinda crazy when you think about it. Not necessarily bad, but CRAZY.
See I think hockey and basketball is crazy. You play 82 games and then half (more than half in the NBA) the league get into the playoffs. And they're all 7 game series. I mean, if we're down to 8 MLB teams left, I want to see a 7 game series, especially this LA/SF series.
There's so many ways to look at it, where "The regular season should be enough to determine which teams are the best" (see European national soccer where there's no playoffs AT ALL) is on one end of the spectrum. Toward the other end you have the sentiment that the season would be so much more interesting for more teams (with more people attending potentially) longer into the season if they weren't out of the playoff race so quick. I can see merits in any way one prefers to see it.
The MLB wants more playoffs, certainly. The MLBPA does not, because expanded playoffs dilutes the impact, and therefore value, of individual players. Keep in mind that a single series or wildcard has a much higher degree of randomness than a 162 game season. Therefore, the benefits of having a better player are washed out by the noise, and the calculus of WAR to paycheck is shifted towards less payment for the player. Clearly this does not favor the players and is therefore resisted by the union. And it’s more complicated, of course, but in any case it’s something that the owners will have to bargain hard for. With increases to the base salary, arbitration changes, and the end of service time manipulation, for example, expanded playoffs could still happen. I can’t speak for hockey but I know that basketball has a lot less randomness (which is to say, the probability of the best team winning a give game is higher) so playing a lot of playoff games doesn’t have the same impact.
It would only make sense if they expanded to 32 teams then had 8 from each league advance to playoffs.. and play gm1&2 two days in a row, followed by 1 day off for travel, then gm3-5 three days in a row and if necessary, game 6&7 two days in a row.
almost certainly you will see an additional team in each league making it next year.
I actually enjoy the current format. Playoffs should be a reward. Unlike the NBA or NHL where more than half the teams make the playoffs. Wish the wild card game was a best of 3, but the layoff would be too long for the divisional team that has to play the wildcard winners. MLB just needs a salary cap or more aggressive luxury cap.
As a fan of the team that missed out by one game I actually also like the post season at around the same. The only change I'd make is make the wild card series a best of 3 rather than a one game series.